"A Technology Integration Gap" Indeed!

"While... teachers indicated that their general level of comfort with technology was high, their expressed efficacy with music-specific technologies was more moderate." (Bauer, p. 13)

I am a more than proficient digital user.  As a child of the late 1980's, I remember first using a personal computer as a first grade student.  Family access to a computer, however, was not readily available until I was in the fifth grade.  I have strong memories of utilizing an old electric typewriter to type reports and essays (including the maddening process of using the backspace key in conjunction with typewriter correction paper to fix typing errors).  Since then, I have built computers, followed closely the continued development of technology, worked on the summer technology team for a former employer, recorded student performances, worked with Android and iOS-powered devices, composed and arranged music using Finale, and become a "techie" in my professional and personal circles.  My comfort with technology is great.  My efficacy in the educational deployment of that technology, most specifically the utilization of music technologies in classroom instruction, is lacking.

Examining the statistics shared by Bauer, I was surprised to see the how few music teachers use the computer for their own productivity.  The highest response for any demonstrated activity was 21% (burning CDs).  This was shocking, that is, until I realized that I don't utilize technology in my classroom in most of those ways.  I have done all of the things mentioned (writing and arranging, creating with a sequencer, recording live performances, burning CDs, accompaniment, and digital presentations), but none of them are used regularly.  

Bauer identifies that “being able to use technology effectively requires not only an understanding of technology itself, but also of effective pedagogical approaches for utilizing that technology in a particular content area (p. 16).”  I understand how the aforementioned technologies can be used, but I fail to see how some of them can be effectively be integrated into my classroom.  Many of my colleagues regularly use recordings as a teaching tool, recording their ensembles and playing portions of the recordings back to their students.  This process usually serves to demonstrate a musical concept that was well executed or show that a passage needs further refinement.  This is one technology that I need to practice implementing.  It could be of great use to my students.  I do not have much need to write (except for sight-reading exercises), arrange, or sequence music for classroom use at this time. 

It is my hope that as the depth and breadth of my experience with some of these technologies increases, and my “Technological Content Knowledge (Bauer, p. 18) grows, so will my knowledge of how these technologies can be effectively utilized in my teaching.  I look forward to developing my TPACK, and realizing how the dynamic relationship between technical, pedagogical, and content knowledge can affect my teaching and have a positive effect on my students!