I used to work in e-learning about a hundred years ago during the dot.com bubble. Anyone could get a job in some internet start-up, or so it seemed. I barely knew how to turn on a computer and I was employed, because I could spell and because I had a friend already working in the company.
It was a pretty steep learning curve for me.
Comparing the courses we had back then with the structure and tools of this MOOC, I am full of admiration of how well it all works and the way usability has been thought out - loved 'Elluminate', 'Vue' and how personable the participatory experience in general has turned out.
The seeming loss of 'hierarchy' and structure is a little difficult for me to take, but I am sure it is a question of familiarity with the topic and also getting comfortable with relinquishing 'control'.
Getting on top of bookmarking and managing Diigo in a more intelligent way will surely help as well.
I am very curious to see how any of this new knowledge can be applied to the practical part of learning and teaching classical music, for both vocal and instrumental practitioners - I am excluding musicologists. Can the teaching of an 'embodied skill' over distance truly work, or will it be at best a crutch? What would be the practical consequences of the digital teaching studio? How do methods and the didactic structure need to adapt?
Conservatoires and most institutions of HE in music (classical) are still operating to a model firmly rooted in the 19th century. Technology does not get used and taught as much as it should, leaving music students quite often ill-equipped for life as both performers and teachers, where the demands and skill-sets needed have changed beyond recognition.
Hallo, Stalinetta,
ReplyDeletePlay bass, and I listen to Youtube to compare recordings of pieces of music, to improve my own interpretations. But mostly learning is F2F. And try to listen to my recorded music.
Try twitter #cck11 and facebook cck11 for discussion.
@connectiv Thanks for the facebook link.
ReplyDeleteI actually disagree that learning needs to be exclusively face to face. The advantages of distance learning can be manifold, but technology is only just starting to be adequate, in terms of bandwidth, affordability of high-quality microphones and playback equipment.
I have quite a few friends who give music lessons via skype.
There are certain elements of a HE course in music, where modular media-rich content to be 'consumed' at one's convenience would actually be preferable to the class-room based experience.