Note – Due to some WordPress difficulties, resources will be linked rather than embedded. 

Our presentation was on a resource called Semi-Conductor (https://semiconductor.withgoogle.com/), which is intended to simulate the experience of conducting a string orchestra by utilizing a body-mapping algorithm and a webcam. For an informational video, please follow this link: https://experiments.withgoogle.com/semi-conductor

If you would like to view our slides, here is the view-only URL for the Google slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1iL5TN6zSAVKJsAGQisFTCiz0TvMoa_m12Du1BujuESw/edit?usp=sharing

All facets of this reflection criteria are present in this slideshow: Our inquiry question, pros/cons, the relationship of our topic to learning and teaching in our subject areas, and how we would approach utilizing it in a music education setting.

Personal Reflection:

I thoroughly enjoyed working on this project with Meghan, Mike, Rhys, and Hayley. We had a good mix of music and non-music people, which made it easier for us to find issues with our resources in the particular use case we recommended for it (namely, people who are unfamiliar with conducting). The non-music specialists were fantastic and flexible with the subject matter, and were able to share a lot of useful and interesting perspectives on this resource. 

The most visually noticeable contribution I made to this assignment is the AI generated image on the title slide. It took me quite a long time to find the perfect prompt to generate an image I was looking for, and I think it worked well as a great attention-grabbing visual. I also assisted with the overall aesthetic, layout, and order of the slideshow. Aside from this, we worked collaboratively to discuss the pros and cons of this resource as well as how we would utilize it in our classes. Myself and the other music people spent a long time discussing the particular grades and classes this would work best for, as well as how we would introduce this tool, and I found that to be very useful in guiding our presentation as a whole. This was a brand new resource for me, and it helped me to broaden my horizons in regards to how technology can be integrated into the music classroom. Resources like Semi-Conductor can be a great way to allow students to try things they otherwise might not have a chance to try, and they can be fun and engaging activities for students as well. Though I’m still not certain I will use Semi-Conductor in my own classes (at least until some of the bugs are patched and new pieces are added, if that happens at all), it was an enjoyable process to take a deep dive into this resource. I look forward to finding more resources to add to my tool kit.