In the field of technology enhanced-learning and teacher education, most studies deal with internet use, teaching strategy, composition, performance, and music therapy (e.g., Webster, 2007; Finnay & Burnard, 2009). However, the nature of the interaction between children and music machines, and its effects on the learning processes and aesthetical education, is still neglected. At the same time, the impact of the new technology on the pedagogical scenarios is still poor, also because of the lack of collaboration between technological and pedagogical research. This underlines the need for further research in this area. Within the framework of the Musical Interaction Relying On Reflexion (MIROR) project, the MIROR platform was proposed as an innovative adaptive system for early childhood music and movement education, and applied to a variety of contexts such as general educational settings, musical and dance schools, music and arts organisations, families at home, therapeutic contexts, and teacher education programs. The MIROR platform was conceived as a virtual environment composed by several applications that implemented the reflexive interaction paradigm (Pachet, 2006; Addessi, 2013; 2014) within technology-enhanced learning. At the end of the MIROR project, three applications were implemented: (1) MIROR-Impro, for music improvisation, (2) MIROR-Compo, for music composition, and (3) MIROR-Body Gesture for music and dance composition. They were developed on the basis of the “spiral model of collaboration” pursued by the MIROR consortium, by the engineers of Sony team and of the University of Genoa, in cooperation with the MIROR partners experts in psychology and pedagogy of music, which are the Universities of Bologna, Athens, Exeter and Gothenburg, and with Compedia Ltd, Israel, who specialise in children’s educational software. The experiments carried out during the MIROR project by the psycho-pedagogical partners showed that the MIROR applications can enhance musical creativity and flow state in children and act as a pedagogical device in classroom context with the support of the teachers. They also highlighted several lists of problems and user requirements that need to be implemented in order to improve the pedagogical efficacy of the MIROR applications. Most of these issues have been tackled during the specification process of the MIROR Project (cfr. Addessi, Anagnostopoulou, Newman, Olsson, et al., 2013. See also the complete list of publications on the official website). In this article, we first introduce the IRMS and the reflexive interaction paradigm. We will then present the educational implications of reflexive interaction in the fields of children’s music education, music teacher education, and music education of teachers. Teachers’ training classes are in fact one of the target group of the MIROR platform. Indeed, the platform can be used to foster the music and motor creativity of teachers, as well as a tool to learn how to use the reflexive interaction paradigm as a new way to teach music and dance. In this paper we want to focus on the use of the MIROR applications in the field of teacher education.
Reflexive technologies for (music) teacher education: Theoretical framework and practices with the MIROR platform
ADDESSI, ANNA RITA
2015
Abstract
In the field of technology enhanced-learning and teacher education, most studies deal with internet use, teaching strategy, composition, performance, and music therapy (e.g., Webster, 2007; Finnay & Burnard, 2009). However, the nature of the interaction between children and music machines, and its effects on the learning processes and aesthetical education, is still neglected. At the same time, the impact of the new technology on the pedagogical scenarios is still poor, also because of the lack of collaboration between technological and pedagogical research. This underlines the need for further research in this area. Within the framework of the Musical Interaction Relying On Reflexion (MIROR) project, the MIROR platform was proposed as an innovative adaptive system for early childhood music and movement education, and applied to a variety of contexts such as general educational settings, musical and dance schools, music and arts organisations, families at home, therapeutic contexts, and teacher education programs. The MIROR platform was conceived as a virtual environment composed by several applications that implemented the reflexive interaction paradigm (Pachet, 2006; Addessi, 2013; 2014) within technology-enhanced learning. At the end of the MIROR project, three applications were implemented: (1) MIROR-Impro, for music improvisation, (2) MIROR-Compo, for music composition, and (3) MIROR-Body Gesture for music and dance composition. They were developed on the basis of the “spiral model of collaboration” pursued by the MIROR consortium, by the engineers of Sony team and of the University of Genoa, in cooperation with the MIROR partners experts in psychology and pedagogy of music, which are the Universities of Bologna, Athens, Exeter and Gothenburg, and with Compedia Ltd, Israel, who specialise in children’s educational software. The experiments carried out during the MIROR project by the psycho-pedagogical partners showed that the MIROR applications can enhance musical creativity and flow state in children and act as a pedagogical device in classroom context with the support of the teachers. They also highlighted several lists of problems and user requirements that need to be implemented in order to improve the pedagogical efficacy of the MIROR applications. Most of these issues have been tackled during the specification process of the MIROR Project (cfr. Addessi, Anagnostopoulou, Newman, Olsson, et al., 2013. See also the complete list of publications on the official website). In this article, we first introduce the IRMS and the reflexive interaction paradigm. We will then present the educational implications of reflexive interaction in the fields of children’s music education, music teacher education, and music education of teachers. Teachers’ training classes are in fact one of the target group of the MIROR platform. Indeed, the platform can be used to foster the music and motor creativity of teachers, as well as a tool to learn how to use the reflexive interaction paradigm as a new way to teach music and dance. In this paper we want to focus on the use of the MIROR applications in the field of teacher education.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
