e. Planning the Work of Learners

In the case study teacher's experience, planning the work of learners using this technology is quite straightforward. He has access to a room where his class can share computers on a one-between-two basis, he knows how to use a variety of composition packages, and he has undertaken some experimental modeling on pieces in his package as part of this preparation for this work.

Your case might be different. Firstly, do you have access to a computer room or do you have machines in your music room where pupils can work alone or together on this activity? Secondly, can you run composition software on the relevant machines using your school's network? There are other, technical questions, but these are less important than the educational questions. Consider those below before you start planning the series of lessons in detail.

• How long will you take to deal with this area of work from start to finish, including the production of homework if this is relevant?
• How much of this time will you spend using the technology, and how will you decide between arrangement and composition?
• How do you want to order the use of ICT for learning and assessment - do you want it blocked or staggered, and will you need to circulate pupils around it in circumstances where not all pupils can use computers at once?
• How will you plan to ensure that all pupils are spending time using ICT for the best purposes in their learning of Music?
• How will you ensure that pupils do not simply 'play' with the technology, so that they have appropriate technical and musical direction while maintaining personal freedom to work?
• How will you ensure that students avoid simply improving the presentation of the work with ICT rather than learning better as a result of using it?

These questions are crucial at this stage, and you might want to discuss them with colleagues and/or your mentor before you create a scheme of work that includes the use of ICT, however rough the scheme is at the beginning. Once you are happy that you have a plan of how to use ICT effectively for the work you want to do on composition and arrangement, you should go on to consider some lesson plans for actually applying it in the classroom.

Part 2: Teaching with ICT