Video summary
The K-12 Online Creativity Strand 2017 conference brings together international educators to explore how creativity is integrated into classrooms through various digital tools and artistic disciplines. The presentation highlights diverse approaches where teachers leverage students' existing interests, such as Minecraft, to foster musical composition rather than just gaming skills. In one example, an instrumental ensemble class uses the game's block mechanics to create melodies, with specific blocks representing different notes in a minor key. This method encourages students to experiment with sound and structure, transforming a popular digital pastime into a serious educational project that inspires them to refine their work beyond school requirements.
Educators from around the world demonstrate how technology bridges physical and digital art forms to enhance student expression. Alison Armstrong at Vientiane International School in Laos utilizes Ableton software to teach composition techniques like sequence imitation and inversion, while also collaborating with theater students on Shakespearean scenes by matching music to dialogue and atmosphere. Similarly, Andrew Mifsud guides his Australian film studies class in creating authentic learning experiences where groups produce movie trailers using iPads for storyboarding and audio creation. These projects emphasize real-world application, allowing students to compare their work with peers from different regions and understand the practical connections between technology, storytelling, and artistic theory.
The core philosophy presented is that effective pedagogy must progress beyond simple instruction to actively cultivate creativity through authentic engagement. Tricia at Dryden Elementary School illustrates this by combining physical art creation with digital animation and green screen effects, enabling students to tell complex stories dynamically. The video argues that technology should serve as a tool for reflection and skill improvement rather than just an end in itself, helping learners decide on their future paths. By sharing content via platforms like iTunes U or iBooks, teachers model lifelong learning, encouraging students to take ownership of their education and continuously improve upon their initial ideas through iterative processes.
Ultimately, the conference offers a practical recipe for fostering creativity that begins with a standard lesson idea but adds an element outside the teacher's comfort zone to spark innovation. As educators introduce these challenges, students naturally begin contributing their own concepts, turning lessons into collaborative documents ready for publication and sharing. The collective message from teachers in Australia, Laos, Norway, South Korea, and beyond is that when classrooms become recording studios or creative labs, technology empowers children to discover their unique talents. This approach not only expands the curriculum but also creates an engaging environment where students feel free to express themselves, connect music with literature, and ultimately decide who they want to be in the future through dynamic, tech-infused learning experiences.
Read the full video transcript
welcome to the K to 12 online conference
the 2017 this is the creativity strand
presented by international educators
around the globe I'm very excited to be
bringing them their classrooms and their
students to you in this video we will
start by looking at each teacher along
the journey in how they use creativity
in their classrooms
I'm interested in thinking about using
minecraft because some of those students
are really into that game and they know
a lot about it
to create something using another form
of expression I'd rather you have it
like testing so the tiny for God for a
lot of the students coming from the
elementary school experience he using
makey makey and together to create their
own regional work and so even though our
class is a instrumental ensemble class
they want to continue this tradition of
creating music
using contrast in Minecraft we've talked
about just choosing sound rather than
the coats so you have to find like notes
to each other it matters what the
is that will make that lock what she
wanted to sell myself you be the yes
dirt plus the new block was like the
main melody and the others are tired on
me to it
the students when I've been observing
them get really into like trying
different sounds and trying to create
something that special and you might
seem like it's like things was really
short it was like that time of Lies for
me as an educator it actually has been
an unexpected turn of events because not
only are they thinking of it as a
project they do at school but now
they're thinking about oh I might go
back and maybe I'll try something else
I'll improve on the piece that I've done
for the class which is what we really
want the kids to do
simply
you
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each step in this journey will give us a
new insight from a different educator
around the world here we have Alison
director of music at the International
Grammar School of Sydney Australia
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Oh
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hi I'm Allison Armstrong and I'm here at
vientiane International School in Laos
where I teach music to students
completing the International
Baccalaureate diploma I've been teaching
here for three years and during that
time I have used the digital audio
workspace or da W Ableton to familiarize
my students with new ways to compose mix
arrange whatever you want to call it I'd
like to share with you two projects that
use Ableton and Ableton push one of the
projects uses MIDI and the other uses
audio both use the session view screen
to look at composition as chunks of
ideas my 15 year old students begin by
writing a theme using MIDI in GarageBand
the rules I set are that it must be in a
minor and only use whole half for
quarter notes it's a little difficult
shifting the MIDI from GarageBand into
Ableton but not impossible they also
learn about compositional devices such
as sequence imitation augmentation
diminution inversion contrasting using
staccato and legato octaves tempo and
dynamics in the next stage of the
project they meet with a theatre student
in the middle of acting or directing a
scene by Shakespeare they take notes
about the kinds of music that the
director or actor is looking for and
they pay attention to the intended
audience the purpose of the scene and
the music within it the atmosphere of
the scene the main characters and their
movements and how they need to fit their
music around the dialogue after
modifying their theme and adding an
accompaniment pattern or drone the
students send me their MIDI files and I
import them into Ableton they sit with
me to ensure that the sounds I choose
line up with what they have in their
heads
some students from around Southeast Asia
were visiting the school and I knew we
were going to have three days to learn
some choral music the creation of new
music is important to me so I decided to
create something from scratch for the
event my 12 year old students had
recently shared with me a list of songs
that they loved and one seemed perfect
to arrange and that was DJ Antoine's
thank you I was running out of time to
put it together so I simply listen to
the song with my headphones on and
improvised harmony to flesh out the song
that felt pretty pleased with myself at
the end of it so I then combined the
harmonies together in Ableton and I
started to notate them and then I
thought what are you doing it's going to
be much easier if you literally just hit
play in Ableton and teach the kids the
song that way so that's what we did
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our next video comes from Norway
presented by elder who is a fellow apple
distinguished educator his students have
created an amazing soundscape sound to
picture installation
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you
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jane-marie to lease is a fellow
Australian educator in this video
she asks students to question what is
music
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music teacher Andrew Mifsud also from
Australia has just received his apple
distinguished educator this year with
his students he is presenting on film
music this year our urate students are
studying film music and to demonstrate
their understanding of the topic we've
asked them to create a film trailer we
try to create learning experiences that
are real and authentic we also find that
it helps if the students enjoy what
they're doing so what you're going to do
is you're going to work in small groups
of about three or four you're going to
come up with a genre and style of movie
you're going to try to tell the story of
that movie by creating a trailer that
goes for about a minute too long so you
need to work on your iPad's and you're
going to create a storyboard that's but
some of your key scenes that you're
going to use for your trailer
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we got the opportunity to being a group
of three and we all got to film an app
which was really fun and we made the
audio for the movie trailers on our
iPads at the old term we had a chance to
show up film to the rest of the students
and they also showed theirs
so we could compare all of our different
movies and ideas
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you
Tricia is a virtual arts teacher from
the US her classroom defines creativity
welcome to Dryden Elementary School
located in a suburb of Chicago I'm
Tricia the Eagles dad and our program is
infused with technology and creativity
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we are a one-to-one iPad art room where
students can make art physically then
explore concepts digitally my students
are animating and using green screen
effects to build their techniques and
skills so that they can creatively tell
their stories we're finding that this
blend of physical and digital art is
expanding student's curriculum and
giving them a chance to dynamically
demonstrate their understanding
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the students have found creative ways to
bridge the Arts through the use of
technology where they can infuse dance
and music and voice my name is Lauren
Hindenburg and they say I'm a real
handful I can't quite put my finger on
it can you give me a hand oh yeah I
nailed it
I now get to introduce you to my
wonderful colleague at Amadeus Vienna
Miss Lydia Campanella
imagine a classroom
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we're students free to express their
creativity connecting music with men
literature
in
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a classroom with music lessons and never
only about the music itself but about
experiences that are linked to real life
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where children discover what they can do
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and decide who they want to be in the
future
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place where technology is able to turn
classrooms into recording studios where
technology helps them using their
learning at different levels between
different situations
it helps them reflecting it helps them
practice and improve their skills this
is the classroom
I dreamed up and now it is a reality
throughout each of these videos you will
have seen good pedagogy the instruction
of vital skills this then leads to
creativity the lesson should not stop by
keep going then students soon learn that
if the teacher shares content they do
too and it promotes their own learning
one way to do this is with the iBooks or
iTunes U I have some examples there at
the QR codes in my classroom I aim to be
engaging and diverse in content but I
always come back to what is good
teaching with off or could I here's an
example in South Korea
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No
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has a natural progression of these
lessons I want to share the learning of
my students and of me as the teacher so
I put them into an iTunes U course that
you can access now this video will show
you to add a course to iTunes U you need
to go to the app then you tap on the
plus button up in the top left hand
corner and click enroll in a course you
then enter the enroll code and the
course will be added to your library
I constantly want to encourage
creativity in my classroom one unit I
teach is comparing the piano music of
Eric sati to the piano or electronic
scores of the music in minecraft we
compare Erik Satie's music and then we
try and write our own
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you
so let's find a recipe for creativity 1
start with an idea or lesson and build
from these two add that little bit extra
that you think might be a bit out of
your comfort zone then with number three
this is where it becomes exciting before
you know it the students themselves
bring their ideas to each lesson and it
becomes something you can share document
and publish Thank You K to 12 online and
for all of these people for presenting
and their amazing videos I would like to
extend a great big thank you from our
days here in Vienna and I hope you
enjoyed this video
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