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/