One
popular technology that is becoming more frequently used in classrooms is the
iPad. At first, I thought giving students iPads was a little extreme and an
expensive use of resources. However, as a recent iPad owner myself, I have come
to see that this technology does have many valuable and educational uses,
especially in my content area of music.
I
personally use my iPad often at school in my musical studies, and I have come
to see many opportunities for using it in the music classroom. One of the ways
in which I use my iPad is during masterclasses. As I listen to each
performance, I am able to quickly and easily look up the score on imslp.com for
the piece that is being performed. I’ve found that having easy access to the
score helps me to get so much more out of the masterclass, because I am able to
follow along with the music and see exactly what the teacher is talking about.
I
also use my iPad for my personal study of my repertoire. Using imslp.com, I can
quickly look up different editions of a piece and compare them. Even though I
don’t use the iPad in place of paper sheet music, it is a good way to carry
around a library of music easily for travel. If I need to study my music and am
not able to bring all my books, the iPad lets me carry around all my scores in
one place.
I
also use my iPad for some of my classes that require me to print sheet music
every week. Instead of wasting paper and ink to print examples that I will only
use once for the class, I pull up the PDF on my iPad and use that instead. With
iBooks, I can easily store all the PDFs in a collection for a particular class.
With
apps such as YouTube, Spotify, and iTunes, I can also look up and listen to
many different recordings on my iPad and also pull up the music and follow
along simultaneously as I study the score. I can also share music and
recordings with others quickly and easily. Other apps such as metronome apps,
tuning apps, and keyboard apps are also useful for practicing. Basically, you
can carry around all the resources you need to study a piece of music in this
one technology.
For
schools that are fortunate enough to have the resources to use iPads in their
classrooms, I think it is a great investment. Particularly for the music
classroom, it provides many different features all in one technology. It saves
on paper and ink, and can be useful for students to look at many different
pieces of music and access recordings quickly, and store everything in one
place.
Very good post! I definitely agree that the iPad, along with other tablet devices, can come in very handy in a classroom setting. It is more convenient than carrying around a laptop. It is not completely out of the ordinary to see schools have iPad's for each student, which seemed almost impossible a few years ago. It is definitely something that will be more and more prevalent in the classroom in the coming years.
ReplyDeleteI always thought iPads were the stupidest invention ever . . . until I used one for a lesson. It was amazing. They had Apple TV so everything that was on the iPad went up onto the Projection screen. It was great because I could walk around the room and help the kids without being constricted to a laptop. When the kids had a question I could show them all right up on the screen from where I was standing. It was great! I think every school should provide them. They really are much easier to have and carry.
ReplyDeleteGood topic. I agree to your reasonings, except I'm not a big of fan of using iPad in classroom, because to me i'm more comfortable using computers instead of iPads. Beside, isn't it a bit dangerous for students to have their own iPad in school?
DeleteI was never really a fan of iPads until my mom got one. After using it a few times I noticed how easy it was to use. If schools can afford to supply it then I think it would be a great tool in the classroom. Everything is literally a touch away and with applications such as iBooks, students can make notations and highlight certain quotes just like they would with a regular book.
ReplyDeleteAt first I wasn't a big fan of iPads, but they've really grown on me. As an English major, iPads are great for downloading eBooks and audiobooks. I can also see how they can be used in a music classroom. I know that playing instrument isn't the same on an iPad as it is in person, but maybe you can use the iPad to play sounds that are similar to the ones in person--so that your students are able to at least HEAR a variety of instruments with out physically having them in their hands.
ReplyDelete