Group 2 Tools - Audio and Podcasting Reflection

The use of audio in my KLA (Arts/Music) is probably the most important multimedia tool that I will use in my education experiences. Not only is using audio engaging students without getting them to do a lot of work, just sit and listen, but they can relate to sound the easiest: it’s something we do from the very beginning of our cognitive development.

Fasso (2013) suggests that if we don’t focus on multimodal literacies in the 21^st century, we are not catering for our students. Audio literacy forms part of that multimodal literacy and we must integrate it into our educational experiences. Thankfully, music is an auditory art form, tailor-made for the inclusion of audio ICT’s.

There are, of course, issues involved with using audio as a ICT tool. These are the same as the issues I mentioned in my post on images, with a lesser focus on the student privacy (can’t be seen in audio).

There are a lot of ways I can implement audio into my teaching. Here are a select few:

• Using audio to provide examples of musical concepts in a blog (e.g. timbre of instruments).
• Getting students to record themselves playing instruments, whether they use low level software (voice-record) or high end Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) software like ProTools or Logic Pro, and upload them to an online space.
• Students recording themselves in performance and then critically reviewing their performance for improvement.
• Uploading a series of recordings (with permission) for students to use in critical analysis assessment.

An activity we were assigned to do for this task was to upload an audio recording of our voice. As a music major, this was something that I’ve done a thousand times, and as I have original music recorded, I decided to upload that to my wiki page. You can find a copy of one of my original big band recordings here.

Further use of audio in ICT’s includes Podcasting. Podcasts, I believe, can be explained as sound file that is part of a large series, updated regularly through the internet – like an audio magazine subscription. There are an abundance of Podcasts on the internet, but a main source of them is at the Apple iTunes Store. Podcasts seem to have an unending number of topics, and there a lot of great educational podcasts that can benefit learners. I went searching through the iTunes Store, and came up with the following list for Music education:

• https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/learn-jazz-piano/id129064415?mt=2
• https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/the-sonny-rollins-podcast/id163762802?mt=2
• https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/jazzstories/id405068170?mt=2
• https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/brooklyn-jazz-underground/id204348393?mt=2

Podcasts could be used to enrich learning as homework experiences or as main content in lesson structures. Depending on the quality of the podcasts, they are often updated regularly and are quite entertaining. Downsides include length – some are up to 45 minutes long of just audio. This isn’t very engaging. An activity we were given to do was make our own podcast. There are a lot of free tools to use on the Internet and we were suggested to use PodOMatic. This tool was very easy to use and quite fun in hindsight – I can easily see myself asking my students to create a podcast as a term long class activity. Here is an embedded player of my podcast I created.

Here is the link to my podcast website: http://rosscgdlt.podomatic.com/

The following SWOT Analysis summarises the various positives and negatives of using audio as a classroom tool.

Strengths

• Numerous applications in music
• Interactive and easily engaging without effort
• Can explain a lot with audio (non language)
• Podcasts contain a lot of excellent learning materials that are updated regularly
• Easily scaffold-able

Weaknesses

• Permissions, Liscencing and Safety
• 45-minute podcasts of just talking can get very boring

Opportunities

• Students can record music for assessment
• Students can record performances for analysis
• Students can make podcasts for term long projects (like an audio blog)
• Audio Textbooks

Threats

• Can be ineffective learning tools via lack of scaffold
• May become detriment to content and ways of working (TPCK)

References

Fasso, W. (2013). Digital tool 5: podcasting. Retrieved from CQUniversity e-courses, EDED20491 ICT’s for Learning Design, http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/page/view.php?id=115359

Group 2 Tools - Video Reflection

Along with audio, video can play a big role in music education. In many ways, it can enhance audio with a visual display of the sounds – music videos are an excellent example of this. However, a study by Swisher (2007) has suggested that how the video is used is much more important that whether video is used at all. This suggestion has implications for us as teachers – the pedagogy of how we use videos in the classroom is critical, this is what Technological Pedagogy Knowledge is all about.

Not only is video and excellent way to present content and reinforce the learning experience, it can also prove an excellent tool to develop higher order thinking skills (HOTS) as well as developing students’ literacy ability (data organisation, communication and presentation) whilst making students review previous information – this is critical analysis.

Once again the issues of privacy, permission/licencing and student safety all need to be recognised within video content – on the Internet and on a community-sharing basis. For public videos, students should not be identifiable for their own safety. Videos created should also be of the best possible ethical standards.

There are so many ways students could use video to enhance their learning experiences. Here is a list of some of the few:

• Video displays of sheet music with the audio form of the music here is an example:

• Documentaries of musicians can be viewed to help the students make connections with the artist.
• Students could videotape their practice and upload it to a blog for discussion – potential for a video diary of their practice.
• Students could record performances and then edit the recording to make a DVD presentation for the class. They can enhance their video editing skills in this process, whilst reviewing their performance.

Here is PMI Analysis of videos as a educational tool:

Plus

• Engaging
• Induces higher order thinking skills
• Can be used as a content introducer or as a content reinforcer
• Both visually and aurally stimulating 

Minus

• Student safety, privacy and licencing concerns
• Can distract from content and pedagogy if used ineffectively

Interesting

• Very helpful in documenting student progress
• Video reviews are often the best way to rectify technical issues in music. 

References

Swisher, D.J. (2007). Does multimedia truly enhance learning? Moving beyond the visual media bandwagon toward instruction effectiveness. Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/1046356/Does_Multimedia_Truly_Enhance_Learning_Moving_Beyond_The_Visual_Media_Bandwagon_Toward_Instructional_Effectiveness

Group 2 Tools - Images Reflection

The saying ‘A picture speaks a 1000 words’ is often thrown around when discussing graphic displays of information. Images are not new fangled communication methods; they have been around for millennia. The way we use them with ICT’s though, this is a huge consideration in planning for technologies in the classroom. The key thing to remember when using images in ICT’s is what words do I want this graphic to convey? – Ultimately, how will I frame this image so that my students take appropriate meaning from it?

This what Thibault and Walbert (2003) identify as the first level of visual literacy, the “Basic identification of the subject or elements in a photograph, work of art, or graphic.” We should scaffold activities appropriately for effective learning experiences so that the visual literacy component does not become lost in translation. This being said, images are very helpful for engaging student attention, but have the potential to weaken the actual message through distraction and misinterpretation.

Many issues arise when using images in online spaces. Here is a summary from my experiences in the exercises I participated in:

• Licencing. Picture taken from the web need appropriate approval from their owner if they are under licence. One way around this is to use images with a Creative Commons licence. These are free-sourced images that can be altered, modified and used for commercial purposes. One source for searching these types of photos is the Creative Commons website – www.creativecommons.org.au
• Safety. Especially in school environment, students must never be identifiable on the open Internet. Along with this, images that show informal and incorrect situations should never be uploaded, as so many issues can come from this.
• Permission. As with any picture or multimedia, the permission of the subject/owner of the photo must be obtained before it can be used.

Putting these issues aside, correctly structured activities involving images can be very effective learning experiences. In my KLA of the Arts (Music Strand) images can provide very useful as a learning tool, however, the ideas for activities are limited as it is an audio focussed medium. However, some examples of using images include:

• Students can make a photo diary of a school recital and reflect on the entire event. (Practical workplace situation activity)
• Students could take photos of setups during a music-recording project to easily document the complex setups instead of writing on very, very confusing diagrams. The same can be done with screenshots of the software setups (Eg. Mixing Bus setups on ProTools LE)

Activities that we were asked to do in the Images Tool section included resizing and altering images. As I have a lot of experience with software including PhotoShop and Fireworks, I feel rather comfortable with manipulating images. It did make me realise that images need to be tailored for online spaces – right size and right resolutions. An example of this consideration can be found on my Group 2 wiki page.

To summarise my experience with images for ICT’s, I prepared a PMI analysis:

Plus

• Visuals are excellent for engagement!
• Removes a lot of reading writing and reduces work time – a picture says 1000 words.
• Powerful as a memory stimulant: Visual memory.

Minus

• Online safety of students needs to be considered.
• Permission needs to be obtained to use images taken from others (Permission and Liscencing)
• Can detriment content through distraction (irrelevance)

Interesting

• Graphic forms of data and images in general are so much more appealing than what words and tables can be. This makes learning and reading a lot easier.

References

Thibault, M., & Walbert, D. (2003). Reading images: an introduction to visual literacy. Retrieved from http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/675

Group 1 Tools - Websites Reflection

My website can be found here.

When comparing to wikis and blogs, websites seem very dull. They are static sources, unable to be interactive and unable to grow on their own. However, websites are a very helpful tool to use in the classroom. Due to their static nature, teachers can create websites packed with class materials, knowing that they will have full control over it and nothing will be altered or inappropriate for their students.

This though, can lead to issues of disengagement by students. Whilst a website may be an effective place to put a stack of lesson notes, it is simply no better than a written textbook. The internet, and indeed, websites are high technological repositories and teachers should make every effort to make websites as interactive as possible for students.

A good example of a website I use for class material is Moodle. Content is continually added and I can find all of my resources and notes there. While effective and very helpful for tertiary level students (most of the time), this would be a poor use of a website for secondary students. Websites need to interact with students and involve them in class content, not just be another place to find the content, but with a little technology added in. Again, teachers should refer to the TPACK framework before integrating technology.

Once again, scaffolding is the most essential part of preparing technologies for classrooms. Students should be able to see clearly outlined procedures for interaction and engagement with activities. Websites, I believe, should be presented in a way that captures student attention whilst being clearly and rationally organised. A page with a screen full of text will not suffice.

One issue with creating websites is a need to know how to create webpages. Websites are a bunch of coded messages translated by our browsers to show up on our screen, so once upon a time (Back in the days of HTML 3 at least) webpages had to be designed from the code up. From experience this process is so frustrating.

Today however, tools have been designed so web pages can be created just like word processing programs produce documents. These tools, such as Google Pages, and Weebly (the tool we use) make web design much easier and much more effective. Design and structure become so much easier to deal with using these tools. Of course, a little bit of code never did any harm, and I believe it is crucial to understand how the Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) works.

I think websites have effective uses in my KLA (The Arts). Interactivity and connection to other resources are the most essential aspects of website design for students, and I will constantly need to think of this credo when designing class websites. Examples of how I can use website in my teaching area include:

• Designing a page with a series of videos of music with the accompanying PDF of the sheet music beside it.
• Multiple choice quizzes with references to video, audio and visual materials
• Using a page to embed various artefacts – YouTube, Slideshows, Facebook, Instagrams, Flickr, Twitter, RSS Feeds, Podcasts, even Wiki’s and Blogs!
• Probably the most used way to incorporate a website into lessons is by using it as a virtual textbook. Care must be taken to ensure that it still is interactive and student focussed (engaging and content based.)

Using a website in the classroom has various positive and negative implications for the students’ learning outcomes. The following PMI Analysis is a helpful tool to structure my analysis.

Pluses

• Unlimited space to deposit any form of media whether it be text, graph, audio, video, application, tool or script. The possibilities are endless.
• Websites can be used as the first point of call to the vast and unlimited resource that is the internet. Links can provide quick access to some of the better resources.
• Websites are static and are controlled by one entity.
• Design of websites is strictly up to the controller of that site.

Minuses

• Potential to become dull and uninteresting – like an online textbook.
• Unless using a design tool like Weebly or web design software like Dreamweaver, knowledge of coding is needed, and this can be terribly complex.
• Websites take lots of time to create and present well.
• Content under copyright cannot exactly be copied without various infringements.

Interesting

• School systems already have websites dedicated to various subjects. The idea of websites in classes is not new.
• Websites can become online diaries for students, marking assessment dates, homework and other such important information that can’t be changed.
• Pages can become useful resources when creating assignments.

Group 1 Tools - Wiki Reflection

My wiki can be found here.

The use of a wiki in the classroom I believe, provides the most difficult integration challenge for teachers. A wiki is a type of website that allows the user of that website, to add, modify and delete page content. It differs from a traditional website in that a standard website can only be modified by the owner (like a read only file), whereas a wiki can be modified by anyone who is able to access it. Fasso (2013) likens it to a “never-ending, paginated sheet of online butchers paper.”

From creating my own wiki, it becomes apparent that everything about a wiki can be modified. Everything. From the title of the page to the content, to the videos to the pictures and everything in between, someone can change it. In the classroom, this provides a potential disastrous situation.

This being said though, wikis can be used as valued tools in the classroom. From being used as a collaboration tool for assessment, research, brainstorming and creating online resources between students, wikis can be used to broaden the discussion taking learning outside the 19^th century classroom and into the 21^st century world. Students should be taught correct etiquette for using wikis, just like they are taught correct etiquette for all parts of their life (this could be described as meta-etiquettes e.g. golf etiquette, library etiquette, wiki etiquette, dinner etiquette).

Here is an excellent article on Blog and Wiki etiquette. 

Wikis are a valued tool in the classroom due to the flexibility and somewhat organic growth they are able to achieve. This presents the same issue that blogs do that they become overarching behemoths and flatten the pedagogies and content they are supposed to work in harmony with. For this reason, the TPCK framework must be utilised for the benefit of the lesson. The wiki should always be scaffolded to focus on the content using such structures as Blooms Taxonomy or a PMI analysis among others. I believe that if correctly used, wikis can become a powerful tool for creating interactive learning skills for 21^st century learners.

There are several examples of ways I could use wikis in my KLA (the Arts). Here are a few examples:

• Creating a dictionary of Musical Terms in a table
• Ask students to add their thoughts to a well-worded question (Blooms) discussing a musical concept/genre
• Get students to post single instrument recorded tracks to their wiki (using a common theme/song) where students can then access them and mix and edit them and the combine them into a song.
• Ask students to post any issues they have or challenging questions to the class wiki for classmates to collaborate and answer, working together (Stop, Collaborate and Listen…).
• Ask students for homework to find 10 YouTube clips fitting a certain genre. Links are to be posted to the wiki. Other students can comment on what they think of the songs. (Scaffolding needed.)

Finally, using a wiki as a classroom tool as many implications, both positive and negative. The following PMI Analysis is a helpful tool to structure my analysis.

Plusses

• Ability to grow with a group of learners – progress then becomes visual.
• Flexible and able to be designed for many uses
• Collaboration stimulates group work
• Fosters Connectivism for students
• Sharing becomes much easier
• Teachers can have an oversight in the learning, not actually teaching, letting the students do it.
• Caters for various learning theories – constructivism (building on previous material), cognitivism (thinking about it and drawing conclusions from others work), behaviourism (wikis can be used for similar activities several times without students becoming bored) and Connectivism (able to connect to other parts of the Internet and information discovery alone.

Minuses

• Anyone can add, modify and delete. Safety issue, potential calamity for content.
• Only 1 person can edit at a time (blogs can be done as many whenever)
• Wiki etiquette can easily be ignored
• Students need to be taught how to use a wiki. Detracts from content.
• People who aren’t part of the class (anyone) can access the wiki

Interesting

• Can be accessed anywhere, anytime with mobile devices.
• Technology fosters the subconscious retaining of content. Conning is half the act.

References

Fasso, W. (2013). Digital tool 2: Wikis for Collaborative Learning. Retrieved from CQUniversity e-courses, EDED20491 ICTs for Learning Design, http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/pluginfile.php/407928/mod_page/content/8/wikis.html