Student Technology Gap

Every now and again, I will have a conversation with other educators about the use of technology in the classroom.  I always find it very enlightening to discuss this topic as it servers to help me refine my own methodologies in the area.  Once in a while though I get comments like, "You know, the kids know far more about his stuff than we do." 

When I was first developing the concept for the Contemporary Music and Sound program, having not even begun to create the curriculum, I was presented with this theory by two, highly respected arts educators. To be honest, my initial reaction was to be a bit shocked.  It seemed so odd to me that educators of any level would infer that students had nothing more to learn; or worse that there was some sort of generational gap that prevented anyone of a certain age being a viable instructor.  Odd.  Truth be told, I later came to learn the comment was more a reaction to the CMAS concept as a whole and a sort of veiled effort to block its creation in the first place. Obviously, the success of the program rendered this mute, but I digress (as usual)...anyway...

What I have become more fascinated with over the years is the realities of student understanding of technology.  Here is my current sense of this subject:  In some ways my earlier mentioned colleagues are correct-students today do seem more inclined to use technology than say my parents were.  But where they seemed to have missed the point is in the details.  For example, the willingness to use technology does not necessarily correspond to a real understanding of the technology.

Here's an example:  Year two students get to a point where they are ready to take their recording sessions they have created in Pro Tools and transfer them to a more consumer friendly medium - an .mp3, for example.  Now the task of learning to record to in Pro Tools is not simple. It takes a considerable amount of work, concentration and self-discipline and effort on the pat of the student.  There is a massive technological understanding required of the student be successful, even with the most basic of recording sessions. Frankly, it is one of the most enjoyable educational moments to witness as a student successfully crosses that ability threshold. 

To that end, if we go with the theory posed by my colleagues, and even forgiving them to somewhat myopic view that the use of a DAW such as Pro Tools as something a student could easily gain on their own, their logic falls tragically short in the creation of the final .mp3.  Ironically, I even fell a bit prey to this kind of thinking at first.  The file format conversion to the .mp3 format is, I had thought, a fairly simple process in, for example, iTunes.  Without intending to follow my colleagues lead, I assumed that all my students had a rudimentary understanding of programs like iTunes. After all, they all seem to have iPods or mp3 players of some kind, so it seemed like a fairly obvious conclusion that they understood the format conversion process - certainly to get he data onto their players they must have done the convertion, otherwise they would have nothing to listen to.

It turns out however that their understanding was limited to a very specific set of circumstances.  Change even one of the variables and they could not be successful. It's kind of like when I drive a car.  If there is gas in it and it is operating"normally" I can pretty much drive as needed to whatever destination is required.  However, if there is some issue with the engine, I have absolutely no idea what to do to make the car function normally again.  Not a clue.

And so I now see the implementation of technology in education as a function of process more than anything else.  It's not so much teaching the student which buttons to press when, it's more about teaching them how the button works.  Not so much the mechanics of it, but how it "talks" to all the other buttons - how they are interrelated - how their proper use accomplishes a specific task more efficiently.  Even better is when the student learns to make self-imposed critical evaluations of new, in some cases, as yet to be covered in the curriculum, topics.  "I took the ideas of this thing and wanted to see how they would work in application on this other thing."  Even if the result is less than perfect, the exploration of the process is being cultivated and in the long run that kind of inclination or instinct is invaluable.

Closing on a cynical note, one of the colleagues I mentioned has retired and the other, I think, is soon to follow.  Makes me wonder if in retirement, they'll be calling their grandkids to get instructions on how to use the TV or if they'll be brave enough to open the manual and learn it for themselves.

Turn up the silence - are iPods and other mp3 players the enemy?

Many of my students are, at times, of the impression that I deliberately try to act against their own sense of logic.  Now, to be fair, there is probably some truth to that idea, though not in the manner they identify. 

One example would be my desire for a fairly quiet learning environment.   Keep in mind that I run a music program.  A rock music program.  But here's the thing: the issue is not so much the "quiet," it's the need to be able to accurately hear everything.

This has been one of the more significant learning experiences for me in developing and facilitating the CMAS (Contemporary Music and Sound) program.  I guess I've been doing so much of this kind of work for so long that the notion of being able to really hear the details seemed kinda self-evident to me.  Apparently not.

On the other hand, it's not really the students' fault. The proliferation of iPods and mp3 players (I have a treasured iPod myself) has been a really good thing in many ways, except perhaps for one:  they create an artificial sense of auditory isolation.  I say artificial because the fact is that by listening almost exclusively in headphones a person simply does not hear the elements of the recording accurately. Not even close.  It's just the physics of it. (See my comments about crossfeeding for more on this and how to get around the problem.)

So they have learned to hear very inaccurately, and this inaccuracy has created a false sense of auditory reality when they work.  The toughest lesson I find for even my more advanced level students is the process of replacing their past auditory expectations with new, more accurate, instincts.  It takes a while, but it certainly can be done; and it's very cool when one of them takes a step forward on it, but it definitely takes some pretty serious patience to say nothing of deliberate, work on their part.

Like everything else though it is a process.  One I suppose I have become somewhat hypersensitive to.  I love my iPod but actually use it almost exclusively as part of my car audio system - I rarely use it with headphones.  In fact, now that I am so obsessed with crossfeeding, I am not certain I could use it with headphones and not go a bit nuts without some kind of CF workaround - gotta look into that I suppose.

Anyway, back to my students and my love of messing with their logic - it's really not about the silence, it's about being able to hear.  On the other hand, I always know when a student really has learned the key elements of the program: when they are able to make the distinction freely on their own.  Who knows, maybe in this case, logic is over-rated.