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Leong, S. (in press). Navigating the emerging futures in music education. Journal of Music, Technology and Education.

Navigating the Emerging Futures in Music Education

Samuel Leong Hong Kong, China

Emerging Futures

Our globalised world is struggling to confront the emerging futures post-9/11 and to

rediscover and reinvent itself in the face of threats ranging from the environment and

sovereign debt to terrorism and poverty. Humanity is coming to terms with the impact

of technology on nearly every aspect of life including communications, medicine and

education. Despite huge efforts by governments, education reforms in many countries

have not yielded the desired outcomes many had hoped for. To quote the renowned

anthropologist, Margaret Mead (1901-1978), “We are now at a point where we must

educate our children in what no one knew yesterday and prepare our schools for what

no one knows yet” (Margaret Mead Quotes, n.d.). Soon after the Great Depression,

John Dewey wisely advised that “[t]he first need is to become aware of the kind of

world in which we live; to survey its forces; to see the opposition in forces that are

contending for mastery; to make up one’s mind which of these forces come from a

past that the world in its potential powers has outlived and which are indicative of a

better and happier future” (Dewey, 1935).

Humanity has travelled across three eras – oral, print and broadcast – to enter the

digital era (Miller, 2005). The growth of the Internet has seen the world becoming

increasingly interconnected with the concomitant explosion of the digital information

universe. According to Bontis (2011), the Internet today contains in excess of 25

billion web pages on 110 million sites; the cumulative amount of global information

doubles every eleven hours and more than twenty hours of video material are

uploaded onto YouTube every minute. In 2010, the size of our digital universe set a

record by having a 62 percent growth to nearly 800,000 petabytes (a petabyte is a

million gigabytes), and this is expected to reach 1.2 million petabytes (or 1.2

zettabytes) in 2011. Such a rapid growth pace means that by 2020, our digital

universe will be 44 times as big as it was in 2009 (McKendrick, 2010). The legendary

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Ray Kurzweil (2007) predicts that by 2029, there will be sufficient computation to simulate the entire human brain, which I estimate at about 1016 (10 million billion) calculations per second (cps), [which] will cost about a dollar. By that time, intelligent machines will combine the subtle and supple skills that humans now excel in (essentially our powers of pattern recognition) with ways in which machines are already superior, such as remembering trillions of facts accurately, searching quickly through vast databases, and downloading skills and knowledge. (p. 13)

The Horizon Report 2011 has identified six emerging technologies or practices that

are likely to enter mainstream use (i.e. with widespread adoption) within the next five

years:

• within a year: electronic books and mobiles;

• within 2 to 3 years: augmented reality and game-based learning;

• within 4 to 5 years: gesture-based computing and learning analytics.

Augmented reality, which refers to the layering of information over a view or

representation of the normal world, offers users the ability to access place-based

information in ways that are compellingly intuitive. Augmented reality brings a

significant potential to supplement information delivered via computers, mobile

devices, video, and even the printed book. Much simpler to create and use now than

in the past, augmented reality creates a fresh and new feel which at the same time

extends beyond existing expectations and practices. Research has demonstrated the

effectiveness of game-based learning that applies to students of all ages. These games

for education range from those for single player or small-group card and board games

to multi-player online games and alternate reality games. Some learning games can be

easily integrated with coursework but their greatest potential lies in their ability to

foster collaboration, problem-solving, and procedural thinking. However, the

realization of this potential is seen to be two to three years away (Horizon Report

2011, p. 5). Another emerging technology, WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for

Microwave Access), often described as “Wi-Fi on steroids”, is forecasted by the

World Future Society to have entire countries covered with vibrant, high-speed

wireless communications networks very soon. Internet access and other data and

video applications will then be available anywhere with many applications for

automobiles (World Future Society, 2011).

The advent of powerful computer technologies has ushered in the New Information

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Age, which goes way beyond simply making available instant access to knowledge

that would have been difficult or impossible to find previously (Wadhwa, 2011).

LinkedIn’s founder Reid Hoffman, said recently that, “if Web 1.0 involved go search,

get data and some limited interactivity, and if Web 2.0 involves real identities and real

relationships, then Web 3.0 will be real identities generating massive amounts of

data” (ibid.). While passive entertainment such as standard television embodied the

1.0 era, Web 2.0 saw a rise in audience-generated content like blogs and podcasts, and

the ongoing 3.0 era engages users at a deeper level of engagement, where they “jump

into” media such as virtual worlds (PC World, May 5, 2008). Nils Muëller, CEO of

TrendOne, a German microtrend analysis company, observes evidence of the Web 4.0

era being driven by the youngest generation. He sees the Web 4.0 era where

“technology and human become one” is already at our doorsteps, being characterized

by humans who “self-upgrade” through technology in a world that is “always-on” (PC

World, May 5, 2008). Tom Jenkins, executive chairman of Open Text, predicts that

Web 4.0 will be upon us by 2015. He explains how Web 4.0 would be avatar-based

virtualization: “Think of a virtual world – all I need is an avatar to represent me – I

have a hand globe and virtual 3D glasses, and I can just walk into the cloud” (Guess,

2011). Tabb (2011) of the Case Foundation calls Web 4.0 the “era of social

information” – a hybrid of Web 2.0 and 3.0 – but thinks that “we are not quite there

yet”, having to wait for the “perfect marriage of social media and information access.”  

The digital world in which we live in and serviced by the information superhighway

is characterized by the seven qualities of interconnection, complexity, acceleration,

intangibility, convergence, immediacy and unpredictability (Miller, 2005). The

digitalization of the world has shifted the “basis of knowing and understanding… to

an interactive, global, anytime, anywhere, multimedia experience with countless

sources to explore and test” (ibid., p. 33). Indeed advanced and emerging technologies

are blurring and even merging boundaries that have traditionally separated disciplines,

organizations, structures, and peoples. Today’s digital media can combine text,

graphics, sound, and data in an integrated multi-sensory, multimedia and multi-

networked manner to enable people entering into new experiences of realities. It is

now possible to play Nintendo games with three dimensions without 3D glasses, and

the days of 3-D television, 3-D screens, 3-D projectors, and 3-D printing have arrived.

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Outlook 2011 (Futurist, 2011) declares that search engines will soon include spoken

results, not just text. It notes that television broadcasts and other recordings could be

compiled and converted using programs developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for

Intelligent Analysis. It also notes that the traditional distinction between class time

and non-class time will disappear. Technologies are being used to socialize, work and

learn by the Net generation, who prefers to work in teams rather than in competition.

They engage in collaborative forms of learning beyond formal class settings,

facilitated by social networking technologies. The next generation of college students

will live wherever they want and take many (if not all) of their courses online. They

could even earn degrees that are accredited by international accrediting agencies

(Dew, 2010). The era of hyper-connectivity will see most professionals weave their

careers and personal lives into a blended mosaic of activity. Work and leisure will be

interlaced throughout the waking hours every day of the week, and student life will

reflect the same trend. Hence self-directed learning will become one of most

important taught skills of the future. The age of social networking has also brought on

a critical need for social skills such as self-discipline, responsibility, and media

literacy, in addition to the “three R’s.” Future curricula will need to be broadened to

include the development of these interpersonal skills.

Knowledge workers who belong to the 21st century global economic workforce are

expected to have acquired four broad categories of 21st-century skills (ATC21S):

• Ways of thinking: Creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving, decision-

making and learning;

• Ways of working: Communication and collaboration;

• Tools for working: Information and communications technology (ICT) and

information literacy;

• Skills for living in the world: Citizenship, life and career, and personal and

social responsibility.

Additionally, they are expected to achieve “digital fluency” (European Commission/

ICT Cluster, 2010, p. 11). In the Digital Age, digital literacies have emerged as

essential clusters of skills just as reading literacy was deemed important years ago.

These include e-literacy, screen literacy, multimedia literacy, information literacy,

ICT literacies and new literacies, and the literates of today are required to possess the

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ability to interpret and write various codes “such as icons, symbols, visuals, graphics,

animation, audio and video” (Nallaya, 2010, p. 48).

Education 3.0 in the Conceptual Age

A report which reviewed seven recent studies about young children and their

ownership and use of media concluded that the “media habits of young children have

changed over the years as new technology emerges and becomes ever more ingrained

into daily lives” (Gutnick et al., 2011, Introduction). Surging interests in MMO

(massively multiplayer online) games went back as early as 2007, when Mattel's

BarbieGirls.com attracted 3 million members in its first 60 days online and continued

to add 50,000 new members every day, with Scientific American claiming that it was

the "fastest-growing virtual world ever”. MMO games can be played today on

machines such as PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, Wii, as well as on mobile

devices and smartphones running Android, iOs and Windows. In fact, mobile learning

has become a norm for the technology savvy. The imperative for those who work with

young children, teach them, and parent them is to understand the realities of

children’s lives with media. They should also understand the make-ups of learners

from different age groups: unlike Millennials who learn better from social

interactions, blogging and the like, Generation Xers typically prefer online courses

that are self-paced while Baby Boomers feel comfortable with the traditional setup of

a classroom and teacher (Euro RSCG Worldwide, 2011). Education approaches

should be adaptive to the changing propensity of learners to technological possibilities

and adopt pedagogies that can effectively support technology-enhanced interactivity

in learning. This may entail shifting from:

• linear to hypermedia learning

• instruction to construction and discovery

• teacher-centered to learner-centered education

• absorbing material to learning how to navigate and how to learn

• schooling to lifelong learning

• one-size-fits-all to customized learning

• learning as torture to learning as fun, and

• the teacher as transmitter to the teacher as facilitator (Tapscott, 1998, p. 142).

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Ingerman and Yang (2011) report that technologies such as lecture capture, smart

classrooms, response clickers, and tablet computers have become more popular, more

user-friendly, and increasingly seamless. E-portfolios are becoming mainstream and

integrated into course management systems and web applications. There has been an

increased demand for mobile access to institutional web-based services, instructional

content, and e-collaboration tools is driving the technology plans of some institutions.

However, instructional effectiveness and learning enhancement depend whether

available technology tools could be integrated and sustained without major adoption,

training, and support challenges (p. 32).  

A “radical shift” to a new educational paradigm that takes into account the enormous

changes taking place outside the school gates as well as catering for the needs of 21st-

century learners is argued in the White Paper, Equipping Every Learner for the 21st

Century (CISCO, 2008). It is regretful that education in general has managed to

achieve incremental progress while the world has surged forward with monumental

changes. The new ‘Education 3.0’ paradigm (see Diagram 1 below) emphasizes

technology as a key enabler of young people’s ability to build their “personalized

learning space” in which they can “amass a wealth of education resources, in rich

multimedia format, gain access to world experts in multiple disciplines, enjoy

authentic learning using online data, receive instant feedback from team mates and

teachers on their ideas and their performance, and interact with students from all over

the world as they collaborate on group projects” (p. 13). But Education 3.0 should not

stop at the adoption of technological and educational innovations, instead pressing

ahead to achieve a “holistic transformation” in the way teachers and students learn

together through innovative pedagogy, increased creativity and collaboration, the

creation of learning communities, the provision of real-time feedback and assessment

(p. 13) and the learning content co-constructed by teachers and students (p. 40).  This

calls for visionary leadership and outstanding teachers who embrace accountability,

current and emerging trends and technologies, and who can work out a relevant

curriculum that is supported by an adapted reform agenda.

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Diagram 1: Getting to Education 3.0 (Cisco, p. 7)

An example of a system-wide initiative that aims to attain Education 3.0 goals is the

FutureSchools@Singapore scheme. With a representation of Singapore schools from

primary to senior secondary, the scheme empowers schools not only by enhancing the

diversity of educational offerings that cater to learners' needs but providing possible

models for the seamless and pervasive integration of infocomm technology that

includes interactive digital media. By harnessing infocomm technology in the

education sector through innovative pedagogies and flexible learning environments,

schools will be able to achieve higher levels of engagement of their students who

already have an infocomm-integrated lifestyle. In this way, students will be equipped

with the essential skills to be effective workers and citizens in the globalised, digital

workplace of the future (see Diagram 2).

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Diagram 2: FutureSchools@Singapore Scheme

With the use of technology being now so widespread and forming an integral part of

people's lives and learning, concerns have been raised that the human user is often

given less consideration than the technology which is supposed to serve him/her.

Technology should be “brain friendly”, designed to fit and complement the human

user’s cognitive processes (Dror, 2011). This means that learning should be driving

the technology, which should make life easier for learners to focus on the actual

learning, enabling them to acquire the information, remember it, and use it. In the

context of technology-enhanced learning, practices that could improve the clarity for

the brain include consistency and the use of sound, emphasis, exaggeration, and

focus. If not properly designed, the interactive and entertainment/”fun” elements that

are supposed to facilitate learning could actually result in the distraction and reduction

of learning. Educators should remember that interaction is not the goal but a tool, a

means, to help maximize the goal of enhanced learning performance. The “cognitive

fidelity” is more important than the technological or visual fidelity in terms of how it

everything fits and works to support the human cognitive system of learners.

Today’s sophisticated technology, globalization and the knowledge economy have

forced humanity into the Conceptual Age of ‘high concept, high touch’. While

traditionally work places have valued workers who are analytical, details-focused,

left-brain thinkers, the 21st-century workplaces are demanding workers who are

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creative and critical thinkers. Pink (2005) asserts that “the future belongs to a very

different kind of person with a very different kind of mind – creators and empathizers,

pattern recognizers, and meaning makers. These people-artists, inventors, designers,

storytellers, caregivers, consolers, big picture thinkers – will now reap society’s

richest rewards and share its greatest joys” (p. 1). People who want to be successful in

this new age should develop the six essential “senses” of design, story, symphony,

empathy, play, and meaning.

In Tune with Emergence: Nuové Music Education

If Daniel Pink is right, music education should re-position itself tuning in to the

emerging trends and developments. As more emphasis is given to creativity and the

arts, music education practices need to devote more attention in developing learners’

digital literacies, analytical and critical thinking and the other 21st-century skills with

reference to the realities of the cultural and creative industries. Curriculum priorities

should focus on nurturing the creative, reflective and intuitive abilities of learners,

utilizing web-based and game-based pedagogies, developing communities of learners

as well as teaching them how to make use of the vast information and knowledge

bases that are available and growing exponentially. Technology-enabled learning

should go beyond accessing rich online resources and providing a publishing and

distribution environment to value deep and collaborative learning as well as

knowledge building. Learners should be helped to cultivate a keener cultural

sensitivity and appreciation that would enable them to draw on diverse cultural ideas

during the processes of creation and innovation. Indeed music education should

extend its localized horizons to make stronger links with the global knowledge

economy in the Digital and Conceptual Age.

In May 2010, the UNESCO’s (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural

Organization) 2nd World Conference on Arts Education formulated three goals for

arts education in a historic document called the Seoul Agenda: Goals for the

Development of Arts Education (UNESCO, 2010). Music education need to join

forces with this proactive international effort, which has its conviction in arts

education playing a vital role in the constructive transformation of educational

systems that are struggling to meet learners’ needs in a rapidly changing world

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characterized by remarkable advances in technology on the one hand and intractable

social and cultural injustices on the other. The issues of concern are not limited to

peace, cultural diversity and intercultural understanding but also the need for a

creative and adaptive workforce in the context of post-industrial economies. Music

education can play a significant role with other arts education disciplines in making a

direct contribution to resolve the social and cultural challenges facing today’s world.

The Seoul Agenda articulates that the success of arts education in meeting these

challenges lies in achieving high standards in the conception and delivery of arts

programmes. Therefore three broad goals, each accompanied by several practical

strategies and specific action items, calls upon UNESCO member states, civil society,

professional organizations and communities to recognize its governing goals, to

employ the proposed strategies, and to implement the action items in a concerted

effort to: (1) realize the full potential of high quality arts education, (2) positively

renew educational systems, (3) achieve crucial social and cultural objectives, and (4)

ultimately benefit children, youth and life-long learners of all ages. The Seoul Agenda goals are crucial for establishing a new and energised future for the arts and arts education that goes beyond economic considerations to positively transform existing social and cultural environments in our interconnected world. In

this regard, music education curricula should be carefully reviewed to connect

traditional course contents more directly with today’s societal concerns and lifestyles.

The different branches of music studies – music performance, history, literature,

analysis, theory, philosophy, psychology, sociology etc. – should learn from the

experiences of exemplary practitioners and work together to explore intra- and inter-

disciplinary futures agenda that are coherent with real-world issues and problems. The

new music education agenda should give more attention to learners who were under-

served in the past and attempt to engage whole communities in stimulating lifelong

musical expeditions. Music education approaches should be evaluated to see whether

they support learning strategies and activities that:

• value both individualized and group learning;

• integrate music and the arts into the daily life of learners, i.e., extending beyond the

school setting and promoting lifelong learning;

• utilize gaming and 3-D technologies in an inclusive and immersive environment;

• require creative, constructive and connectivist actions;

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• contain a balance of physical, cognitive, metacognitive and social elements;

• provide real-time continuous feedback;

• are based on open platform, content and channels.

Studies in discipline content areas should harness the powers of ICT to create learning

hubs and serve as agents, levers, and drivers of worthy educational and societal

transformation. The learning of music technology should go beyond the “core” study

areas – such as sound and its properties, basic audio processing, introduction to MIDI,

digital audio basics, basic recording techniques, and introduction to music sequencing

– to explore ways of applying these skills and knowledge in empowering artistic

expressions, and strategies that locate music effectively as an essential, integral and

vibrant aspect of human lives and civilization.

I want to close with a very thoughtful quote from ‘The future is now – how do we as

educators plan for the future?’ by Jerry Jennings (2011) of Discovery Education:

We need to leverage the best learning ideas, concepts, structures, techniques, opportunities, and/or technologies to accomplish more with less. We can’t take everything from the current practice with us to the future. And that is not a ‘bad’ thing. Some, but certainly not all, of the status quo does address the needs of our learners. So, we can and should bring to the future the best of our current offerings. I suggest that the guide for figuring out how to get to the future needs to be focused on answering the question: “Are our decision good for all kids and their learning?” We need to be less focused on the adults and their needs as we sincerely focus on all students: from those that are struggling to those that are shining in the current system and every student in-between. All of them can benefit more from schooling. The future of schools will be determined largely by the action leadership of leveraging the best learning ideas, concepts, structures, techniques, opportunities, and/or technologies to accomplish more with less. This is a time for leaders who can help others come together to serve the learning needs of all learners. This is a time for school people who are comfortable and capable with leading and or being part of transformational change. The time for improvement is now. The needs are clear. This is not the time for trying to tweak the current system. It is time to boldly move into the future.”

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Brief bio: Professor  Samuel  Leong  (PhD)  is  the  Associate  Dean  (Quality  Assurance  &  Enhancement)  of  the  Faculty  of  Arts  and  Sciences  and  Head  of  the  Department  of  Cultural  and  Creative  Arts.  He  is  also  the  Director  of  the  UNESCO  Arts  in  Education  Observatory  for  Research  in  Local  Cultures  and  Creativity  in  Education  and  serves  as  the  Director  of  Research  of  the  International  Drama/Theatre  and  Education  Association  (IDEA)  and  on  the  boards  of  eight  refereed  journals.