The MCT master’s programme has been running for a year now, and everyone involved has learned a lot. In parallel to the development of the programme, and teaching it, we are also running the research project SALTO. Here the idea is to systematically reflect on our educational practice, which again will feed back into better development of the MCT programme.
One outcome of the SALTO project, is a paper that we presented at the NIME conference in Porto Alegre this week:
Xambó, Anna, Sigurd Saue, Alexander Refsum Jensenius, Robin Støckert, and Øyvind Brandtsegg. “NIME Prototyping in Teams: A Participatory Approach to Teaching Physical Computing.” In Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. Porto Alegre, 2019.
Abstract:
In this paper, we present a workshop of physical computing applied to NIME design based on science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) education. The workshop is designed for master students with multidisciplinary backgrounds. They are encouraged to work in teams from two university campuses remotely connected through a portal space. The components of the workshop are prototyping, music improvisation and reflective practice. We report the results of this course, which show a positive impact on the students on their intention to continue in STEM fields. We also present the challenges and lessons learned on how to improve the teaching and delivery of hybrid technologies in an interdisciplinary context across two locations, with the aim of satisfying both beginners and experts. We conclude with a broader discussion on how these new pedagogical perspectives can improve NIME-related courses.