A few days ago, I stumbled upon a link that advertised a new App to help students be more engaged and practice more.

I thought to myself, ” Hmmmm… this is interesting. How are they going to do that?”

We all know that students are not practicing as much as when we were growing up (wow-that made me sound so old!), so what's so special about this thing that will change this downward trend?

So, I clicked on the link, and was brought to a site called Practicia. Practicia screen shot

“Cute name,” I thought.

As I watched the intro video, and scrolled down, I got really excited.

No, not because I am such a geek (that's beside the point), but because I saw the huge potential in this App actually being effective in creating interest in practicing for students.

Practicia is an App that is a comprehensive practice management system. It allows teachers to give clear, multimedia practice instructions, and it allows students to accurately log their practice time and activities.

What does this App do?

When I spoke with Sam Rao, CEO and Co-founder, for my Radio show, he told me that this Cloud-based App can:

  • help teachers better understand how students are practicing at home
  • allow teachers to send instructions for assignments, including video instructions!
  • allow teachers to send practice instructions to their ensembles or sections of their ansembles
  • calculate how much each student is practicing, so the teacher can create reward systems
  • gamify the experience through incentives
  • allow teachers to connect with parents and students throughout the week via real time feeds
  • allow teachers to see when and how much each student is practicing
  • allow teachers to hear what the student is practicing
  • allow parents to see that their children are practicing

One huge benefit…

What intrigued me about this App was that I could get a better sense of when and what my students were practicing. Many times, students will say they practiced x minutes for x days of the week, but all we see are practice logs that are usually not completed.

But here's the huge benefit I see from this. Teachers always say, go home and practice. But what does that mean? Well, as teachers, we have to remember that “practicing” needs to be taught and reinforced.

With this App, we can send a Video with instructions on how to practice either a particular technique, or a passage from a piece, anything that needs to be worked on. We can also see and hear what and how their students are practicing. This is tremendous, because it can show us if the student understands the concept or assignment, and can help teachers tailor future lessons to address issues that might not have been apparent in the classroom setting.

Isn't this another way for Big Brother to watch over us?

No! This is just a great educational tool that can help your students improve and help you become a better, more efficient teacher. Don't you ever wonder if your students are practicing properly?

Where can I get more info?

Parents and teachers can go to the Practicia site and learn more about the App. Teachers can also become Beta Testers and get free early access to the Beta Version for themselves and their students. The Beta testers can give feedback and help shape the product that is best suited to teaching music.

The App will be available first for iOS devices (iPad, iTouch, iPhone) in the Beta version, due out later this year in 2015. The Android version will be available soon thereafter.

Conclusion

Most of a student's learning is done at home. The teacher gives the information, allows for classroom interaction, and it is the student's responsibility to take the material and work on it outside of school in order to understand it better and master it. The Practicia App can provide incentives to practice, clear up any confusion about practice assignments, and inform parents and teachers of students' progress.

Practicia main

Action Steps:

  1. If you are interested in this App for your program, check out the website and sign up to become a Beta Tester.
  2. Listen to my BAM Radio Network show interview with Sam Rao here.
  3. What do you think of this App? I am very curious to know your thoughts, so write them in the Comments below!
  4. If you know of someone who can benefit from this article, use the Share buttons below and help them out!