How can faculty in the subject area of music industry and recording arts be motivated to implement technology to support the curriculum?

Greetings! In this post I have augmented my original question to feature what interventions and actions may be taken to facilitate technology integration into the music industry/recording arts curriculum.  This question calls for an answer to address what is the best way to teach a generation of "digital natives", who are using technology daily for their social lives, and are now emerging from educations that are increasingly supported by technology.

Three strategies that may help faculty overcome the barriers to their technology integration:

First, I believe that it would be helpful to implement instruction about teaching with technology in the education of the faculty members themselves. Specifically, programs that teach audio pedagogy, and prepare music industry educators, like that at University of Colorado at Denver which offers a class called Audio Studies Pedagogy, should effectively include curriculum focused on how to best utilize current technology in instruction. Therefore, new teachers would be prepared to think about how to implement technology into the new courses they teach at other universities. In the article "Teacher Education and Technology: Initial Results from the “What Works and Why” Project", Pellegrino, Goldman, Bertenthal, Lawless (2007) cite Moursund and Bielefeldt (1999) arguing "that in order to increase the technology proficiency of new teachers, teacher education programs needed to increase the level of technology integration in their own programs. (Pellegrino, Goldman, Bertenthal, Lawless, p. 56). Also in this article, they state "that the digital natives who are learning to be teachers and the digital immigrants who are responsible for their training and preparation are at least in the same ballpark when it comes to some of the many uses of technology for educational purposes." (p. 82) According to their study, education schools are wisely implementing teacher-technology training into their curriculum, and Music Industry educators should expect to teach on the same technological level as other content areas.

Here is a video demonstrating how ACU is training pre-service teaching how to integrate technology and modeling current uses:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_BkW6O_k08&list=PL650759BC21AC2A69

Next, school administrators and departments must support current instructors by creating and hosting regular, open technology integration workshops and tutorials. Active training environments that facilitate technology adoption and diffusion are essential for keeping current professors up-to-date with pedagogical strategies.
A great example of this type of facilitation exists at Indiana University at the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning. The link to the site is: http://citl.indiana.edu/about/index.php . This institution hosts teaching resources, faculty learning groups, and regular workshops that intertwines teaching theories and technology.
Here is a sample video available on this site that discusses "flipping the class."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26pxh_qMppE&feature=player_embedded

To enhance the technological competency of teachers, we must make them aware of the technology available to them, how it may implemented into teaching, and then teach them strategies to accomplish this. In the article"Examining PT3 Projects Designed to Improve Preservice Education" Mims, Polly, Shepherd, & Inan (2010). note that "Faculty comfort and proficiency with technology was one of the primary barriers, and was thus the initial focus of many projects" (Jonas, 2004; Mills, 2003). (p. 17) The authors discuss how successful groups overcame these barriers. "In order for teachers to use technology in their classrooms, they must first learn which technologies are available to them. Many PT3 projects facilitated faculty, preservice and inservice competency about available technologies
through workshops and other hands-on activities. These activities appear to be effective in raising
awareness about available resources." (p. 22)

Last, I would like to build upon the previous strategy of offering faculty training workshops by augmenting that departments should provide one on one support to service the participants using the technology. Open support staff that provide assistance with technology integration boost the confidence of the educators using them. Educators must overcome fears of seeming under-prepared by their students, lacking the time to create an effective learning tool, and much more. To ease anxieties, technology specialists should be  available for extended time periods to help taylor instruction to specific lessons, media availability, and answer direct questions. Mims, Polly, Shepherd, & Inan (2010). recommend "one-on-one support by individuals who are, at a minimum, committed to technology integration and preferably have mastered the technology in question. Furthermore, these mentors/ coaches should focus on the needs and interests of individual faculty and preservice teachers rather than
rely on scripted or generic instruction..."(p. 22)

Below is a link to a great, short paper by Hsueh-Hua Chuang, Ann Thompson, Denise Schmidt from Iowa State University, discussing mentoring in faculty technology integration:
Faculty Technology Mentoring Programs: Major Trends in the Literature
This article discusses 4 types of mentoring models and the 6 successful themes in them:

1. Providing Visions for Technology Use

2. Individualizing Technology Support

3. Breaking Down Hierarchical Structure

4. Establishing Open Dialogue and Collaborative Relationships

5. Providing Mutual Benefits

6. Establishing Learning Communities

In summary...

I would like to revisit the question at the beginning of the blog:  How can faculty in the subject area of music industry and recording arts be motivated to implement technology to support the curriculum?

I propose these 3 strategic actions be made at the college level to address the instructors using the technology:

1. Post secondary programs specializing in music industry pedagogical studies must prepare future music industry professors by offering specific training focused on technology integration and teaching. Professors should model ideal technology integration in their own lessons as well.

2. Colleges should offer regular workshops and training interventions to enlighten faculty about the technology and strategic uses they have available to them. Further, incentives to utilize such resources should be provided to increase participation.

3. Individualized, one to one support must be offered to increase proficiency and build instructor confidence.


Here are my final thoughts...

Students of music industry and recording arts programs should have access to a 21st century post-secondary education. Instructors should keep in mind that their pedagogy must be appropriate for the digital native audience to motivate the learner. As educators it is important to understand the SAMR model developed by Dr. Ruben Puentedura and design effective instruction with technology.

 Also, we should keep in mind that "Having basic computer literacy is not enough. Teachers should understand the connections between technology and learning and use this understanding to bring the two together in such a manner that makes each indispensable to teaching and learning" (Lowther, Bassoppo-Moya, & Morrison, 1998) (p.23) As recording arts instructors surrounded by technology to teach our students about, we must be cautious so that the teaching is guiding our use of the technology, and the technology is not driving our teaching! There is alot for educators to think about when designing instruction! The most successful way for administrators to ensure the use of technology and instruction is appropriate and contemporary in their department is to model effective strategies, host training interventions, and supply supportive staff for individualized tutorials.
Thanks for reading!