c.
Helping Learners Develop Their Own IT Capabilities
Whenever
the pupils in the case study are using a computer to learn, they
are of course not only developing their Music skills but also
their ICT skills. It is important to distinguish between one thing
and the other, and also for us as Music specialists to know when
a pupil is learning to use ICT as well as learning to understand
composition and arrangement.
If
pupils used all possible resources - and maybe one or two extra
that you thought of - the very least they would have developed
is the following range:
- Loading
software - the composition software.
- Accessing
the files in the software, and creating and saving their own
files.
- Basic
skills of mouse and keyboard manipulation.
- Printing
- if the pupil was encouraged to print his or her composition
for records.
- Using
hardware beyond the simple computer setup, depending on your
own classroom's configuration of machines.
- Modeling
and simulating real events, and in particular using the software
and hardware your computer uses to create a variety of sounds.
It
might be interesting to look back over your own lesson plans to
see where these things happened, and even to look at the IT curriculum
as it applies to pupils at Key Stages three and four and GCSE
to see what they are doing in your subject that is contributing
to their development in the IT arena. All case studies in all
subjects in this series make this same statement, so crucial is
the pupil's awareness of and use of ICT to his or her own learning
in other subjects using it.
It
is worth trying this exercise:
- Identify
what pupils are doing with ICT in the Music tasks you have set
them.
- Identify
whether what they are doing is a basic motor skill such as moving
a mouse, a technique where they have to follow steps or a higher
order skill where they have to plan and make decisions.
- Identify
the areas of the IT curriculum at the pupil's key stage to see
whether work you are doing with him or her can be linked to
learning in the IT area.
 d.
Assessing Learning
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