8.4 Two Takeaways from Section III Readings

1. Kylie Peppler -- One of Peppler's more interesting points comes when she states that the aim of creative coding is artistic expression, rather than proficiency. I think it is immensely important to keep this consideration in mind with all digital art forms that are brought into the classroom, but this is especially true for coding, which can often be seen as "technically dense" or "difficult." With coding, it's very easy for students to get bogged down by the feeling that they are working within a field that they don't know (i.e. computer science), or working with a medium that requires a certain extent of foreknowledge (either of certain softwares or programming languages), but this is not the case. Coding, like all digital art forms, has the potential to be used for creative expression, but it is the duty of the teacher to eliminate any potential barriers to this goal and ensure that students understand that becoming savvy in a given form is not the aim. When students enter a digital art classroom, they should feel as though they are expressing through the exploration of new forms, not simply learning the forms for the purposes of becoming adroit--for this offers scarcely anything of value to the arts. 
2. Sylvia Libow Martinez and Gary Stager -- The portion of the "Invent to Learn" reading in which Gary Stager discussed composition vs. consumption was of particular note to me because he was articulating a sentiment that struck very close to home. In this short anecdotal excerpt, Stager articulates his feeling of immense loss at never being able to have his music compositions be played or heard because the pieces were either too complex, or his teachers and peers did not have the technical knowledge required to play the piece appropriately. In spite of this, he states that such instances of lost/unheard music are now in the past because most computers now come equipped with notation software and MIDI keyboards that can be bought for largely inexpensive prices. These technological innovations effectively bring the world of music to everyone and afford entirely new opportunities for creation, exploration, and expression--even for those who are not traditionally gifted in music. As a creative individual that has always struggled with music, I couldn't agree more with this sentiment because I have experienced it personally. Music was never my forte, and it seemed that I could never fully learn an instrument in the manner that I wanted to. However, since I've gotten my hands on Ableton (one of the many notation softwares that Stager is alluding to) and a MIDI keyboard, I've made significant strides in music that I could not have made otherwise. I have been able to learn a bit of music theory on my own by teaching myself through doing, and this has even lead to a few great compositions that I'm extremely proud of (one such example is last week's Assignment 7.1, "Bathroom Beat," which was created using Ableton). In a non-digital climate, I would've had to settle for my inability to naturally create music, or expend a significant amount of resources on instructors or training services, but now, neither of these have to be the case. The digital landscape affords opportunities for inexpensive, efficient, interest-driven learning, in places where it never existed before.