I’m predicting praise for endless (#filtered) audio clips

Stuart Legg · Post by **Stuart Legg** » 29 May 2018 9:25 am

Well this is the time of the year for graduation but I never thought that I would be blessed with an hours worth of a person shamelessly over estimating the value of just graduating from his first downloaded PSG course this week. Sayonara Downloaded PSG primary, hello downloaded PSG middle school. I suppose there should have been speeches and a song, recollections and recommendations. Come next week, he’ll be chucked into the murky waters of downloaded PSG middle school to swim with the big fish.
That’s right, PSG folks: in 10 short weeks his digital macaroni art tab and phonetic spelling intervals of downloaded PSG primary school days will be but a mere (#filtered) memory. Not quite the big league, but the minors for sure.

Stuart Legg · Post by **Stuart Legg** » 30 May 2018 11:05 pm

“Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth learning can be taught.”
— Oscar Wilde
Folks did not come to Socrates to learn philosophy, but rather to hear Socrates’ version of philosophy (and his wicked and witty attacks on other people’s versions), just as they went to other philosophers to hear (and learn) their versions. In other words, teaching was understood as public exposure of an individual’s perspective, which anyone could take or leave, depending on whether they cared about it.

Stuart Legg · Post by **Stuart Legg** » 31 May 2018 9:44 am

All around us people are learning with the aid of new technologies:
These developments are changing how people think about education. This rethinking will take many years to fully penetrate our understanding of the world and the society around us. To be successful, we will need to grasp these changes in a deep way and bring resources to bear on the problems raised by the changes that are happening. We will have to rebuild our vision of a new education system around these new understandings.

Fred Treece · Post by **Fred Treece** » 31 May 2018 10:54 am

I admit, after reading your opening post I could not figure out what the heck you were talking about. Your follow-ups have made your point a little clearer.

It is definitely a brave new world out there for music educators and students alike. Marking progress with event announcements like ”On to middle school”, “just finished Book 1”, or “Moving on to next video series”, will always be part of the process. Just like in regular school, there will be straight-A students and there will be ones that barely make it to the next grade level.

Generally speaking, the straight-A people will be more productive members of society, with a higher probability of becoming leaders, in music and general society alike. But we all know there is always the chance for an educational underachiever to also rise to the top, sometimes for the good and sometimes not so much.

The value of an education method is result-based. Measuring the result has to based on some kind of control, which, for the field of music, has some pretty well-defined technical norms. There are non-tangibles in music that are difficult to measure, of course. But I am not convinced that those non-tangibles can be taught anyway, and measuring them is an entirely subjective matter.

When digital teaching methods become more refined and standardized, I believe we will find little difference between that and more traditional classroom or private instruction methods. Other societal variables will influence educational method development too, so it is not just going to be a matter of how one can be improved to dominate the other.

An interesting few decades lie ahead of us, indeed.

Stuart Legg · Post by **Stuart Legg** » 31 May 2018 10:51 pm

Thanks Fred for your input and great insight!
Well no more beating around the bush and I'll just come right out and say it. If you want progress in PSG, more students and more youthful interest "it's the smartphone stupid"
New technologies create learning opportunities that challenge traditional schools and colleges. These new learning niches enable people of all ages to pursue learning on their own terms.
People around the world are taking their education out of school into homes, libraries, Internet cafes, and workplaces, where they can decide what they want to learn, when they want to learn, and how they want to learn.

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 1 Jun 2018 6:26 am

People around the world are taking their education out of school into homes, libraries, Internet cafes, and workplaces, where they can decide what they want to learn, when they want to learn, and how they want to learn.

That's all well and good, Stuart, but who will hire these newly self-educated "smartphone scholars?"

John Spaulding · Post by **John Spaulding** » 1 Jun 2018 9:53 am

The Teacher Is Ready

All Of The Above

Fred Treece · Post by **Fred Treece** » 2 Jun 2018 11:04 am

Barry Blackwood wrote:
People around the world are taking their education out of school into homes, libraries, Internet cafes, and workplaces, where they can decide what they want to learn, when they want to learn, and how they want to learn.
That's all well and good, Stuart, but who will hire these newly self-educated "smartphone scholars?"

The first Smartphone Scholar Graduate millionaire, thatâ€™s who. There are probably a few of them out there already. I have two nephews who couldnâ€™t have been bothered with college, and went straight into steady IT work. One of them is barely 40 and is a semi-retired consultant with a pretty enviable life in Barcelona.

Stuart Legg · Post by **Stuart Legg** » 4 Jun 2018 5:34 am

I notice that more and more at the Country Corral everything is just about Bluetooth and Smartphone and even converting the sound system to where everything is controlled via tablet. We've almost done away with the PC completely except for Video and Sound editing software use. Right now we are operating with 2 PCs 2 tablets 1 laptop and 3 Smartphones and a stand alone work station.
This is all well and good but we have got to learn to reach them through their Smartphones if we have any chance of succeeding.

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 4 Jun 2018 8:11 am

I have two nephews who couldnâ€™t have been bothered with college, and went straight into steady IT work.

If they choose to forfeit college for a life in IT that's fine I guess, but what else will they know? Kind of reminds me of that old song,
"Don't know much about history
Don't know much biology
Don't know much about a science book,
Don't know much about the french I took......" etc.

Fred Treece · Post by **Fred Treece** » 4 Jun 2018 8:27 am

Indeed, Barry. Especially true with IT jobs that involve working for companies that are a culture unto themselves, and suck their one-dimensional workers into it. I don’t think college is an absolute necessity for getting a well-rounded education, but it does take some native intelligence, initiative, and self-motivation....like my nephews have

The obvious danger of self-education is there is nobody there to tell you when you have clearly gotten something wrong. I certainly learned that lesson the hard way, damaging my wrist with bad guitar technique.

Stuart Legg · Post by **Stuart Legg** » 4 Jun 2018 8:59 am

The advantage of learning individually with the latest technology is that you can have the views of an infinite number of teachers and then if you are the cautious type you would obviously go with the consensus.
Brick and mortar everybody on the same page Schools dwell mostly on memorizing and most of that outdated and useless (history) in a fast advancing world.
Education can no longer just be about “knowing”, it requires us to focus on the development of soft skills, communication, creative thinking and flexibility.

Fred Treece · Post by **Fred Treece** » 4 Jun 2018 9:32 am

Stuart Legg wrote:Education can no longer just be about â€œknowingâ€, it requires us to focus on the development of soft skills, communication, creative thinking and flexibility.

This is what â€œbrick and mortarâ€ education used to be, before budgets took priority over quality. Time will tell whether smart phone â€œselective educationâ€ students will be so lucky, and develop any skills beyond what can be done with two thumbs on a pad. Not to mention the fact that it puts education ever further out of the public realm and dependent on parentâ€™s ability to pay their kidâ€™s phone bills - exactly what the bean counters have been wet-dreaming for 40 years.

My own opinion is that the internet can and should provide an alternative classroom for traditional style public education, where students donâ€™t need to leave the home but can still interact with the teacher and other students in a virtual environment. Details at 11.

â€œUselessâ€ history? Weâ€™re doomed.....

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 5 Jun 2018 7:23 am

We're also doomed when that solar flare takes us all offline...

Stuart Legg · Post by **Stuart Legg** » 5 Jun 2018 9:12 am

I think off line school snow days would far outnumber online school solar flare days!
I think for Steel guitar School the Steel Guitar Forum is naturally an individual on your own time and terms place to learn.
With the additions of a little more technology and a way to filter personal attacks, The Steel Guitar Forum would be the ideal example of new thinking in Learning.

Fred Treece · Post by **Fred Treece** » 5 Jun 2018 8:26 pm

If you want 5 different ways to get the answer for 2+2, this is definitely the place. For example, you could just lower 6 by 2. Or split 8....Are we talking â€œraise onlyâ€ here?

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 6 Jun 2018 11:09 am

Fred Treece wrote:If you want 5 different ways to get the answer for 2+2, this is definitely the place. For example, you could just lower 6 by 2. Or split 8....Are we talking â€œraise onlyâ€ here?

Hmm...2+2? That was the big Pontiac, wasn't it?

Fred Treece · Post by **Fred Treece** » 7 Jun 2018 12:02 pm

Donny Hinson wrote:Hmm...2+2? That was the big Pontiac, wasn't it?

Good point, Donny. Let there be topic-hijacking in this virtual classroom! And remember, youâ€™re never more than 3 clicks away from free porn! Maybe thatâ€™s the kind of filter Stuart was talking about.

Ford guy here, btw. LOL

Charlie McDonald · Post by **Charlie McDonald** » 8 Jun 2018 6:55 am

#1 I can't tell if that's a hash tag in the title (#filtered), but it doesn't mean a thing to me unless the topic is filtering topics for personal attacks. I dont' know how to do a hashtag.

#2 predicting praise for endless audio clips? What tha hell does that mean?
"Come next week, heâ€™ll be chucked into the murky waters of downloaded PSG middle school to swim with the big fish."
I'm big on fishing, but I have no idea what that means.
I'm just kidding you Stuart, said Bender. It's been a long time that I haven't critiqued you.

It seems to me... that increasingly one of the messages from society at large is to take care of it yourself. Like, at the doctor's you sign a form regularly that's mostly a disclaimer, the kind you wouldn't get at an auto mechanics--well, yes it is--and all facets of the society work on the same principles, that is the symptomatic treatment of... everything.

Elementary school was about socialization. Then it was about learning 'facts.' Then it was 'how to learn', and all during that time I missed that what it was really doing was teaching us how to get a job. Well it was trying to. Yeah, it was about socialization.

So it couldn't be any wonder that teaching and learning come to be found in more immediate media where pursuing individual instruction is the way. It might be the coming way. I don't know if this relates to the topic. I don't have a #filter. Whose idea was it to rename the numeral sign to hash tag? Does that have anything to do with breakfast? Or does it mean pound filter?
Now I get it, it's about internet instruction--wait.. wait.. or is it the .. what was it .. must search .. the f# factor or something, what was that?

Lee Baucum · Post by **Lee Baucum** » 8 Jun 2018 7:17 am

Whose idea was it to rename the numeral sign to hash tag?

Which came first, the numeral sign or the musical sharp sign?

Charlie McDonald · Post by **Charlie McDonald** » 8 Jun 2018 8:56 am

I dunno!

Fred Treece · Post by **Fred Treece** » 8 Jun 2018 10:16 am

Uh hmm...ok, back to the future.

Online educational courses are nothing new. They have been around since commercial broadband started. All due respect, in terms of educational value, the Forum is a reference resource at best and can’t compare with a video classroom headed by a credentialed instructor.

Even if a student were to “self-educate”, it would be good to have some kind of qualifying test system. For music, it’s easy. We have auditions. Either you can play what the band needs you to play or you’re out.

If regular school was about socializing and job preparation, it was a failure. I think it was more about learning how to think in a competitive environment. There was also systematic physical training, art and music courses - all vital to a young person’s development. I loved school up until 8th grade or so, and regard the public system of 50 years ago as a success generally speaking. Absolutely does not work today though, for whatever reasons.

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 8 Jun 2018 2:55 pm

For what it's worth:

Within the last 3 days, I heard a Georgia educator state that many school districts are doing away with textbooks entirely.

Students apparently are issued or supply their own "Chromebook"--a cheap laptop that runs Google's browser.

Instead of textbooks, these students access online content supplied by Google under a contract with the school district.

Apparently, Google develops this content.

Hard to see how that can end well.

This may have been going on for a decade or more for all I know. I have not been inside of or investigated schools in this century.

Mitch Ellis · Post by **Mitch Ellis** » 8 Jun 2018 8:00 pm

My wife and I, (well....my wife

)homeschools our children. We were told that in some of the local schools, they no longer teach cursive handwriting.

Mitch

Stuart Legg · Post by **Stuart Legg** » 9 Jun 2018 8:57 am

What I haven't addressed yet is (#filtered). Simply speaking, everything is filtered online.
A person needs to realize with online learning comes filtered online teachers.
(#filtered) a large number tries, highly edited in order to present a more perfect version than would normally be possible, leading to unrealistic expectations for the person learning who in turn presents him/her self unrealistically online.