Today, I stumbled upon an interesting post on the "Choral Discussions" forum of choralnet.org. The post asks if any teachers have used iPads in their choir rehearsals. Highly to my surprise, many of the comments had positive things to say about using iPads in classrooms. For example, one comment suggests using iPads for downloading and reading sheet music, instead of using a paper copy. Another comment shares other great music-related apps that can be useful in a classroom/learning environment.
It is not that I have anything against technology in the classroom, I am all for smartboards, overhead projectors, cd players, etc. Though, I think that in the hands of children, technology may not be the best thing, especially in school (where things tend to get boring at times). Though one might argue that this is a good reason to bring iPads into a classroom. And perhaps it may very well aid in some children's learning. However, I think that there are still going to be several kids who will not pay attention and continuously play games or browse the internet on their iPads. This of course is a distraction to themselves as it is a distraction to others. We all know how distracting cell phones were when first introduced to a classroom setting. Therefore I think that introducing and encouraging the use of these iPads in a classroom is a bad idea. How will the teacher know whether or not a student is reading the music on the screen or if they are watching an episode of their favorite TV show?
Feel free to comment and share any of your own ideas on this topic.
Evan H
I agree with your take on it, Evan. I know that if I'm in class and have my cell phone on my desk I'm tempted to play with it instead of pay attention so I think an iPad would be a huge distraction.
ReplyDeleteI think another thing to consider is where are these iPads coming from? Not everyone can afford their own tablet and, in the case of children, not everyone's parents are willing to provide them with one. Would the organization have to supply iPads for each person? Sharing would be difficult, I think. Although I see this kind of technology becoming normal in the future, in our life times even, I think there's a lot of things that need to be worked out before they can be introduced into rehearsals or the classroom.
I am in a research group within the Faculty of Education looking at “Intentional Use and Evaluation of iPad Applications in the Instruction of Pre-service Teachers”. The issues are the same at the post-secondary level as in the K-12 system: access, suitability for the task, efficiency. Is the iPad simply more 'convenient' or does it actually enhance the learning? You may be interested in the facebook group - iPads in Music Education.
ReplyDeleteVery good question Evan! And an excellent question to consider Ki, does it actually enhance the learning or is it simply more 'convenient'. As far as our culture is concerned, it seems we are always looking for the easy way out and I feel this is such a compromise on today's children, and society, because even if we don't want it to be, we are becoming lazier and lazier. I am not arguing driving vs walking, or video games vs sports, but simply the use of our brains! I'm sure we can all rhyme off at least 5 home numbers of childhood friends, but I would also venture to say that if we had to list the top 5 numbers in our phone, we couldn't.
ReplyDeleteI think Ki's point is extremely relevant: Is it actually enhancing learning? As you said, Evan, there are certainly benefits to using technology in the classroom, but I am not convinced we need to schedule in even MORE screen time for today's generation.
This is certainly an interesting question. My personal view is that technology can definitely be used in the classroom to enhance learning, but mainly when it is in the hands of the teacher and not the students. Smartboards, overhead projectors and the like, all seem to give us as teachers the ability to interact more with our students and to provide a more in-depth experience (there are soooo many things I could show using technology that I would not attempt to draw on the chalkboard). However, I think when students are given the opportunity to use technology (cell phones, iPods, iPads, e-readers) in the classroom, it is often abused. Instead of being used solely for educational purposes during class time, students are sending text messages, looking at pictures, and so on, which obviously lessens their learning experience. In the case of iPads being used to view choral music, I totally think it is a convenience issue.
ReplyDeleteI share a similar opinion towards the use of ipads, especially in the hands of small children. I think that there's a personal aspect of teaching lost when everything is done on or with technology. And I strongly believe that bringing Ipads in to keep kids from getting bored is a strong "no no!" If children getting bored is an issue in any classroom, then the teacher should recreate their method for teaching. Handing children computer screens and a wifi connection is like putting a bandaid on a dirty cut-it just covers up the problem. You need to clean the wound and stitch it back together- figure out why the children are getting bored and look for a way to change and prevent it. While technology can be useful in some aspects, it does not determine the quality of teaching. That is all in the hands of the teacher themselves.
ReplyDeleteI think that this is a little more than a "convenience issue." The reason music teachers would love to have this resource available to them is because it would be an ENORMOUS cost saver - the cost of print scores and parts, shipping, photocopying, keeping a library... everything could be taken care of with one device. This would be fantastic - no wonder we'd like for it to be plausable.
ReplyDeleteI think the answer lies in furthering the technology. Perhaps soon, Apple will find a way to allow schools to pick and choose certain apps that will be disallowed access to the internet within a particular wireless network. That way, students could not use the Facebook, Twitter, play games, etc, while in class. Maybe the setting could be turned off during recess and lunch time; or teachers could have access to them and no one else. It's not unreasonable to believe that this is a possibility.
I agree with you - I was surprised to learn earlier in the year that teachers or ensembles are beginning to use iPads instead of sheet music. Like you said, it's a great way to help the environment and a great way to save money as electronic music is usually cheaper. However, it is difficult to know if the students are actually paying attention. Some ways you could prevent them from doing other things on the iPad would be to ask them to disconnect their internet, or if the iPads are owned by the school you can install filters to prevent them from going to specific websites. As well, you should also examine when in the rehearsal this is happening - if they are unoccupied while you are working with a section from the band, have them work on fingerings as they wait or some other task.
ReplyDeleteI think it really depends on the use. For your Joe Blow choir, singing 6 octavos for the spring concert, I can't see any benefit. But what about something like sight-singing? Say you have a PDF copy of "Sightreading for Singers" or something similar downloaded onto all these iPads. If you begin every rehearsal with some sight-reading, this would be so much easier than trying to hand out single-page photocopies at the beginning of the class, or assigning every student a spiral-bound sightreading volume that gets torn up or left at home. It's super easy to put content locks on iPads in this context, and you know what? If they're going to be distracted and play around, they're gonna do it on their iPhones anyway. Also, normal octavos wouldn't be great on an iPad, but if you're accessing IMSLP or CPDL, rather than printing off a bunch of handouts, they could just view them online. AND there must be a way to use Evernote or Google docs so that whatever you draw on your PDF iPad copy shows up on their copy! MAGIC
ReplyDeleteThis might not have been the most coherent response, but I think it's apparent that I could be very enthusiastic about iPads in the rehearsal in the right context. Again, it's that matter of, "Are we just using these as a novelty? Or are we using this technology in a way that legitimately expedites the rehearsal process and facilities better (or different modes of) learning?"