The Transformation of Music Education Through Distance Learning
The Transformation of Music Education through Distance Learning
Introduction
Having grown up in a rural community in Newfoundland and Labrador, I was taught by only three different teachers between grades kindergarten and grade six, in a multi-grade school structure. These teachers had to do everything from providing canteen services to teaching physical education. I did not have the opportunity to have a music program until I was bussed to another community for junior high. I immediately joined the band program and was given a clarinet to play. In my high school a new computer program was implemented by the initiative of our principal. Through this program, I developed a new area of interest. After graduating from high school I was accepted into music school (clarinet) and continued on with my own informal technology education. In my first teaching position, I was given much support by my administration as well as the flexibility to try new things. One of my first initiatives was to set up a computer station in my classroom. It had music software to enhance my own teaching as well for students to use in their own musical development. As I look around to other areas in the provinces as well as to other provinces in Canada , I realize that my students were actually very lucky to have a music specialist and to have the resources necessary to build a comprehensive music program. . This is certainly not the case for all schools across Newfoundland and Labrador as there are still many rural schools that do not have qualified music teachers and consequently the types of expertise that will lead to the development of excellent school music programs. In this essay it is my intent to discuss the origin of distance learning in Newfoundland and Labrador, the significant learning theory of its foundation, the connection of distance learning to music education and my current research.
Upon returning to university to begin a Masters in Education program this
Introduction
Having grown up in a rural community in Newfoundland and Labrador, I was taught by only three different teachers between grades kindergarten and grade six, in a multi-grade school structure. These teachers had to do everything from providing canteen services to teaching physical education. I did not have the opportunity to have a music program until I was bussed to another community for junior high. I immediately joined the band program and was given a clarinet to play. In my high school a new computer program was implemented by the initiative of our principal. Through this program, I developed a new area of interest. After graduating from high school I was accepted into music school (clarinet) and continued on with my own informal technology education. In my first teaching position, I was given much support by my administration as well as the flexibility to try new things. One of my first initiatives was to set up a computer station in my classroom. It had music software to enhance my own teaching as well for students to use in their own musical development. As I look around to other areas in the provinces as well as to other provinces in Canada , I realize that my students were actually very lucky to have a music specialist and to have the resources necessary to build a comprehensive music program. . This is certainly not the case for all schools across Newfoundland and Labrador as there are still many rural schools that do not have qualified music teachers and consequently the types of expertise that will lead to the development of excellent school music programs. In this essay it is my intent to discuss the origin of distance learning in Newfoundland and Labrador, the significant learning theory of its foundation, the connection of distance learning to music education and my current research.
Upon returning to university to begin a Masters in Education program this