EdTech in the Field

About a week ago, I eventually got a chance to teach one of my friends from China how to use SoundTrap, an online music production app I introduced in my last post. The process went not very well but it was still fun and educational. Here are some short responses to the reflection questions regarding this experience.

What did the guests learn or what skills did they gain as a result of this station?

- The guest has basic music knowledge and she learned how to cooperate with other uses when using the app making music

What did you do to prepare for the evening?

- It's funny that you ask. We have a 13 hours time difference so it was morning here in Platteville and it was night time in Wuhan, China. We actually didn't think it's going to be that hard but we forgot Google, Facebook and so on are blocked in China - even Zoom. So we end up using QQ, a Chinese instant messaging app to do the video call and screen sharing. 

How did you adjust for different age groups?
- I wouldn't teach this online to very young children or very old people because they need more direct and practical instructions to keep them on track. Also, latency is a huge problem. Music is about playing in time so for some students with bad networks, they will struggle to understand the time signatures because the audio and video they receive are laggy and delayed. 

If you could do it again, what would you do differently?
- If I could do this again, I'd do it in person so I can provide more hands-on help to the student. If I have to do it online then I'd do it with someone within the country so there's less latency.

Here's a screenshot of the experience.

Also here's the project we made - it's a very popular Chinese song called "学猫叫" ("Meow like a cat")
https://www.soundtrap.com/playlink/4e2315b0-16aa-4bd0-a4fd-28e1922a4ba4/

Choice Project

Recently I have discovered a great online app that can help students make simple music and beats. The website is called Soundtrap. It is so easy that I can finish making a small demo in less than 10 minutes. It requires some basic knowledge in terms of musical instruments and music theory but I believe anyone can figure out how it works just by playing around with it. I think it is a great tool for students who don't have access to a musical instrument to explore what each instrument sounds like and how they work in a band.

Although this app could be more useful in a music class, still it has great potential in an English class. I plan to use it in the creative writing classroom since students will be writing poems, lyrics and so on. I can have my students write some lyrics and come up with a melody in groups. Then have group members cooperate putting together a legitimate song in Soundtrap since multiple users can work on the same project together at the same time. By providing my student tools to make music, they will be more invested in writing creative poems and lyrics. In the end, they will have a sense of accomplishment.

If you are interested in the app, I highly recommend you buy a MIDI keyboard and it's going to make the best experience using Soundtrap. You can usually find a really good 25 keys MIDI keyboard under $50 which is way less expensive than buying a saxophone or a piano. Digital music production is now the trend!

Demo:

Demo mp3

Project:

https://www.soundtrap.com/signup?ref=f706bc935e6c45d44199ea43c51962ac

Feel free to add more to the song!

PERSONAL LEARNING NETWORK

Hey everyone,

    I just put up my PLN. PLN stands for Personal Learning Network, is an informal learning network that consists of the people a learner interacts with and derives knowledge from in a personal learning environment, typically in the style of a mind map. Mind map are diagrams which visually helps organize information.  Many times, they’re used to brainstorm ideas.  It helps show connections between topics and sources.  It is a great tool which allows groups of people to get together and plan, conceptualize, analyze, create and organize information. Although PLN should be more about learning. However, I decided to put in some information about myself as well.

    As you can see from the mind map, my name is in the center of the map, and the lines and bubbles expand into different categories. Since I don’t have much to put for now, I just put some basic resources. For example, my social media (Digital Identify). It is not necessary where I learn stuffs but it’s a great way to know what’s happening around me. And of course, the PLN will develop as I get older and becoming more and more experienced. In the future I will be interact with more and more useful apps and devices to help me becoming a better student and eventually a better teacher.

    In my opinion, this PLN project could be something to represent my digital identity as well. Which is why I also put down some information about my personal interests and my background info. I believe my personal interest will finally become something I will stick to forever. That way, I will definitely learn a lot from it. So why not have some information about my personal interest.

    As a future educator, I need be able to use the social media effectively in teaching the students. I’m pretty sure my PLN will be getting populated more as I go further in my

career, and it’s going to help me in many aspects.

Digital Identity

Hello everyone,

    Recently we discussed our Digital Identity in class and I found it very useful for my future careers. We were put into partner groups and asked to discover each other’s digital identity which are typically our social media sites. For the social media sites widely used in the United State, I have to say, I cannot get them legally in China. However, I was curious enough to figure out a way to bypass the firewall and successfully signed up for Facebook and Instagram when I was at middle school. Yet, for some reason, my partner had a hard time looking me up on Google. I thought she might miss-spelled my name or something, but I tried myself, it still didn’t show up. Which made me wonder if there’s something to do with the Chinese government, preventing people looking up each other on the internet. Eventually, I just gave her my name on Facebook and Instagram, so she can look me up in the app instead on Google.

    In China, we usually don’t use social media in a professional way, for us it’s more of just an entertainment. One of the most popular social media apps in China is called WeChat. It’s like everything in one. In my opinion, Facebook is a social media app first, then it developed the function of instant messaging. Differently, most Chinese social media apps came out as instant messaging apps, then developed its social media function.

    During the process of discovering my partner’s digital identity, I think it’s kind of weird – I feel like I’m stalking someone or creeping on someone. Nowadays, it’s so easy to look up information about someone online. You never know the person that looks you up is good or bad, so I think we need to hide certain information about ourselves. It doesn’t mean we completely close down our social media, just get rid of the information relate to privacy issue.

    Then I made a flyer about my digital identity, I think the information is correct but not enough to really discover who I am, because it’s still very limited. I still prefer to meet and hangout with someone to get to know him/her. However, the benefit of digital identity is that you can have a grasp of info about someone in a short period of time, at least the very basic information.

The following is my flyer, check it out!

Study Abroad at UW-Platteville

     

Nhee Vang

     On March 6th, the program coordinator of UW-Platteville Education  Abroad department, Nhee Vang, gave us a presentation on one of the Pre-Professional Days about the importance of studying abroad. Nhee Vang, who has a degree in education, had studied abroad in Japan when he was in college and he loved it. After that the started work as an education abroad program coordinator for universities. 

     Vang encouraged us to go abroad and explore. Because as future educators, we need to have a broader vision in order to teach better. Also, there wouldn’t be as much time for us to go abroad after college. Why not take this chance to discover and learn more.

Exchange Programs

There are many benefits of studying abroad:

• Life changing experience (transformative)
• Creates an opportunity for personal and professional development
• Creates an opportunity to meet and network with new people
• Develop cultural competency (the ability to interact effectively with people of different cultures)
• Enhance your area of study (major/minor)
• Resume/career builder

Education Abroad Programs

     There are three kinds of study aboard program, one is called Education Abroad Programs. They could be winter, summer, semester long or year long. Another one is Exchange Programs. They could be either semester long or year long, but they have less structure and support. The last one is STFL Programs (Short-term faculty led). They are only available during winter or summer. The fact is that about 150 UW-Platteville students go abroad every year through exchange programs, affiliate programs, short-term faculty led programs, and education abroad programs.

     In fact, myself is currently studying abroad in the United States. I truly know the benefits I can get out of it. It’s a different perspective towards many things compare to the life in China. During the presentation, many student audiences came up questions related to the topic and most them showed interest towards the program. I found myself even want to do one of these programs even I’m already studying abroad. I would like to know if I can do my student teaching in China, that way I can save a lot of money.  

Resources: https://campus.uwplatt.edu/education-abroad

Chinese 101 - Learn Chinese in 5 Minutes