Technology
Rick Dammers
Rowan University
856-256-4500 ext. 3720
dammers@rowan.edu
http://users.rowan.edu/~dammers
Social Computing Part II: Supporting Musical Learning
MySpace page for your color guard, for trict’s web policies. While this is still a gray
T
he advent of web 2.0 (sites that
allow for the shared creation of
example. It is a good idea to periodically area, some school districts have viewed stu-
content) creates great potential
check your class or ensemble’s web pres- dents’ web activities as falling within the
for music instruction. The shared ability to
ence, in order to be aware of any potential purview of school rules. School policies
create the website allows students, in many
issues. For high school ensembles, a pro- should also be consulted prior to setting up
different types of music classes, to construct
active policy, providing guidelines for stu- a project on an alternative web 2.0 site.
their own musical understandings and share
dents and/or parents maintaining social By creating a space on the web for a
their learning with others. Web 2.0 sites are
pages for the ensembles is advisable if you class or ensemble, a teacher can guide the
particularly useful for addressing standards
don’t prohibit the creation of such pages energy of social computing into a project
that tend to be neglected, specifically,
altogether. A proactive policy can help that supports students’ musical learning.
describing music, evaluating music, and
avoid a web presence that reflects poorly on These spaces can be created for free, in a
understanding music in relation to history
the ensemble and/or violates a school dis- number of different configurations. Four
and culture. Since web 2.0 sites can include
audio and video content uploaded by the
user, student writing can be closely con-
nected to musical material. As most stu-
dents can access the Internet outside of the
music class, it is also possible for them to
work on web 2.0 based projects outside of
the class period, extending student learning
without sacrificing rehearsal minutes.
As I mentioned in the March 2009
TEMPO, it is best when approaching a web
2.0 project to use sites other than the pop-
ular social computing sites such as
YouTube, MySpace, and Facebook. Mixing
school uses on primarily social sites runs the
risk of creating the ‘creepy treehouse effect’,
which is the web terminology for when stu-
dents feel that the teacher is invading their
personal online social space. Alternative
sites, such as NING, PBWiki, and
SchoolTube, allow classes to have a separate
space, and greater control over content and
access. These sites are also less likely to be
blocked a school’s firewall.
While these alternative sites (discussed
individually below) are optimal, it is still
possible that your class/ensemble may show
up on YouTube, MySpace, or Facebook
without your knowledge. This could be a
video of your spring concert, a video of a
proud beginning band member, or a
TEMPO 28 MAY 2009
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