Mix Up/Mash Up
Stephen Heppell, who has been called "Europe's leading expert on online education and learning spaces", argues that we've entered a period of post-appropriation with technology. In the past, he argues, teachers would co-opt technology (whether it was the slide rule, calculator or lap top) for their own ends. But you needed a one-size-fits-all approach. Now, students are able to bring their own technology, but requirements for everyone to have the same device is outdated. So it's clear that Heppell's other concepts, including Bring a Browser, are going to be very important in the future of technological learning, particularly with more schools adopting the BYOD approach.
Enter the Mashup
So what might it look like to engage with a post-appropriation digital age? One idea that is frequently mentioned but less frequently adopted is mix up/mash up. This involves taking elements of various compositions and sounds and putting them together to make something new. And in popular culture, this is certainly not without precedent. Artists like Danger Mouse, Girl Talk and Madeon are most well-known for their mashups.
The song above is a mashup of 39 popular songs, and the result is something quite incredible and definitely original. There is so much potential here for teachers to engage with mashups! It immediately grabs students' attention, because they are able to use music that they like, but also they would need to learn about putting things in the right key and tempo, and get really creative about how they put the sounds together.
The world of electronic music is vast, and if teachers want to engage with the musical cultures of their students, they need to be at least aware of the important musical developments that have happened in the last 75 years with electronic music. In our lecture James Humberstone suggested that there might be new core content, which I quickly took a photo of:
For those who are finding that a little difficult to read, here is the list I was given (which could be the start of your own explorations in electronic music):
Theremin repertoire (TBC)
Varese - Poeme Electronique
Cage - Cartridge Music
Xenakis - Electronic Music
Reich - Come Out
Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells
Wendy Carlos - Switched On Bach
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
Vangelis - Chariots of Fire (main theme)
New Order - Blue Monday
Squarepusher - Feed Me Weird Things
Aphex Twin - Window Licker
DJ Funk - Ghetto House
Vangelis - Blade Runner
Nine Inch Nails - Closer
Dr. Dre - The Chronic
Kanye West - Yeezus
Michael Jackson - Thriller
Pink Floyd - On The Run
Lilly Allen - The Fear
Digital Game-Based Learning
The second half of the lecture (12B) focused on the potential for technology-based games to be used for educational purposes. Rebecca Ly, who gave a guest lecture on this subject, noted that there were a variety of opinions out there about whether digital game-based learning was effective for education. Interestingly, she noted that based on research, a gamified curriculum (i.e. one where you get levels, rewards and tokens for completing work) would not lead to increased academic success, as this has been shown to decrease intrinsic motivation. However, other forms of digital game-based learning, such as staff wars and flashnote derby, could arguably help to reinforce concepts and make them interesting for students.
Overall, it was an area that I hadn't really thought much about, but that definitely deserves more attention. I look forward to Rebecca producing more research in this field.