I have now deleted the original content of this post. Having read numerous articles, including terms of use of You Tube and Canadian copyright guidelines for teachers, it is clear that the use of a downloader for You Tube material is not morally acceptable.
I write this, my first real blog post about Music Technology and Education, as an administrative employee at Atlantic Canada’s largest university School of Music. My position as Music Technology Specialist seems to be almost unique in its place on the org chart - I’ve Googled other MTS’s to try and get a handle on what they’re doing, and it seems that almost all are faculty with this additional function, likely born out of a technological interest. I’ve yet to find one hired as an administrative employee, as I have been. My administrative status creates some difficulties. Although I get on well with the faculty here, there is a definite divide between us. I don’t attend faculty meetings, don’t have access to the same resources and hardly ever even step inside a classroom. Without a proper structure and communications channel with the people I’m serving, I’m lost. I feel something of a piggy in the middle, since I also have no budgetary control. That might change over time, but for now, I know nothing more about whether we as a school can afford to do anything than the faculty do. That also creates difficulties, or at least a barrier.With my manager, I am now putting together a framework for technology needs at the School of Music. There is no technology budget, and anything that we get by way of grants tend to be one time deals that are not always the good news they sound like. Upkeep, maintenance, reliance and eventual replacement become a burden to a department without the funding to continually support them. We started two weeks ago to put together a framework that is now a very extensive list of bullets that gives me more information than I could ever imagine from a two-pager. As we fill in the blanks, we get closer to starting the actual plan itself. Key to the success will be my communication with faculty, and an enthusiasm that wants to engage them in a two way process. Actually, three-way if you include the students, and I fully intend to. In fact, so far I’ve spent more time helping the students to improve their technology skills than I have faculty.I hope to make this, not the total content of my blog, but at least a series on the development of a plan. I hope it interests someone out there, and I’d love to hear comments from technology people elsewhere, particularly those on the faculty side who might have some insights for me! If there are any Music Technology Specialists who are hired under an administrative contract, I’d really love to hear from you.
This is an edited version of the original post…
I now have a new RSS feed on Music Education and Technology.
This comes out of an initiative I have started in my job as a Music Technology Specialist at Memorial University of Newfoundland, and as a Music Educator blogger wannabe over at MusTech.net. I have recently started a blogging page on Music Education and Technology which will have a restricted audience on campus here at Memorial, so I figured that the best way to share my own blog entries with a wider audience, is to syndicate from my own site, www.studiobeemusic.com. I hope to provide an article as often as I can, on the problems we face and the solutions we find. I am not an educator myself, but my job is to help those who are. I also have a personal interest in virtual studio technology, including extensive use of sample technology in my own personal composition work, which spans many genres.
For a brief bio on me, please click on the About button.
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