The following are actual comments made by participants in our workshops on the post-workshop
evaluation form.
We have a new dean who is anxious to incorporate interdisciplinary
courses. [My partner] and I will be able to incorporate a project within an
established course to test out both the interdisciplinary concepts as well
as lean about the pros and cons of distance learning/teaching.
I enjoyed this workshop because I have never done anything like this before.
I know that I am not a computer science person, but I have learned a good
deal.
I really enjoyed the workshop and am excited to explore the different ways
we might realize what we have learned. Applications to my own research as
well as teaching are exciting.
This was a nicely balanced workshop: lecture and participation. The pace was
excellent. Viewing and commenting on other’s work was very useful.
This workshop was VERY helpful. I think we will go back to our university and
propose an interdisciplinary course on computational thinking and music.
I thought there was a great balance of “doing,” presenting, and discussion
throughout. Thank you!
Having two days to work with my partner and develop a plan to implement when
we return to school was an invaluable experience. The workshop sparked
many ideas and the people I met were great contacts. I look forward to
working with many of them in the future. Thank you.
I learned about new tools in teaching music based on new educational
technologies.
I thought the workshop was a wonderful experience to work with several
members of my school. I enjoyed having time to work with our projects.
However, at times I felt like I had to rush to wait. I think it would be
beneficial to have projects from past workshops to be shared.
A huge variety of ideas in how to combine computation and music was energizing. I
envisioned a “dry” course, but the ideas and technology shown at the workshop were eye
openers.
The networking aspect of the workshop was wonderful as well as the in depth
discussion in interdisciplinary learning. THANK YOU!
This workshop had several strengths: (1) modeling one learning activity
(found instruments) as an icebreaker and actual collaborative, creative
activity, (2) variety of presenters and “angles” on the content, (3) ample and
meaningful time and support to work in interdisciplinary pairs to create
the steps in an action plan, (4) collegial environment was very conducive to
fostering collaboration. Well done!
I have some experience with working on interdisciplinary projects including
computing and music. It is hard to evaluate how much new I learned.
However, I definitely benefited from meeting with like-minded colleagues
with different backgrounds, and I plan to start a collaboration with
colleagues from other schools.
This was an invigorating experience and one of the best I have attended in
recent years. One of the surprise benefits was the peer group that was in
attendance. Thanks for a great experience!
This has been a very inspiring experience. I suspect that at my school, the
barriers to incorporating music with computation may be higher than some
other participating schools, but still, a seed has been planted, and I
would like to do what I can to join the two. What was most inspiring to me
was hearing the ideas of other participants.
This has been a very inspiring experience. I suspect that at my school, the
barriers to incorporating music with computation may be higher than some
other participating schools, but still, a seed has been planted, and I
would like to do what I can to join the two. What was most inspiring to me
was hearing the ideas of other participants.
I especially enjoyed learning about physical computing and Scratch. I would
like to learn more about this.
I enjoyed this workshop immensely. I appreciated the connections made
between the commonalities of computational thinking involved in music and
computer programming. Rather than presenting specific ways in which an
interdisciplinary course could be created, this workshop presented larger
concepts and technological constructs that could then be left to the
collaborative imagination of workshop participants in order to craft
interdisciplinary approaches that might be relevant and connected to the
respective communities of those involved. As much as I appreciated the
time to work and brainstorm with my collaborative partner, I would have
preferred more attention to the specifics of the technology being explored
at UML (Scratch, Audacity, hardware modifications). I feel the
presentation of some specific technological/musical
implementations/experimentations at UML would have helped to inspire more
ideas. UML is doing impressive work and demonstrating the accessibility of
such work to others in varying aspects of education. This forward thinking
work serves to break down barriers that are often constructed
(intentionally and unintentionally) in education, and serves to foster a
more holistic mindset toward curriculum and pedagogy.
I enjoyed the hands-on part of the course and was pleased that we were able
to complete a sample project for my Scratch class. Thank you for the
opportunity and for sharing numerous resources.
Overall, great workshop. Well organized, interesting, and useful. I loved
the requirement to come with a partner, and I was able to have in depth
discussions with my partner that we usually don’t have time for on campus.
I already had significant experience in planning and teaching
interdisciplinary classes, including computing and music. It is hard to
evaluate how much new I learned. However, I definitely benefited from
meeting with like-minded colleagues with different backgrounds.
Seeing what can be done with the Makey-Makey was inspiring.
The workshop was very good. I am not sure how you recruited the participants
but it was very nice to have people from different states and different
disciplines. I particularly enjoyed Friday morning’s brainstorming session
on interdisciplinary possibilities. I was also very interested in Alex’s
presentation and demonstration of software and various sound devices. I
just wish we had a bit more time for programming.
Thanks so much to all of you! I really appreciated your hard work!
My impression of this workshop is that the intention is to plant seeds for
collaboration, and I think it met its goals nicely. Personally, I feel that
the emphasis at our school is too narrow and we don’t encourage
interdisciplinary collaboration enough. Perhaps, with what I’ve learned, I
can at least try to start to change that culture.
Although the workshop was presented as primarily geared to college and
university-level educators, with openness to the possibility of
secondary/other faculty, I feel there might be space for further expansion
to primary and secondary level educators. As a secondary teacher, I can
see the value of this work with my students, and can also envision
comparable age-appropriate collaborative experiences for younger students.
I feel a more directed offering toward primary and secondary teachers would
be beneficial, as well as the presentation of pragmatic approaches toward
scheduling, funding, and logistics that are specific to
teachers/students/institutions at various levels.
