Sounds good! Here’s what her remote music production classes are like

How is it possible to have a collaborative music production and editing class online with students doing exercises in real time?

That was the challenge for online class facing Diana Urquiza, Director of the Music Production Engineering degree course at Tec de Monterrey in Mexico City.

This teacher tells CONECTA how her post-production and digital mastering classes are normally conducted in audio laboratories and how she managed to successfully adapt them during the emergency.

“To convert the subject to an online course, we had to get creative. We carried out a technological deployment with the software we needed so that each student could use it,” she says.

“Since audio is a priority in our classes, we couldn’t take it lightly, so we made tutorials for all the campuses in the country.
 

SYNCHRONIZING LIVE AUDIOS

One of the challenges of distance-learning classes, Urquiza explains, was to share very good quality audio through video conferencing technologies.

“Together with Tecnologías Educativas de Monterrey, we coordinated the delivery of professional audio software licenses.

“We held one-to-one mentoring sessions, looking for a way to share high quality audio streaming via Zoom.”

In the end, the result was remarkable, and the adaptation of the class was recognized by Rector David Garza, in a video conference with Tec teachers from all over the country.

INNOVATION, THE KEY TO ONLINE CLASSES

This teacher said that students in her classes are challenged to participate dynamically, to investigate, and to solve problems with the proper use of technology.

“Classes should not just be about talking to a screen. Even the theoretical and reflexive content must be taught using activities with lots of participation.

Various techniques are used, such as challenges and short projects. Experts in the area are also invited to interact with the students, either by sharing their experiences or advising on the projects,” she added.

“Innovation for online classes is not only possible and necessary but essential. It would not be possible to transform a class without innovating and breaking paradigms.

“I’ve received a lot of support from the Tec and academia, for which I am very grateful. We’ve introduced many innovative and disruptive ideas and activities, but I’ve always had the confidence to apply them and fortunately they’ve been very successful.

“Of course, all the transformations that the Tec has made to its work structure plus the creation of new teams, models, and technological facilities have been essential,” she concluded.

THE TEC’S FLEXIBLE DIGITAL MODEL FOR CLASSES

Due to the COVID-19 emergency, on March 17, the Tec suspended face-to-face classes and the following week began classes using the Flexible Digital Model, which it had already partially used with some students.

Later, in April, this was reinforced to include what are called the six educational pillars of the Flexible Digital Model Plus:

• Academic Continuity 2.0 (more resources for distance learning)
• Life @ Home (options for remote experiences of culture, sports, etc.)
• Taking care of your mind (options for emotional and mental well-being)
• Boost your skills (resources for strengthening skills)
• Tec value benefits (services and products for the Tec community)
• Tec community outreach (social actions)

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