Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Week 10


School districts have been buying new technology products in the school systems. Apple products have been extremely popular in schools due to the fact that Apple products are easy to use with little technological knowledge. Computers, while they have slimmed down, are still bulky and hard to give every student easy accessibility to one. Many schools are investing in iPad’s and every student receives one. This makes it easier for students to carry around with them and also cuts down on having to buy new textbooks. While the initial cost of the technology is probably astronomical, they school probably saves money year round on paper and book costs.
Music teachers can actually use iPad’s in the classroom as well. There was a commercial on TV that featured kids playing instruments on tablets. The same idea can be brought into a music classroom. Buying instruments and keeping the instruments in good shape can drain a music department’s budget and the apps that recreate the instruments could replace them. Of course, it would not be advised for a band class setting. Nothing can replace the sound of real instruments but for general music classes, students can experience making music from a complex instrument without years of training and instruction.
There is also an iBook that is significantly cheaper than an actual textbook called “The Interactive Listening iBook”. Not only does it act as a replacement for a textbook, it has so many extra features where a normal textbook would fall short. There are built in music examples, games, videos and quizzes to check if the information is being retained. Music teachers can bring Beethoven into the 21st century by using the technology available to them. Students are much more excited to learn about things when some part of the lesson is relevant to them.


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