CAI, SMART boards, and Accompaniment Gererators

The article that stood out to me this week has to be the one that focused on having only one computer in a classroom, and using it for classroom activities. Even the pictures in the article speak for themselves. There is a large group of students, straining to see a small screen. I think that this article needs to be updated, perhaps to include what a SMART board can do. While I believe that there can be a focus on one thing, perhaps it is more logistical to have a large screen for all students to see comfortably.

The article on CAI is exactly right, and I believe that music teachers are in a unique position to really utilize the technology available. Perhaps it is the saturation I am experiencing through this course, and having my PLN set up with that focus, but I see so many opportunities for music educators. The CAI article explores the many facets of this technology, including student and teacher based uses. It demonstrates the wide range of things that can easily be accomplished in the music classroom using the resources available.

The final article, Automatic Accompaniment Generators, presented ideas on how to fully utilize accompaniment software. I believe that this article expanded the idea further than what we did in class in past discussions, and I think it had some very valid points. I especially liked when the author discussed intonation issues. As a string specialist, I feel that this area can be difficult to address. The very nature of a string instrument makes intonation very vague for young students, and listening to an accompaniment can help create a tonal foundation. Overall, I found this article to be more thought out than some of the previous ones on accompaniment ideas.