The world is more connected than ever. While some lecturers are still debating allowing mobile technology in classes, a team of lecturers from The University of Tasmania have been using the affordances of mobile technology to help them improve communication of online video and assessment.

Using Mobile Technology in Music and Art Education

Dr Bill Baker is a senior lecturer for Music and Visual Arts content and pedagogy. A challenge that he and his students were facing was that the learning activities foreground in the tutorials, such as using simple nursery rhymes, songs, and movement activities were not being assessed. Prior to 2017, a typical assessment was a sequence-planned lesson and an argumentative essay.

This year has been the fourth iteration of a shift to mobile technology after Dr Baker realized it was the perfect way for students to record what they were doing for this unit. Platforms such as Echo360 mean that students can create, save, and securely upload videos as assignments. By not having to use a public video platform, students can maintain privacy and share only what, when, and with whom they choose.

‘What I’m doing, in a unit where I use Echo360 a lot, is getting students to record themselves making music and making art and then using that as a tool to reflect on what they are learning and linking it to school curriculum, lesson planning, and a whole range of things,’ said Dr Baker.

He continued, ‘in music, students record themselves doing four music creation things. In the first unit, it’s just three simple nursery rhymes and they can do it on their own or they can do it in small groups. Another example is a soundscape, which means they come up with a theme or a story that they try to illustrate just through improvising with musical instruments and sounds. Their first submission is in four weeks from start of semester which is quite challenging—I ended up also creating videos to describe the process.’

Dr Baker is one of a team of lecturers at the university from across several colleges who have been successfully using video and mobile technology with students. A small grant offered by the university has enabled a sequence of video resources to be created featuring these lecturers as they explain what is possible. 

Hear from Dr Baker and three of his colleagues in these short videos from the resource.

Assessments in Music and Art Education
Dr Bill Baker
Senior Lecturer
Music and Arts Education

 

Students record themselves and use those recordings to reflect on the learning and how it links to their roles as teachers.

 

Practicing Language as a Collective Effort
Dr Isabel Wang
Lecturer
Chinese Global Cultures & Languages

 

Dr Wang explains conversation groups and how mobile technology is used by students to record and submit assessments, leaving more time in class for teaching.

 

Publishing A Manifesto for
Fine Arts
Dr Neil Hadden
Senior lecturer
Art

 

Within the first year of a BFA, students are asked to publish their own manifesto.

 

Using Video to Ease Anxiety About Assessment
Mr Richard Say
Lecturer
Nursing

 

Mr Say and his colleagues created demonstration videos for students of a clinical assessment.

 

 

Learn more: From campus video management, lecture capture, online and hybrid learning and more, contact us to discover how Echo360 can help transform the teaching and learning experience at your institution.

 

 

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