YouTube has really revolutionized learning in almost any life context you can think of. I've personally used YouTube tutorial videos for many DIY and "How To" projects such as repairing a damaged ceiling in my house, replacing the headlights in my truck, and installing a new screen door on my porch. I constantly observe my music tech students look up YouTube tutorials on how to play certain songs on guitar or bass or when they have an operational issue with a DAW they can't figure out. More than likely if there's something you want to know how to do, there's someone out there in the world that can do it, and has made a video showing us how.
As someone who did not grow up in the digital age and has watched this shift, it's amazing but also intimidating. As an educator, I can't help but think that free, any time accessible lessons on any subject make students less likely to want traditional classroom style instruction. Their attention span is shorter because they're used to "consuming" what they learn quickly similar to how they consume anything online. They're less likely to believe they have to commit anything to memory because the answer to any problem they encounter is on a device in their pocket. Why should they put it in their brain?
If we look at how Napster and iTunes changed the recording industry by eliminated record stores, and Netflix killed video rental stores, it can be safe to say that YouTube may be putting many private lesson teachers out of work. Why pay a guitar teacher or travel to a music store for a lesson when I can learn my favorite song for free at my house on my phone? The universal access to free information on YouTube is exciting and convenient, but scary at the same time.
YouTube also gives students another source for hearing music. In chapter 5 this week Bauer discussed the difference between hearing and listening. I really appreciated this distinction. As a band director I stress constantly the importance of listening throughout the ensemble for balance, blend, intonation, style etc. Listening can be hard work. Hearing is easy. The digital music age has made hearing even easier. I think music educators have a real challenge today to get these digital native students to "slow down" and listen to music. This is counter-intuitive to putting ear buds in and consuming music.
Hi Justin,
ReplyDeleteYour post was a delight and interest to read. It is amazing how YouTube has transformed how people receive and dissect information on a daily basis. In relation to the academic classroom, students can easily view how to accomplish any certain task from a variety of portable devices. In support of using YouTube to learn home improvement, my father has recently retired and has taken up cooking. He learns all different types of cuisines from around the world right from the convenience of his own home. He never used to cook dinner when I was growing up; however, now he cooks for my mother about five or six days a week. In short, YouTube is one of the best websites to utilize as an educational resource.
On the other hand, your perspectives with private lessons may be valid but humbly needs a rebuttal. Both my wife and I teach privately as a piano teacher and a clarinet teacher. A lot of concepts and tutorials, about how to accomplish a certain task on an instrument, are possible via the Internet. However, the ability to absorb the style and personality of a teacher takes a person to person experience. Without being blinded to technology though, private teachers can implement blogs for feedback when the student isn’t at the lesson. I plan to have a private Facebook group with my clarinet students and ask them to submit playing a particular passage via video or audio format. With this push, I can guide a private student, even though they may have a lesson once a week. Nevertheless, I enjoyed your post, and I wish you best as we finish up this course!
Thanks for your post. You bring up some great points that got me thinking about how difficult our job as music educators is becoming. We want to teach students how to slow down and listen when our culture's priorities are speed and efficiency. While I've accepted that student's attention span is getting shorter, I am also very concerned about students who don't feel the need to commit anything to memory. I can easily understand why they would think that way when a world of information is available from their smartphone. Personally I have been struggling with what do I want students to "know" and remember from their general music classes. I have been realizing that if I can help them develop skills and a musical vocabulary, that will hopefully help them no matter how they interact with music in the future. This could open up a whole debate but my point is that students can access information easily so my job as teacher is not to necessarily give them all this information but rather teach them how to use it. Enjoyed your thoughts this week!
ReplyDeleteIt can definitely be a challenge to teach our students the value of working hard to learn something new and delaying gratification. With so many resources available online instantly, there may be a shift in how students learn, but one that isn't so different from how we learned. Instead of learning everything, we learn where to find information as we need it. That way, we free up brain functions to focus on other things. Why waste space when we can store in our memories how to find the information instead of the information itself? There are, of course, both pros and cons with this method of learning and using information.
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