The Most
Appropriate Applications I Have Used to Support My Teaching
Thorough this blog I have discussed and compared different
applications within technology that have been learned through my PGCE PCET
course at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. For this concluding
blog, I shall list the three most appropriate applications I use most often to
support and aid my planning, teaching and assessing and how these have added to
the learning experience for my music pupils.
The first
application which I have used to support the planning of my teaching is
Microsoft Word. Microsoft Word has an excellent tool which allows the user to
create lesson plans, tables that enable one to map out time schedules and also
has a feature to make bullet points. These lesson plans can then be saved and
used again for other classes which may take the same module or alternatively
can be used to revisit the same topic for exam revision sessions in the future (Petty, 2014, p. 380) . This application is
much fast, easy to read and allows me to print multiple copies of my lesson
plan to give to my mentor or supervisor.
The bullet point feature is
especially useful if I need to write down a few essential points, books or
topics I need to cover. Using Microsoft Word has added to the learning
experience for the students I teach most effectively when I have printed out a
revised or simplified lesson plan and handed this to the students. These
handouts enable the students to track the course of the lesson as we cover each
topic and explicitly shows the end goal or aim of the lesson. Caroline Usei,
lecturer at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, comments that younger
learners often enjoy having small chunks of information that they can put
together as a whole towards the end of the lesson whereas mature learners
prefer to see the “bigger picture” and enjoy dissecting small parts from the
whole[1]. The
text on the lesson handouts can also be designed in a number of ways which are
pleasing to look at for the students (Jarvis, 2015, p. 50) .
The second application which has
particularly aided my teaching practice is PowerPoint. PowerPoint allows the
user to create colourful and dynamic presentations which add variety and aid
memory through being a visual aid to the learner (Petty, 2014,
p. 348) .
This software is particularly useful for music teaching as one is able to
insert music extracts and embed these directly into the PowerPoint so that
hyperlinks are not needed. The one drawback of using PowerPoint for mature
learners is that it provides a very linear style of teaching which does not
encourage student participation (Petty, 2014, p. 352) . Often when a member
of the class asks questions, sometime it is necessary to take a slight detour
from the main topic. Clearly, PowerPoint does not allow for this however it is
certainly a useful and appropriate tool for teaching music when used
effectively (and sparingly).
PowerPoint has added to the learning
experience for my students through the speed at which I am able to present the
information. With PowerPoint, the students are not waiting for long periods of
time for me to open or download a music examples. Terminology and musical
examples can be displayed quickly and clearly to learners in a fun and current
way. Furthermore PowerPoint allows the learning leader to save the presentation
file to your institution’s intranet which enables the pupils to revisit the
information at any time and at a pace that is comfortable for them (Petty, 2014, p. 352) .
Finally I wish to acknowledge the
appropriateness of Sibelius 7 within my teaching practice with a focus on how
this aids the assessment methods and strategies in the classroom. Sibelius is
an application that allows the user to create digital compositions. The student
may do this through one of two methods. They could decide to manually write in
each note on the stave or alternatively they have the option to play their
composition into the computer using a keyboard which is connected through a USB
cable. This second method is particularly useful for those students who do not
read music. When they become more confident at reading music they are then
encouraged to try composing using the first method (by manually writing the
music in). This application also enriches the students learning experiences in
a number of ways including; it teaches the users about pitch and tone ranges of
all the instruments by highlighting the notes in red that do not apply. It also
educates the user about time signatures and number of beats allowed per bar by
automatically beginning a new bar once they have filled the first.
It is clear that Sibelius is an
appropriate application to support teaching but it is also very useful for
assisting with assessment. Whereas in previous decades, the students would
submit a handwritten piece of music on manuscript paper for the teacher to
mark, now the student can sent their work electronically via Sibelius and
through email. Then the teacher can not only print out the music (which is
easier to read than handwritten notation) but the teacher can also ask Sibelius
to play the music back. If a student has submitted a piano sonata or a string
quartet then this would be easy for the assessor to play on the piano. However
if a student has submitted a twenty-part symphony, this is a lot harder for the
teacher to play let alone hear in their head.
Sibelius also allows the students
to save every moment thorough the compositional process and can “replay the
electronic sketches in exacting detail” (Spruce, 1996, p. 96) . This may be of
little interest to the pupil however the teacher may use these fragments of
composition to track and assess the compositional progress and process (Spruce,
1996, p. 96) .
These three applications have been
most appropriate and useful aids to my teaching. I feel confident in using the
software discussed in this blog however I will not be too proud to suggest that
there is not room for improvement with the use of technology in my teaching
practice. Reflecting on my use of technology thus far, I recognise that the
software I use has remained the same for some time and the ICT module of my
PGCE PCET course has challenged me to experiment with other technologies to
enhance my teaching. The further skills that I need to develop to ensure my
teaching include; being more confident in using the SMART or interactive
whiteboards and also to branch out and try using some quiz based applications
such as Kahoot!
Though technology is not essential
for effective teaching and learning, it is nevertheless important for teachers
to keep refreshing their technology skills and abilities. This, of course, is
due to the speed at which technology itself is changing. One important element
of building relationships with our students is ensuring our knowledge of
current media and technologies is relevant. We need to keep educating ourselves
about these technologies because it is our job to communicate with our learners
in a way that is accessible to them, even if it is “out of our comfort zone”
and even if it is not always necessarily a comfortable experience for us.
References
Jarvis, M., 2015. Brilliant Ideas for Using ICT in
the Classroom. New York: Routledge.
Petty, G., 2014. Teaching Today: A Practical Guide. Fifth
Edition ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Spruce, G., ed., 1996. Creativity as Creative
Thinking. In: Teaching Music. London: Routledge, pp. 87 - 97.
[1]
Caroline Usei, Lecture notes from “Preparing to Teach”, September 2015.
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