My Ukulele Journey Is Now Over
This semester is finally over (yay!!) As an Assignment for EDTC 300 this semester, we were tasked with a learning project. When I heard about this assignment, I was a bit overwhelmed thinking about having to make a blog post every single week; updating randoms about my progress.
When I was thinking about what skill I could learn online I remembered the ukulele that had been sitting in my closet for the past year. My uncles both knew how to play the guitar and I also wanted to learn but a guitar was a bit pricey for me. I decided to buy a ukulele because they were much cheaper.
You might be wondering how did this assignment go? Did you learn to play the ukulele only using online resources? Yes, I did! I may not be where I want to be yet but I have found some great resources to help me continue my learning. Does she play the guitar now? No…not yet at least. I want to work on being more consistent with my practicing and then eventually (in the next 6 months or so buy a guitar).
Let’s look at a recap of my learning progress:
Building a Band of Instruments
- Introduction, my rationale, and my plan.
- Yousician (My Favourite Resource). Learning to tune, strum, and finger placement on strings/frets.
- Using an app again. This was very unorganized and hurt my brain. Not the right app for me yet I need more skill to use this app.
I Think I Should Be A Part Of A Band At This Point
- I can play 6 other musical instruments. I was feeling confident in my skills and how much I had improved in such a short time. YouTube being once again a resource used. My progress uploaded to YouTube. (I was a bit nervous about sharing with others).
- Learning an instrument from an article is very difficult. I am a visual learner and learn well by examples. Reading how to play without a video example was very difficult for me.
Why Are You Holding That Mini Guitar?
- Using a website again. Bye bye videos…I lied there was videos on the website. Reinforcing skills once again. (Repetition is important when learning anything!). I actually like the website this week. Tips beneath videos helped to serve as reminders.
YouTube Really Focuses On The You
- If you couldn’t tell I am really liking YouTube as a resource. Learning a basic ukulele song. Staying accountable and rewarding myself with my favourite snack! (Cheez-Its)
- Do not get nails when trying to learn an instrument. I had to take a step back this week and go back to the basics. Going back to using an app on my phone/Ipad (if I wanted a bigger screen). Starting to learn a new song still.
Justin Guitar Does Ukulele Too
- Using a website again. Module work (I LOVE module work). It is very organized!
- Long week of assignments and then hockey for me. Learning another song. Back to YouTube to learn a new song again. I still have not found another resource for learning new songs but will keep my search up!
Final Reflection On Learning Online
This is an accurate representation of me at the begging of the semester. There were a lot of frustrations for me when trying to build my own website. I was struggling so much until I got my friend who majors in Film to try to help me out. He showed me different tricks on Edusites and helped me go from getting angry at my computer to feeling confident in my abilities.
How did I manage to make time for this assignment every day?
- I would make time at night for myself to work on learning the ukulele every day. Instead of scrolling on my phone before bed, I would go and play the ukulele anywhere from 30 minutes- 1 hour.
I thought learning a new skill online was going to be impossible. I feel like I made so much progress over this semester and will carry on learning new songs every month just as I planned.