Critical Impacts of Music Technology to Music Education. A Restructuring of the Teaching and Learning of Music at Secondary Schools in Uganda

Instructional technologies are currently available almost everywhere in Uganda and in some cases they have affected the way educators teach. New and used computers have been oversold in Kampala as a vehicle for educational reform and educational practices. However, they are still under used as instructional tools by educationists at various levels of education. Despite the widespread use of technology and computers by educationists outside of the classroom worldwide, deploying such technologies into Ugandan education system is yet to happen. School culture as well as instructional practices has not succeeded in incorporating computer-based technology into regular classroom instructional practices at even those few schools that can afford it. Questions to be asked revolve around what the perceived impacts of music technology to musical arts education are. They include: Does technology help music teachers to accomplish tasks easier than without it? Does the use of technology allow music teachers to teach more effectively? Does technology enhance music students' participation? Does technology improve music student performance? And, should technology be embedded in the music lessons? What skills, knowledge and resources are necessary to create those impacts? To answer these questions, a review on theoretical evidence and research evidence on impacts on music technology is presented. In addition, this paper presents preliminary data from a pilot study of the Critical Impacts of Music Technology to the Teaching and Learning of Musical Arts in Uganda. Results indicate that technology makes musical arts education more accessible as well as helps meet students' musical needs.