I just returned from the Pennsylvania Education Technology Expo and Conference (PETE&C). This conference draws close to 3000 teachers and administrators from Pennsylvania and across the country to share thoughts and approaches on the use and future of educational technology. I had the good fortune to present at the conference again this year, but what I most enjoy about this conference is hearing and sharing ideas with so many intelligent, forward looking educators who see the integration of technology into our curricula vital to the success of our students in the future. I always bring back new ideas to introduce into my own teaching, and feel re-energized and excited about teaching.
I took a couple of important things from this conference – not directly but inferentially through the many different sessions that I attended:
1) Life-long learning is critical to success as an educator. I shared the session rooms experienced educators who have spent years honing their craft. These professionals could easily have chosen to use the same approaches that their teachers used with them, and as their teachers before, but by their presence at the conference, are looking finding new ways to engage and teach the familiar subjects. Yes, I think we could agree that we all ended up “OK,” but will “OK be enough for our students to be successful in the jobs of the future; jobs that may not yet even exist? Like me, I expect many of them feel reinvigorated about teaching when they return to the classroom after the conference.
The Clarion music faculty tries to offer our students good models for life-long learning. We are actively engaged in research projects, present and participate in conferences and workshops, and perform in a variety venues throughout the sate and across the globe. We wish to demonstrate how important it is for professionals to remain active in their fields – not only through our words only, but through our actions, as well. Our students have opportunities to begin fostering this concept of professionalism and service to a broader community through active participation in one of our many student service organizations, and through attendance at many of the same conferences in which the faculty participates.
The concept of “student research” is becoming increasingly important across Clarion University. Students in the Department of Music are encouraged to develop research projects of their own. We wish to support students’ research efforts in any way we can.
2) We must look forward and be creative in our approach to teaching if we want our students to be successful in their careers. I think many teachers would agree with the statement that students change from year to year. The student of today is quite different from the student of 10, 5, or even 1 year ago. They bring to the classroom experiences and skills that are unique to their generation. In short, they are NOT like us, the music faculty. So, we would be making a grave mistake if we attempted to teach these students in the same way we were taught as undergraduate students many years ago. We must find ways to engage these new students in content, pedagogy, and practice that will give them the tools and experiences to meet the changing needs of their own students. With education becoming more collaboration and communication driven, we must give our students the resources and experiences necessary to compete and succeed in their careers
Clarion music students experience today’s technology throughout their coursework. Three year ago, when I first asked students to complete a wiki assignment, I was met with many quizzical looks and some expressed concern about the usefulness of the assignment. Of course, I explained my rationale (which itself is a valuable exercise for these future educators, as they may need to argue the same with their administrators). Just last week, however, I was able to give my students an assignment to create a wiki about Art Songs/Lieder, without having to explain “why” or “how.” They now know the answers to these questions.
Whether it is creating interactive wikis, using the Internet for research and email and instant messaging for communication, blogging about concerts or self-reflections, or collaborating on a Google Doc, Clarion music students are “in tune” (sorry about that) with the application of technology in the classroom because it is being used routinely by Clarion music faculty and because our students are asked to use it as an integral part of their academic careers. Only through good modeling and application of the technology will our students have the tools to function effectively in the classrooms of the future.
The music classroom of the future cannot fully be imagined. Will we be performing in hybrid acoustic and electronic ensembles? Will students rehearse and perform simultaneously online from remote locations? Will there even be “music classrooms?” I do not know what the future of music education will look or sound like, and neither do our faculty members nor our students. However, I am confident that the variety of experiences Clarion music students have with emergent trends in education will allow them to be open to trying new instructional approaches as they arise, and that will, in turn, offer them opportunities to grow personally and professionally throughout their careers.
