Technology Assisted Music Learning Week #7

For module 7 we learned more ways to use technology for assessments. I feel that module 7 also provided great examples of how to use technology for administrative tasks. The discussion post for this week prompted us to discuss ways we currently use technology for assessment purposes in our classrooms. We were also asked to discuss ways we use technology for administrative tasks that is used for professional productivity. I use Finale software for assessing students. Finale is a great music notation software in which you can create music through music notation as well as MIDI. For example, one assessment that I have created through Finale was a music notation test. My created music notation test was very helpful because I could create my own test based upon the level and needs of my own students rather than using a pre-created test. My students can also use Finale to create their own music through music notation. For example, I would ask the students to create a 15 measure rhythm in 4/4 time by using half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, sixteenth notes etc. I have also used GarageBand for music creativity assessments. Quite naturally one major difference in the two programs is that Finale is much more costly than GarageBand. I feel that we should definitely incorporate more ways to assess our students through technology. One of my group members mentioned that they use digital notebooks in their school. I feel that a digital notebook is a great tool that can be beneficial to students as well as teachers. Students can become more organized and teachers can track student progress through digital notebooks.  Although we may view band and chorus as performance based classes, we still must find ways to use technology for assessments.

Module 7 also gave us an opportunity to learn more about using technology for professional productivity purposes. I was amazed at how much we can use Google to complete administrative tasks. We had an opportunity to create documents, quizzes, presentations and calendars. I have to admit that I did not know that you could create an assessment through the use of Google Forms and Google Drive. In the past I would just simply create a quiz through Microsoft Word or somehow stumble upon a "ready made" assessment. The good part about creating your own assessments is that you can create assessments specifically for your students based upon the topic and knowledge level of your students.  I really enjoyed creating the newsletter and presentation through the use of Google Drive.  Google Calendar is another technology administrative tool that we became acquainted with. I will definitely begin to use Google Calendar to help me keep track of important dates of performances, meetings and deadlines.