Redefining the Musical Landscape : Inspired Learning and Innovation in Music Education

This paper reports on undergraduate music students’ written responses (n=51) to technology use within their university coursework requirements. The students reported a desire to control their own learning when it came to reflecting on how well the technology assisted the development of their understanding. The students’ reflections centered on their technology use and how, as digital natives, they are not as technologically ‘savvy’ and ‘confident’ as might be often assumed. What came through strongly in their comments was how reflective practice can benefit their learning and steer them away from what they consider to be the constraints of technology. The discussion put forward in this paper is relevant to the conference theme of Redefining the musical landscape: inspired learning and innovation in music education in that it reports students’ call for an understanding of their technology needs. As music educators, we need to focus on listening to our students’ learning needs so that we can continue with developing innovation, but not assuming that they are all technologically literate