This week in class, I really related to using technology with purpose and having intent with our incorporation of technology in classes. As a music educator, this is a principle I interact with often, because everything we do has to have intent, particularly in the music we select. The aspect of multiculturalism and representation and making sure that music is a piece to lead to meaningful learning for students musically, culturally and holistically. Teaching a piece from an under-represented composer is good, but it becomes tokenism instead of actual representation. This context translates to technology, and asking yourself as the educator “Why am I incorporating this? How will it benefit my student’s learning and reach the learning outcomes?” Intention versus Function is incredibly important, and it’s also a part of authentic assessment and having integration in a meaningful way is important for students to buy in and own their learning. For me in my practice, SAMR will be most beneficial, as I believe in giving students multiple avenues to express their learning and understanding, so allowing them to demonstrate understanding in a way meaningful and personally effective manner is great to have them involved and excited in their learning.
For the use of Audacity, I have actually used it to create music before! In one of my theory courses, we were assigned to take sounds from an environment, and edit them using basic effects (to mimic cutting a tape recording) and create a piece from that. The style is called Musique concrète. Mine was from a series of bells that were very close to a concentration camp, and I manipulated it using audacity. I named it “As Bells Toll”. Here it is! My interaction with the program doing this encompassed many of the same techniques it would take to edit a podcast, particularly in making cuts and layering sounds (Like background music) But I made some music! this is also a great way to get students who may be interested in creating and composing involved and giving them an ‘in’ to music, and does not require prior knowledge. Unfortuantly, the file will not open anymore, I am not sure why. I have tried many options to open it but none will work. I would appreciate any advice in opening it. It is an .aud file. I am hoping to create something with Audacity over reading break, and I have an idea of what I want to do, but need the time to execute it well!