In class
In my opinion any type of distraction, may keep the students from learning the correct way. Remember we are training these people who will be working on vehicles that can kill.
Hi Damaso!
You make some very good points in your post. I think that it is still a new concept for instructors for which we don't have out the bugs worked out. I do agree that it can be very useful under the right circumstances with the right music. Good luck!
Keep up the good work!
Jane Davis
ED106 Facilitator
I have not used music in the classroom, I felt that music could be distracting. But now I can see how using soft easy music at proper times could be beneficial to the student body. Such as, perhaps while doing debriefing. It could also worked in Lab even though more concentration is need it, again it's matter having the right music.
In my kitchen setting, students will hear calming music when cutting precision knife skills. they will then hear more upbeat music when they are cleaning to facilitate quick work to be cleaned and out before next immediate class enters kitchen. works like a charm...
in my class i like to play some music because it helps them keep the pace in there work. so that it feels like time is passing by faster.
I think timing is everything, Music can help if is used appropriately. It is the instructor’s responsibility to create a safe learning environment.
There are classes music can work in and some it might not. During lecture you want the information you provide to get accross to the students not the words in a song. I do know controled misic does help in lab to help break up the silance and if there is none the students start talking about other things that might effect their work more. We are teaching them for the real world and most places do allow music in the shop.
I agree that having music in the class room at the appropriate level and something that is not distracting would benefit the students. I have on more than one occasion had students request some type of music. I know for me it helps me get in to a groove with working and time goes easier through my day. I tend to find it distracting, not having music on in the lab portion of our course.
I dont think the Disco Duck has the appropriate beats per minute to aid in creating a calm environment. Many of our students would prefer to listen to rap or hip hop, which is again outside of the beat range. The volume is important as well - anything too loud is a distraction.
Greetings Charles,
You make a good point. Each instructor should evaluate the best time and place so learning is not interrupted. The one thing that hasn't been mentioned is that instructors must be comfortable using music in the classroom - that it doesn't become a distraction for the facilitation of learning to take place.
You have to be the judge of what works best for your and for you!
Keep up the good work!
Jane Davis
Ed107 Facilitat
Any distraction in the class/lab environment can cause for a fatal mistake to happen. We are here to TRAIN these ypung kids to our jobs.... In the shop, yes, I hade a radio. Here in our training environment students need to focus on the job at hand. Not dance to the Disco Duck!
Distraction in the classroom is to a point unavoidable with the mixing of students. Keeping control of the class is your responsibility. Inserting subtle distractions at the appropriate times can aide in the learning process. Once again, subtle distractions break up the monotony of the day, making the students enjoy the class more.
Music can be used without it being a distraction, even in the shop enviroment and or in the classroom music can and is relaxing and allows one to concentrate on the work in front of them. Without putting the customer in harms way, you might be suprise that the job was done better!
This is true but it depends on the student so we have to make it so all students are on the same and fare game plan so we donot have one student being distracted.
We are teaching very detailed mechanical skills and hopefully increasing cognitive ability, the ability to 'see' problems before they arise
Any outside influence engaging brain will not be helpful.
There are plenty of disctractions going on in 'normal' (for our industry) environment.
In some ways I agree with you; the use of music, colors, and aroma therapy may work for some types of learners but could be extremely distracting to others. You seem to be teaching groups who are extremely task focused and using these techniques, particularly together, could be very counter-productive.
I think if you're working a task oriented training you could certainly use the color reinforcement of task order, importance, and hazards; i.e. in military training using red as a warning, critical, or emergency step that has high danger if done incorrectly. In addition, I think the utilization of some of the indirect learning elements are effective as well.
Thanks Michael, true, each instructor must weigh the benefit of these types of suggestions in regards to what they teach. They should be a support, not a distraction. Yet, particularly in highly process oriented and detailed environments, they can potentially add to the learning environment if used effectively and at the right time.
Thanks again for your observations!
Jay Hollowell
ED107
I agree that during lecture any thing can be a distraction to student.I think a controled amount of volume and type of music is sometimes good to calm the class and helps with their learning.It always happens that a few will go at the radio and make a good thing bad.Teaching in the mechanical feild it is very important to make sure the student is actually getting the task done right or someone can die,if some can not work with music I would tend to lose the radio.
I agree that when in lecture music can be a distracftion. but when in lab I beleve that it can be relaxing and help the learning experience
i am not in complete agrement with you about that have you ever been sucessful at haveing a class with no distracton at all and if so and i say that with a IF SO was it a success or not it could be somthing as simple as have your shirt not buttoned properly
