Since the interviewees in Groups 1 and 2 (the policy developers and the university professors) have their experience in training pre-‐service teachers, they were asked about the challenges in operating these IT course in university music departments. Understandably, the Group 1 interviewees focussed on education policy, while those in Group 2 addressed practical issues relating to the implementation of the courses.
One policy developer, a former president of Tainan Teacher’s College, raised the negative impact of changes occurring in teacher education policy. Since the new
Teacher Education Act was launched in 1994, pre-‐service teacher education channels
have become diverse. As a result, many universities have had the opportunity to train pre-‐service teaches: this was no longer the sole domain of the former Teachers’ Colleges. The increased number of institutions offering teacher education, however, has made the promotion of IT education in pre-‐service teacher training by the Ministry of Education even more difficult.
Of course, to promote IT education in the teacher education institutions is harder than in the past, especially after multiple teacher education channels were introduced. Previously, the Ministry of Education was only responsible for twelve institutions offering teacher education (Teachers’ Colleges and normal universities); it was relatively simple to develop a relationship between these institutions and schools. But with the diversification of teacher training, which meant that it could be offered for the first time in all universities, the link between training and school practice was weakened; government promotion and support became more difficult. (Interview A1)
In the response from the interviewees in Group 2, university professors, a range of challenges for teaching these IT related courses are identified. Their point of view was relatively consistent across music departments.
Prior to the interviews being conducted, the researcher supposed that insufficient IT equipment might be a major challenge in these music departments. But, surprisingly, this was mentioned by one of the four professors only. Two others pointed out that their departments were receiving significant funding support to enhance IT
equipment and computer laboratories. The remaining professor in this category made no mention of equipment. Clearly, the challenge of limited IT equipment was not as serious as the researcher had expected.
A major challenge was not one of insufficient IT equipment—but, rather, the
maintenance of such equipment. All four of the professors in Group 2 addressed the difficulty of maintaining the computer lab within their department. This is
exacerbated by the need to continually upgrade computer hardware and software because of the rapid development of IT. Unfortunately, this was not taken into consideration by the central government when providing grants to purchase IT equipment: no consideration was given to the need for ongoing maintenance and upgrading.
The Ministry of Education merely “sprinkle” the money for initial IT support. They gave our music department a one-‐off appropriation; after that, the department received no additional support, however, all of the software programs needed to be upgraded after two years. But how can you do this without any financial support? I know that this situation is similar in many
universities: and it’s getting worse. (Interviewee B1)
Funding support is limited, particularly in this period of economic depression. We are not able to get funding on a yearly basis. This is the disadvantage of promoting the integration of IT. (Interviewee B2)
Hardware maintenance is another problem for operating a computer lab. Ensuring that there are responsible technicians able to maintain IT labs is not easy. Many departments have commissioned computer companies to repair and maintain IT equipment for problems such as a computer virus, a computer hardware problem, or the Internet being disconnected. When this occurs frequently, it places an added burden on the professor teaching the IT course; they have little choice but to “maintain” the IT lab in working order. This can easily lead to frustration and
exhaustion. All four professors said that this results in a reduced sense of motivation to teach IT courses. Some universities employ part time teachers to deliver these courses, but this can make the situation even worse.
Many professors would rather teach other subjects than computer music related courses. When teaching these IT courses there are so many issues you need to be concerned with, such as computer viruses, and the maintenance of computer hardware and software. Sometimes you even need to repair the computer. There is just too much extra work that you need to deal with. … I am so happy that I do not have to teach these courses this year. (Interviewee B1)
I used to teach an IT course, but I gave up teaching it. We did not have any technicians in the computer lab. In addition to teaching the course I needed to
attend to a number of other things by myself: I had to check that every station was working before each class; I also had to solve students’ technical problems in the class. My God—the time I spent on teaching this subject was so much more than what I spent on any other subject! … If teachers have to take on the responsibility of maintenance, repairing, and organising the equipment and facilities before they begin teaching, it detracts from the pleasure of teaching. When you talk with those who teach these courses, you can perceive their frustration. (Interviewee B2)
I do not teach an IT course now. I felt so tired…. We expected that we would have a professional technician in the computer lab. However, we didn’t. … And that greatly diminished our interest in using the computer lab and teaching the course. (Interviewee B3)
Another problem relates to the specialty of those who teach IT related courses. Whilst some of them come from the field of music composition within the music department, others have come from other, non-‐music, IT areas. Those in this latter group are severely restricted in being able to offer students content that focuses specifically on music education.
We see if there is someone in our faculty who can teach the course, but if this is not possible we employ a part-‐time or adjunct teacher. This however will influence the effectiveness of the course. (Interviewee B2)
The interviewees also mentioned other challenges, including: (1) limited number of the software programs with a Chinese interface; (2) too many students in a class; and
(3) whether the IT courses were electives or compulsory, with most of them being elective and this not only presents issues of “sequence” of study, but also
departments tend not to put as much weight on electives compared to compulsory courses. Each of these challenges has added to the difficulty of delivering IT courses. The interviewees provided a range of recommendations to improve the situation and these are included in a subsequent section.