Artifact 2: Elementary Music Teachers Using Technology Course Unit

Executive Summaries

The Elementary Music Teachers Using Technology Course unit was created as part of the ETEC 5243: Designing Technology Based Instruction: Theories and Models course. I created a unit within my course titled Elementary Music Teachers Developing a 5th Grade Musical Composition and based this around the ADDIE model. I worked on building the unit of study on my own. However, during the process of building out the unit in the Canvas platform, I was able to have another student in my class look over my learning objectives, activities and assessments, if the ISTE standards I chose aligned with the lessons in my unit, and give me constructive feedback. The project was completed during the Fall 2021 semester between the months of August and December.

Throughout the semester of the ETEC 5243 course, I learned about several different instructional design models including ADDIE and Assure, the elements of instructional design, and the importance of concept mapping. Learning about these various elements helped me with designing my unit of study. This unit shows elementary music teachers how to effectively teach a musical composition to their 5th grade students. While thinking about what an elementary music teacher needs to complete a composition unit with a class of 5th grade students, I was able to provide resources to help the teachers best prepare their students and learning objectives for the teachers to be aware of as they complete the unit. I also created various assessments to help the teachers gauge where their students are when it comes to knowing about musical composition, assignments for the music teachers to complete that help them create slideshows, presentations, and the ability to review another teacher's work.

Personal Reflections

Although I've worked on building out courses before on various learning management systems, I've never applied my knowledge of instructional design models to their development. By creating this course unit for the ETEC 5243 course, I was able to think through who my students are, what subject area they're learning about, and think through a wide array of assessment opportunities. I planned ways for music teachers to learn while they’re teaching their students. Therefore, they will be implementing the technology ideas they’re learning how to use during the course. Not only did I grow in my ability to create a course unit and use a new learning management system, I also was able to think through areas of growth I'd want to experience as a music educator.

The course I began developing is for teachers. So, I chose to have the teachers going through the course use higher order thinking skills with the multiple choice assessment, to teach the musical composition unit to their students, to create a presentation showcasing them explaining the unit of instruction they created and a sample of one of their student classes work, and then to collaborate with their peers and to get feedback. While building out rubrics, I took my time writing them out and making sure they were easy to understand for the teachers who would be taking the unit about creating musical composition opportunities for 5th grade students. The Canvas platform helped me grow in my ability to create pages, a syllabus, quizzes, and modules.