Nishant's Music Exploration Blog

Yo we in the future, AI in Education!!

I had an absolute blast experimenting with BandLab in order to create our AI in Education song. I think for me, it’s obviously a software that I could incorporate in an exploratory music or composition/production class. Though it definitely has its limits (tracks, memory), I think for students to be able to easily access royalty-free samples and beats is a big benefit. It’s also quite easy to learn to work with, as there’s a tutorial built into it. The samples also automatically pitch to the key you’re working in and adjust to the tempo as well, so it’s very easy to create something quickly and build on it. The collaborative element is also a huge pro and allows for students to easily create and work on musical projects together. It was very easy for our group to add things and work on this together. Nathan and I recorded most of the song, whereas the rest of the group added adlibs, recorded footage for the video, and created the slides. Overall, I’d say there was a fairly even team effort to it, and I would love for my future students to be able to create a song and perhaps even their own music video as well! The image I used for this post features a short glimpse at our project, though you can’t see all of the tracks we used; hopefully though, it’s easy to see that a lot of it just lines up pretty neatly and the UI is pretty user-friendly. I’ve linked the music video we created in the end below!

How can we avoid plagiarism and use AI in education ethically? I do believe that this is a question we’ll be asking for a while, and pretty much all the time moving forward. The easy answer is “incorporate it into the learning process”, but how? I think if we simply ask students to write and respond to something, it will be too easy for them to ask ChatGPT to write for them. Alternatively, if we ask them to cite the sources that ChatGPT uses, and use it as a learning resource; or we use it as a tool that supports the process rather than does all the work, that’s where it can be most useful. For example, in our EdTech Group Project, we’re working on something that incorporates a rap written by ChatGPT, but we still have to do the majority of the work in creating and using a beat that works, and perhaps creating a video to go along with it. In this way, we are using AI as a tool to supplement and speed up the process, but aren’t using it in a way that constitutes the bulk of the work and still gets across the aspects of creative thinking and collaboration that you would want in a classroom setting. This is definitely I’m still thinking about but hopefully I will be able to implement AI as a tool for learning in my own classrooms.

I gave ChatGPT a prompt in order to write a reflection for this week, and I believe it articulated my thoughts using my parameters pretty well. The prompt was as follows:

“Write a reflection on my position on AI in Education: I believe AI can be used, but we need to integrate AI in a way that encourages learning, and just ask students to make it clear if they used AI to help them. I think that AI can be used legitimately as long as it isn’t being used to write entire assignments; I also think students can use it as a resource to find sources.“

I’ll admit, I feel that there is a bit of irony using it in this way. But I also would argue that it saves me a significant amount of time when I just have to simply go through and make any edits that don’t align with my thoughts. I find it really interesting that it brought up points about critical thinking, creativity, and other things that I initially didn’t bring up in my short prompt, but were indeed some of my reasons for using AI in classrooms carefully.

This week, we looked at gamification in the classroom. As a gamer myself, I’m a big fan of the idea and I do think it has its merits. I absolutely believe that it provides a fun incentive to learning that kids enjoy; and it can add a competitive element that kids also tend to connect with, both on an individual and team-based level. However, I do think it has its limitations as well. It works really well for younger students who see it as a fun game, and at times may need an extra push in order to get them to practice or engage in class topics on their own. However, it’s not something I would consider using at the upper levels of high school (probably not past grade 8 or 9 at the latest). I think at a certain point, kids may grow tired of the system or might just not take it all that seriously (older kids in particular, who may see it as something for younger kids and not all that “cool”). In addition, as a high school music teacher, I would really have to evaluate whether it would be a system I would use. I would particularly be worried though, if the system is somewhat successful, if it would detract from the intrinsic value of learning music and how to play an instrument for the sake of learning those things and instead be conditioned to learn for a reward; I wouldn’t want kids to lose that spark for music. As a music educator, one of my goals would not just be getting certain keeners to go on to music school, but to foster that connection with music in all my students. I would want them to continue playing in community bands, or make beats on their own time, or continue singing and making their own music, even beyond high school. A lifelong love and appreciation for music is what I would want my students to take away from music class the most, I think. I’m not saying I wouldn’t use gamification at all – but I’m not sure “you’ll receive x reward for learning these aspects of this piece” is the message I want to be sending either. I would want my students to connect with each piece on a much deeper level than that.