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The purpose of this study was to determine if 1-week technology workshops can be an effective means for the professional, development of music teachers in using technology for instruction. The results indicate that three indicators of effectiveness-teacher knowledge, teacher comfort, and frequency of teacher use-can be significantly improved in these settings. Participants (N = 63) mere music teachers enrolled in summer music technology workshops. At the beginning of the workshops, participants completed a questionnaire designed to provide demographic information and, assess their knowledge of music technology, degree of comfort with music technology, and the frequency with which they used music technology in their teaching. Following an intensive weeklong workshop dealing with strategies for teaching music to K-12 students using music technology, participants completed a second questionnaire that was parallel to the first. Participants completed another similar questionnaire 9 to 10 months after the workshop. Significant differences were found between the preand postworkshop questionnaires, between the preworkshop and follow-up questionnaires, and between the postworkshop and follow-up questionnaires in all three areas. There was also a moderate correlation (r = .43, p = .00) between participants' frequency of technological use and the degree to which they reported their access to technological resources.
Professional development and teacher training arc areas of inquiry that have concerned educational professionals for many years. In the past 15 years, the need for teacher training in technology across all subject areas has been increasingly discussed (Cuban, 2001; Jones, 2000). Along with this, Zuga (1994), in a review of educational technology research from 1987-93, indicated that instructional methods and strategies for using technology effectively have been given little, if any, real attention. This increased need for technology training and the lack of study regarding the most effective instructional strategies in actual use by teachers continues to be an important issue.
Music educators and researchers have examined both the applications of technology to music teaching and learning and the need for training focused on the use of technology. Peters (1984) stated that for teaching to be effective when using technology, a thorough understanding of hardware and software is needed. Authors have outlined how computer technology is enabling many new approaches to music learning (Williams & Webster, 1999), and the use of the Internet in...