Technologies have long served a purpose in the music education classroom. As tools for delivering content knowledge, educators have been able to integrate Web 2.0 technologies, social media, mobile applications, and cloud-based programs to enhance student learning while creating a participatory learning environment. In the 2013 book Best Practices for Teaching with Emerging Technologies, Michelle Pacansky-Brock provides an accessible framework for educators to design and implement emerging technologies into their classrooms.

Best Practices for Teaching with Emerging Technologies provides a compelling discussion of the applicability of social media and Web 2.0 tools available to the 21st century educator in all learning environments. Michelle Pacansky-Brock, an award-winning online educator, has been integrating emerging technologies into college courses for most of her career. Pacansky-Brock explains that readers of this text will engage in ‘proven emerging technologies that can be leveraged for generating content, enhancing communications with and between students, and cultivating participatory, student-centered learning activities’ (p. viii). This book is written for college educators; however, applications of the suggested emerging technologies are appropriate for primary and secondary school teachers. Any educator who is interested in integrating cloud-based technologies, Web 2.0 tools, social media programs, and mobile apps into the classroom can find clarification through reading this book.

One of the contributions of this text is the author's ability to ground emerging technologies with research on college student brain development. Pacansky-Brock makes sense of how emerging technologies can be used as tools to support all students within the learning paradigm and her writing style allows easy navigation of the content presented in the text. Many technology texts are out of date before they are printed and while acknowledging this fact, Pacansky-Brock reminds educators to be looking towards the principles of preparing students for the 21st century job market through the use of mobile learning rather than the isolated use of what will be soon an obsolete technological tool. I begin this review with an overview of the book and integrate connections between this text and the music education literature. This review follows the organisation of topics within the text.

The book is divided in seven chapters. Although no macro-organisation is presented, the first two chapters present the ‘rationale’ for the book's creation. Chapters 3–5 are organised by theme and use of technologies. Chapters 6 and 7 summarise a reflection of mobile apps and tablet technology utilised to support students with special educational needs in an inclusive model of college learning. An online companion website is available with a listing of up-to-date emerging technologies.

For music teacher educators, reading this book sparks curiosity and new ways of thinking about participatory learning and the future of teaching in music. Pacansky-Brock introduces her text by defining emerging technologies as ‘. . . tools that fall into one or more of the following four categories: cloud-based applications, that are easily stored online and accessible from anywhere with an internet connection; Web 2.0 tools, that make the creation and sharing of multimedia content simple; social media, technologies that transform communication into a highly interactive experience; and mobile apps, applications that are designed to operate on mobile devices (smartphones or tablets)’ (p. 1). For music teacher educators, research examining the use of digital technologies in the music classroom has been an ongoing dialogue in the profession (Fill & Ottewill, Reference Fill and Ottewill2006; Ruthmann, Reference Ruthmann, Finney and Burnard2007; Criswell, Reference Criswell2008; Salavuo, Reference Salavuo2008; Clague, Reference Clague, Conway and Hodgman2009; Kerstetter, Reference Kerstetter2009).

Chapter 1 discusses several strategies for moving to a student-centred classroom including the writing of a new class philosophy and establishing ground rules for a community-oriented learning environment. Pacansky-Brock makes clear some of the issues in online teaching and identifies pitfalls of using course management systems in higher education, which can be helpful to all college educators. She offers tips on how to construct a 21st century class philosophy as well as a showcase section to highlight college educators who are successfully integrating this technology. To conclude this chapter, Pacansky-Brock acknowledges the reality of student frustrations with emerging technologies. Charts and visual aids appear throughout the book for inspiration and quick reference.

For the instructors of all higher education music education curricula, using emerging technological tools in a way of promoting the learning paradigm presents not only a new meaning for centuries old methodologies, but also fertile ground for reimagining a new space and power in music education. Chapter 2 presents evidence supporting a move from an instruction paradigm to a learning paradigm (Barr & Tagg, Reference Barr and Tagg1995). Drawing on the work of Barr and Tagg (Reference Barr and Tagg1995) as a theoretical framework, Pacansky-Brock discusses why this book would be a valuable additional resource for music teacher educators to consider. Creating courses with online learners in mind requires thoughtful consideration of how and where the content will be accessed. Pacansky-Brock offers a list of criteria and guiding questions for the college educator to consider before using emerging technologies in their classroom. The chapter concludes with a description of 21st century skills and how ‘our digital information society has transformed the skills that are necessary for living a successful life’ (p. 64).

The technology presented in Chapters 3–5 are based on increasing an educator's human presence through online communication and by sharing course content with online learners. The use of second-generation Internet (Web 2.0) tools for social collaboration can enhance and support the music-learning environment (Ruthmann, Reference Ruthmann, Finney and Burnard2007; Criswell, Reference Criswell2008; Salavuo, Reference Salavuo2008; Clague, Reference Clague, Conway and Hodgman2009). By using Web 2.0 technology to streamline content delivery for learning, music teacher educators have been able to model blended methods of integrating technological tools into the music classroom. Tools for communication, content creation and curation, and participatory learning are presented through plausible scenarios so the reader may live the experience of implementing the emerging technologies. Participatory learning is defined as a ‘. . . form of learning that occurs through interactions with social media, like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube’ (p. 101). This approach to learning allows students to become active participants in their learning and have a ‘voice’ as a member of our society. By carrying a smartphone, owning a tablet, or logging into social media websites, citizens are participating in mobile learning. Pacansky-Brock states ‘mobile learning is smarter learning’ (p. 130): mobile teaching means innovative methods of assessment and providing immediate feedback to in-class or fieldwork teaching episodes. Other technologies, such as podcasting and video casting technologies, have been particularly useful methods for teaching topics in music education in a mobile learning environment (Fill & Ottewill, Reference Fill and Ottewill2006; Ruthmann, Reference Ruthmann, Finney and Burnard2007; Salavuo, Reference Salavuo2008; Cooper et al., Reference Cooper, Dale and Spencer2009; Kerstetter, Reference Kerstetter2009), although Pacansky-Brock does not consider them as emerging technologies here. Pacansky-Brock concludes this section by offering strategies for assessing participatory learning.

Chapters 6 and 7 discuss the interrelatedness of how mobile learning, the acquisition of 21st century skills, and inclusive learning environments can create greater access to a college education. According to Clague (Reference Clague, Conway and Hodgman2009) ‘. . . a basic facility with HTML authoring, audio editing software, and music notation programs is arguably essential to today's professional musician [educator]’ (p. 160). In specific relation to music education, creatively adopting technology into course design is necessary to induct future music teachers into the practice of pedagogical change. Chapter 7 is a brief reference page identifying strategies to continue the conversation about emerging technologies by starting a Professional Learning Network (PLN). Bauer (Reference Bauer2010) details the importance of PLNs ‘. . . as a means to stay current with news and innovations in the profession, challenging your thinking with new ideas, approaches, and techniques. PLNs allow you to be part of a global conversation about topics of interest to you, enabling a broader, inclusive view of music education and the world in general’ (p. 38).

This is a strong book that will sustain most other technology texts due to Pacansky-Brock's approach to its structure and content. By focusing on the future of teaching and learning first and the principles of what defines an emerging technology second, she creates a book that will undoubtedly influence other authors to adopt this model. This focus on learning with emerging technologies is encouraging to the teaching professionals in music education. Pacansky-Brock's book is a valuable resource for college educators seeking to incorporate technological ‘. . . tools that are making an impact in teaching and learning but are not yet adopted in mainstream teaching practices’ (p. viii). Understanding the 21st century learner will be keystone to the success of developing a critically thinking music educator. In beginning to understand the millennial generation of students and how they consume information through internet-based social networking technology, more research is still needed in understanding how technology will transform the transfer of knowledge in the 21st century music classroom.