Confidence, preference, and application of ICT and music technology: The changing face of Australian music educators’ practice

Societies around the world witnessed a necessary increase in the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) during COVID-19. This facilitated communication and learning across all sectors, sustaining connectivity. Digital technology provided the conduit for the continuation of music lessons as innovative teaching and learning emerged across diverse locations and contexts. This article examines data collected from the Phase 2 of a national project Re-imaging the future: Music teaching and learning, and ICT in blended environments in Australia and investigates teachers’ levels of confidence and professional use of ICT and music technologies since 2022. Applicable comparisons are made between data from the Phase 1 sample collected at the start of 2021. Australian music teachers’ preferences for different devices, tools, and resources used in teaching and learning are presented using a combination of descriptive and correlational data. The findings indicate increased teacher ICT confidence, application of music technology and ICT to deliver lessons, and incorporation of diverse devices and tools in music education. The frequency and confidence appear to be sustained post-pandemic across a range of technologies and teaching contexts. The heightened and sustained inclusion of music and video technologies, such as video streaming (YouTube and Vimeo), music streaming services, and many online tools and software emerged as the most popular technologies used for musical tasks and productivity tasks across all participants. While generalisations cannot be made due to the small sample size ( n  = 109) in this study, the findings confirm ways in which teachers employed multiple devices, software, online resources, and music-media applications with increased confidence and frequency.