Campus Review Volume 26. Issue 4 | Page 8

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Students from Sydney©
s Northern Beaches Christian School
featured in the trailer for a MOOC on modern music. Photo: USYD

Name that tune
MOOCs now playing for teachers who need to
keep up with modern music’s evolving scene.

I

n the ’60s, it was rock ‘n’ roll that got the kids’ ears ticking. In the
’70s and ’80s, hip-hop, disco and heavy metal had their glory
days. Now, the compendium of emerging electronic genres is
just one of the many beats of today’s youth.
Meanwhile, older generations scratch their heads and ask
themselves, ‘Is this really music?’
Don’t fret, millennials love a bit of ABBA. But as music changes,
music education has to change with it. That’s the message Dr
James Humberstone, former school music teacher and Sydney

Conservatorium of Music lecturer wants to broadcast to the world.
Humberstone argued most music teachers today, in schools
and universities, are brought up in the classical music tradition.
Unfortunately, he stated, this is not the musical tradition in which
today’s children immerse themselves. Rather, kids source their music
mostly online and find it integrated with electronic instruments and
tools, even if it may be of a more traditional genre.
As such, Humberstone thinks music teachers must evolve
as well. Though he did concede there are often good reasons
teachers are reluctant to do this.
“For many music educators, this means stress,” Humberstone
explained. “We’ve got to remember that most music teachers have
done their 10,000 hours of learning, plus, on their instrument.
Musicians, as a general rule, train longer than doctors and lawyers
to become incredibly expert at something. It can be a little bit
daunting to learn the newer technologies. You’re not going to just be
able to put 10,000 hours in and become an expert on performing,
composing, improvising and arranging with technology.”
To help, Humberstone has developed a MOOC titled ‘The
Place of Music in 21st Century Education’ for teachers to gain
an understanding of reconciling old teaching practices and
pedagogies, which he said are still essential, with digital learning
and the new genres of music. Humberstone argued the MOOC
isn’t about telling teachers what sort of educator they could be,
but rather how they can make their music teaching practice more
relevant for students. n

Teaching needs a metric

Adelaide Education Academy looks to address
the lack of universal measures for quality.

T

he lack of an effective metric for
teaching quality is what has led to
the profession being undervalued
at universities, a chemistry professor in the
Adelaide Education Academy has said.
One of the new participants in
the recently launched University of

6

Adelaide-based academy, professor Simon
Pyke, said that while research quality
has many metrics, such as Excellence in
Research Australia data, “we don©
t actually
have a mutually understood and agreed
upon framework about what the quality of
learning and teaching looks like”.

When asked why this was the case, Pyke
said it was hard to quantify exactly but
thought the unchecked carrying-on of
tradition was a major factor.
“It’s largely historical, because we were
in an environment where the only metrics
that were regularly measured and that
carried weight were ones that pertained
to research and there really hasn’t been
a national agenda around learning and
teaching until relatively recently,” he said. “It
was assumed that people would do their
learning and teaching roles but they were
valued for their research.”
Professor Warren Bebbington, U of A’s
vice-chancellor and president, wants
teaching to get the same recognition
as research. Though he conceded “in
a research-intensive university, it is a
challenge for staff to be recognised
as real academics for teaching alone”.
The Adelaide Education Academy
hopes to fix this by opening up exclusive
teaching grants and a pathway for an
academic to be promoted to professor for
teaching alone.
“By establishing the Adelaide Education
Academy, we are saying teaching is
a noble career in a university, with its
own unique rewards and privileges,”
Bebbington explained. n