2010: Smart Technology in Music Education
Dr. Eric Wiltshire, Assistant Director of Bands for the University of Oregon
Dr. Wiltshire was recognized for his use of interactive white board technology to provide his students with practical, real-world experience as they begin their careers as music educators. Smart Boards are increasingly employed in K-12 schools and new educators are expected to be familiar with this technology.
Interactive white boards are particularly suited to working with non-western character sets and, of course, music notation, as it does not rely on a keyboard for character entry. Understanding his students’ need and the suitability of SMART technology in music notation and instruction, Dr. Wiltshire pairs sound pedagogy with Smart Boards to prepare his students for successful careers in music education.
The innovations are found in the integration of this technology into the curriculum of future music educators. Dr. Wiltshire imports scores of music for his students to annotate and mark-up in their lessons. In addition, Dr. Wiltshire uses, as a companion, the music notation software “Finale” to compose, demonstrate, create lessons, and evaluate his students. The use of “Finale” on a Smart Board allows the whole class to easily interact and participate with the musical score. Changes can be easily saved for later retrieval as well as shared out to his students through the school’s course management system.
Dr. Wiltshire created an instructional video of his methods for training other faculty at his institution, and it has been met with great enthusiasm. As a result, faculty have come to Dr. Wiltshire with requests for training on the Smart Board and on the use of the companion Smart Notebook software, in the hopes of enhancing student engagement.