Pedagogy Presentation

Having recently received feedback from my teaching of Music 533, the one thing I was disappointed with was the inability to play a musical example via the speakers in the room.  Although I was quickly able to recover from this, and in hindsight probably should have had a reduction of the song ready to go so I could still play it on the piano, the issue highlighted one of the problems with using such technology in the classroom, something that has arisen quite a bit recently in my peers’ presentations.  Although technology is a great asset, if we do not have full control over it or do not have a legitimate reason to use it, we should leave it out of our presentations, as it will more likely detract from the overall purpose of the lesson.

I’d like to start with the availability of almost every example we can think on Youtube.  As instructors, we’ve gotten into the habit of opening up the site and navigating to a video we would like to show during class.  This approach has a few drawbacks.  First of all, we cannot ensure that a solid Internet connection is available 100% of the time, meaning we may not have access to our example.  Second, and something that has come up quite a few times recently, is Youtube’s approach to monetization and the recent influx of showing ads at the beginning of a clip.  As seen in class, things can get out of hand pretty quickly when a Snickers ad comes up when you’re expecting Chopin, and student engagement can be lost quickly.  Because of these factors, I would advise that any examples, whether audio only or video, be downloaded ahead of time to avoid ads and possible Internet outages.

One other issue with showing video in class is that instructors must give students the exact reason we are watching a clip before playing it.  Otherwise, it seems to me that the majority of these are time fillers.  At the very least, teachers should know exactly when in a clip the example they want students to reflect on or listen closely to occurs, otherwise we may listen to two different renditions of a song and never hear the portion of a tune that is being used to demonstrate a topic in class.