Digital Culture & AudioVisual Challenges

The mass-scale adoption of technological advances has posed new challenges and perspectives on education by placing issues including digital literacy and technical competence on a high priority not only for students but also for educators. In that context, the Special Program for the Certification of Pedagogical Sufficiency of the Ionian University Audiovisual Arts Department aims to provide prospective teachers of art subjects with the necessary theoretical and practical training for utilizing new technologies to enhance the learning process. One such technology are mobile tablet computers. Fundamentally characterized by their mobility and tactile interactivity, and further expanded through the interconnectivity facilitated by digital networks, these “smart” devices can realize complex and challenging educational scenarios in accordance with modern learning theories. However, despite the abundance of literature supporting the integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in education, tablet computers have not been systematically explored as the means to achieve learning objectives.

This research attempts to contribute to the systematic utilization of tablet computers for art-related educational purposes by suggesting a classification of mobile audio creative applications in terms of two prominent elements of their operation that significantly shape their educational role: the reliance on a system of rules, and the communication of that system to the user. According to these criteria all applications under examination can be placed on a 2-dimensional matrix, which can then be used by educators as a roadmap, when selecting the appropriate interactive components for the design of the intended learning process. The proposed classification discerns between “Music Education Games” and “Ear Candies” in terms of the degree, in which the causal correlations governing the creation and development of the musical content is disclosed to the players. In parallel, both categories can feature the presence or absence of an explicit set of rules evaluating players’ input.

Our paper is structured as follows. First, the implementation of ICT in education is briefly discussed focusing on the responsible extrinsic (first-order) and intrinsic (second-order) factors: the learning environment’s infrastructure, resources, and official planning regarding the former, and the educators’ technical knowledge, biases, and vision regarding the latter. Furthermore, factors thwarting a holistic research approach are mentioned. Subsequently, the third-order factor referring to the actual design of technology-based educational programmes is mentioned. Then, issues regarding Mobile Learning (m-Learning) are discussed with emphasis on the differentiation between instrumental teachers, who use tablets as upgraded tools within their existing educational practices, and innovative teachers, who reshape their strategy in pursuit of a novel pedagogical vision. Benefits and disadvantages of m-Learning are also described, as they have been reported in current literature. Finally, the suggested classification is analyzed and respective examples regarding applications and their integration into educational scenarios are given.