R/D4

3) How might you incorporate photo sharing into a educational activity or unit? What might be some concerns you would have about allowing students play with these services? What might be a great benefit of such services?

Honestly, from a strictly teaching/learning perspective, I don't see any uses of photo sharing in choral or orchestral classes. In the classes I teach, I could see it used more for community purposes...I have been to concerts in the past in which slideshows are played during the music playing, and I would think that using photosharing would be an easy way of assembling and organizing photos for that. Our school is always looking for yearbook help as well, and likewise photosharing would be helpful for that. I wish I could think up of ways to use it in a choral setting, but can't...I would be open for suggestions if anyone has them!
There are a couple of obvious concerns with online photosharing. First, there is always the chance of explicit/inappropriate content being shared. There is also the concern that students post pictures of others that those students would rather not have publicly seen. I know that there is the option to keep them private, but there isn't the guarantee that all stay private. I would hate to see the wrong pictures get into the wrong hands.
The benefit is the organization, and given the use of digital cameras, it is much simpler and efficient to store pictures via photosharing...I just think that there has to be a lot of care when doing so.

4) In reading Chapter 2, what similarities and what differences did you identify between the process the authors describe and the processes you have used to develop educational lesson plans? If you have not developed educational lesson plans, were there aspects of the process described in this chapter that you found particularly surprising, useful or unnecessary?

I identified closely to the systematic instructional design (figure 2.1) in how I plan out my lessons. The first several weeks of leading/instructing music rehearsals, I spent much of my time Evaluating and Analyzing each group so that I could come with a plan for improvement and to get to the level that I desire. Once I knew what I had, I designed a couple weeks worth of plans and put together the materials necessary and went through with the plans. After a couple of weeks, I re-evaluated the program as a whole and made the tweaks necessary and went through the process again.
Characteristics of Instructional Design
1- Learner Centered - This is about 1/2 and 1/2 for me in my classes...when working with ensembles, the group as a whole needs work in addition to individual learners.
2- Goal Oriented - I agree 100% with this...there has to be goals, and the students need to know those goals. Good goals will lead to good motivation which leads to better learning.
3- Focus on meaningful performance - I like this one too...learning isn't about recalling information or applying rules, it is about applying them, understanding them, and then solving the problems. In music teaching, this is relative in music reading or rote learing. Rote learning is imitating what is heard...it gets the job done for performances, but it doesn't improve music learning. When music reading is learned, then improvement is seen.
4- Outcomes are measured in reliable and valid way - much of my grading is done through singing/playing tests, individually and as an ensemble. I look for rubrics that keep the evaluation true to the content, and that also allow for consistency.
6- A team effort - very true in the ensemble atmosphere.