EEND676

Collaborative Web Tools in Education Artifacts

1. Collaborative Task: Create A Music Video

This is an artifact I am proud of having created and think I could definitely use in my classroom. I had always had the idea for having my students create a music video, but never really was sure how to execute it. This project gave me that little impetus to move forward and develop something I could use with my kids. The project evolved out of the composition project that I usually have my 5th graders work on in the middle of the year to apply the curricular concepts students have learned in class. While I don't use technology a ton in my music classes, with the introduction of remote learning, I have had to find more ways to use technology in music. Since the kids now have access to WeVideo as a resource on their Chromebooks, I thought this would be a great collaborative resource for kids to be able to use in a creative, musical way. I can't wait to see what they come up with!

5th Grade Music Video Activity

2. Collaboration Activity Remix
The second artifact I chose to include was a revision of a project that I have used with my 4th graders for several years. This is another revised activity that I think I could actually use with my kids as a more collaborative activity. While composing is fairly collaborative in itself, this activity was limited in its ability to allow students to collaborate digitally. I feel like in redesigning this activity with a collaborative rubric in mind, and adding collaborative digital tools, I am giving students more choice and more ownership in their learning with this activity. Usually students enjoy collaborating on the project, and they really enjoy using FlipGrid to record themselves. By adding more digital collaborative tools I am hoping to give students more options for engagement and collaboration from a digital perspective. This is another activity I am excited to use with my students!

4th Grade Wacky Rhythm Collaboration

Digital Takeaways/Resources

I found some cool takeaways in this class that I know I can use digitally with my students or to develop lesson plans. In addition to some new TED Talks, I also discovered the website The Kids Should See This which has cool videos on every topic imaginable for kids. I have already started uploading some of them to Google Classroom for my kids and am excited to continue exploring this resource. I also really liked Matt Miller's Ditch That Textbook site, which I found several cool, user-friendly videos on how to use Google Tools digitally. He also has a ton of blog posts on different ideas for digital creativity with students. I can't wait to explore more of this resource! A final resource that I plan to explore more this year is Kasey Bell's Shakeup Learning blog and podcasts. This site has a TON of resources with "How To" directions on making digital learning interactive (i.e. creating interactive Google Slides, creating a Table of Contents digital page, creating individual choice boards, etc.). There are so many ideas here I didn't have time to take a look at, but this page is another one that I bookmarked for digital tech ideas.

Reflection on the Course
I have really enjoyed taking this course and exploring the collaborative tech tools that I could use with students. While my class is fairly collaborative in nature, I often don't get the opportunity to include digital collaboration tools with students. Pre-COVID I feel like I had so little time with my students (I saw them twice a week for 25 minutes each) that I wanted their learning to be more hands-on. I have gradually included more technology in my lessons to enhance what I was teaching and to also give students an additional tool to engage in music making. Now that we are completely remote, all students have available is technology for music. While we are making it work, I feel like what I have learned in this class could actually be applied whether we continue remote or if and when I ever see students in a live environment. 

In this class I really appreciated learning all of the new cool, collaborative tools that I could use for music. I feel like they will especially come in handy now with remote learning/hybrid continuing on for this school year. While it has been a challenge navigating technology in this environment, I feel like I have learned new ways to use some of the technology I already am familiar with. I am excited to see what students come up with in these projects that I included, and feel like they are definitely tools that I would use with students. I am excited to see where their collaboration takes them from a digital music perspective!