How Technology is Used in other Schools - Part 1

I've decided to write a few posts about how technology is being used in other schools around the district. At Euclid I am keenly aware of the uses of technology, but I wanted to look outside the box and see what's going on elsewhere - maybe it will give us a few ideas to try there in addition to what we already do.

My first post is about the use of technology at HHS in their music department. Here's a quote from the ETAC presentation given back in Sept. 2008.

"Who thought technology could be used in so many clever ways to enhance H.S. marching bands and orchestral group participation! But Kevin Keena Band Director showed a number of ingenious ways technology has improved both the student learning curve and provided an integrated participation both in and outside the music classroom. Kevin embedded a beautiful audio of the wind ensemble band he conducted as background music on his website. For parents, the website contains announcements, schedules, answers to frequently asked questions and required forms. There are links to LHS and AHS high school band sites and links for every instrument used in the program to aid students who are having difficulty with fingering techniques, or rhythmic issue. Kevin makes use of an MP3 player to record band rehearsals, students upload the rehearsal, listen to themselves practice, and then provide feedback on how they thought they performed and what could be improved. Finally, Kevin incorporates a link that can illustrate animated drills for the marching band so students can more easily see where they need to be on the field and why.

I like that they use the HHS website for communicating to parents - we do this with our site too - our music teachers post all the upcoming evening performances for the year and provide a lot of additional detail for parents too - how to obtain instruments, expectation for students and much, much more.