Modern music education is also digital

One of those teachers is Søren Schauser. He is an associate professor at RDAM and teaches music history, among other things. He believes that it is necessary for educational institutions to keep up with technological developments:

"The inclusion of digital learning is central to a modern education. The mix of texts, short films, beautiful graphics and commenting options resembles how young people communicate in other parts of their lives. The digital aspect has also proven to be extremely effective in our work for internationalisation and inclusion - simply because you get into dialogue with more people," he says.

Creativity and clear communication

For the second year in a row, Søren Schauser is teaching the Nordic Noir course at Global Conservatoire, a digital learning environment developed in collaboration between Manhattan School of Music, Royal College of Music (London), mdw (Vienna), Conservatorium van Amsterdam and the Royal Danish Academy of Music.

Global Conservatoire combines synchronous and asynchronous teaching, which means that the teachers have to approach the task in a somewhat different way than they are used to, says Søren. With qualified feedback from colleagues at RDAM, he has worked to improve and develop his course so that it also works in a digital environment.

"I felt a bit bewildered  in the beginning. The first draft was basically just a few PowerPoints one after the other like I usually do in my teaching. But then I pulled myself together and asked our good colleagues in the administration for help. The result of the joint effort slowly became a more fun, more dynamic, more up-to-date course." 

Especially the asynchronous part of the course requires content, commitment and that you as a teacher are good at communicating what you expect the students to learn, Søren continues:

"The digital possibilities make it much easier to enter into dialogue with all students. And when you articulate clearly what the students should get out of the different parts of the course, it gives the them a deeper understanding of the subject matter and they understand why it is relevant to them. I've become aware of the need to break down the more advanced material into smaller chunks. This is not a deterioration in quality, but rather a very important pedagogical tool."

Impact on face-to-face teaching 

Working with digital learning has also had a positive impact on Søren's face-to-face teaching, as it has made expectations and goals clearer for both the teacher and the students:

"I've personally gained a much broader perspective professionally," he says. "The course was indeed tough in the beginning with all the initial manoeuvres and constant revisions. But once everything is ready, most of it kind of runs itself - all while I'm out making an impact in the world. I've also become more aware of my physical tools. People are much more aware of what they can expect from me and what I can expect from them. So my physical teaching has become more modern and more geared towards people og today all by itself." 

But digital isn't a panacea, Søren continues: "An uninspiring teacher doesn't get more charisma online. But digital learning can be a more intense learning experience because of the personalised side of things."

Distance learning and RDAM DIGI

RDAM has been working with digital teaching for a number of years. The Global Outreach Centre works continuously to develop distance learning technologies and participates in a number of research and development projects in the field. The academy is also part of the Nordplus project, Dig.music. 

The latest addition is DKDM DIGI, which is starting up. At the beginning of the project, a selected group of teachers will be trained to develop small courses with few ECTS credits with the help of a digital learning expert. Søren Schauser is also a part of this, and he believes it has exciting perspectives. The digital module-based course can be a way to optimise learning: 

"People can shamelessly watch the same clips over and over again and thus engage with the week's material to a much greater extent. In relation to DKDM DIGI, the development will mean that we as teachers can make our courses even more relevant. We will have the opportunity to work with semi-professional video recordings and images, and I believe that we will see a growing integration of the music material on the iPad in the long run," he concludes. 

Read more about Global Outreach Centre and Global Conservatoire.