DabbledooMusic is a free online resource for classroom-based creative music-making designed by musician, composer and educator Shane McKenna, in collaboration with visual artist Killian Redmonk.
Using a system of animated music notation (developed by Shane in 2008), the tool aims to encourage creative music performance and composition activities. Unlike conventional notation, this system is designed to be accessible and engaging for students and teachers with any level of musical experience, from beginners to professional musicians. The notation consists of colour-coded shapes and symbols, which are animated to suggest musical concepts and which give structure and direction to group performances.
The resource is particularly aimed at primary schools where an Internet connection to an interactive whiteboard or large screen will give teachers full access to a growing range of musical activities and games.
Over the last four years Shane has explored this new type of musical notation through workshops, installations and performance in Ireland, the UK and the USA, and presented his work at the International Symposium of Electronic Art 2011 in Istanbul.
Since 2011, together with artist Killian Redmonk, he has used this experience to create a series of educational resources on a free online blog. The blog offers a step-by-step introduction to the area of animated music notation with an accompanying component for teachers to develop and share their ideas and lesson plans.
New resources are being added each week, and developers Shane and Killian are encouraging teachers and students to try out this method and to get in contact with any comments or contributions.
According to Shane: “the main aim of DabbledooMusic is to get people making music together regardless of experience, ability or what instruments they use. What users get out of it is mostly up to them. With a bit of creativity, practice and teamwork, we hope this resource will encourage hours of musical fun and learning”.
Click here to find out more about DabbledooMusic.
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May 04 2012 | e-learning | No Comments »
Finally! The official Moodle mobile app for iPhone is now available for download from the Apple App Store. 
Features include:
- A Record Audio function with the option to upload your recording to to your Private Files area in Moodle
- Access to the list of participants in your courses with options to send a Moodle message, add a note or add user contact details to your mobile address book
- Offline mode with automatic synchronisation when you’re next online
Find out more on the Mobile app documentation page on Moodle.org.
That app only works with Moodle 2.1 or later; mobile web services must be enabled on your Moodle site.
As Moodle is an open source project, support the community and join the discussion on the Moodle for mobile forum.
Help the development of version next of the app by reporting snags on the bugtracker, by selecting Moodle for Mobiles as the project.
Now I have no reason not to upgrade my own Moodle implementation to version 2.1: I’ll report my experiences of using the app when I’ve got it plugged into my site and working.
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September 19 2011 | e-learning | 1 Comment »
George Siemens and Stephen Downes, those inveterate provokers-of-thought in digitally-mediated education, are co-facilitating what will probably be an innovative and timely online learning program titled Connectivism, Networked Learning and Connective Knowledge, beginning January 12th 2011.
According to the authors,
Connectivism and Connective knowledge will explore the concepts of connectivism and connective knowledge and discuss their application as a framework for theories of teaching and learning. It will outline a connectivist understanding of educational systems of the future. This course will help participants make sense of the transformative impact of technology in teaching and learning over the last decade. The voices calling for reform do so from many perspectives, with some suggesting ‘new learners’ require different learning models, others suggesting reform is needed due to globalization and increased competition, and still others suggesting technology is the salvation for the shortfalls evident in the system today. While each of these views argue for the need for change, they overlook the primary reasons why change is required. This course will tackle the deep rooted change pressures and explore why systemic response is required.
As this is an open online course, participation is open to everyone; you need only register here and subscribe. Throughout this course, participants can use a variety of web-based technologies for learning, including:
- blogs
- Second Life
- RSS Readers
- UStream
- …and so on
Course resources will be provided using gRSShopper and online seminars delivered using Elluminate.
The curriculum includes the following topics:
- Week 01: Connectivism?
- Week 02: Patterns
- Week 03: Knowledge
- Week 04: Unique?
- Week 05: Groups, Networks
- Week 06: PLENK
- Week 07: Adaptive Systems
- Week 08: Power & Authority
- Week 09: Openness
- Week 10: Net Pedagogy
- Week 11: Research & Analytics
- Week 12: Changing views
This course will provide participants with credits in the University of Manitoba’s Certificate in Adult and Continuing Education and Certificate in Emerging Technologies for Learning.
Click here to access the University of Manitoba’s course page:
http://www.extended.umanitoba.ca/Courses.aspx?id=77000009
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January 11 2011 | e-learning | 3 Comments »
