Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without
permission.
42 2015, No. 1
Background and rationale
For a number of years, people have been
declaring the advent of the “digital native” born
of the “Net generation” (Jones, Ramanau, Cross
& Healing, XXXXXXXXXXThese terms describe members
of a generation whom have been exposed
since birth to the internet and hypertext. There
is an expectation that this group think and
process information differently from previous
generations. In some universities this has led
to calls for cu
icula and instructional delivery
technologies to be revamped in order to cater
for these “new learners.” The growing importance
of educational design recognizes that students’
needs are becoming more diverse, that teaching
staff are under increasing pressure to provide
etter education with fewer resources, and that
employers’ expectations of new graduates are not
diminishing. Reproducing traditional practices
can be efficient if the environment is static, but
in times of transformation, pedagogical methods
need to be rethought, “We have to build the
means for e-learning to evolve and mature as
part of the educational change process, so that
it achieves its promise of an improved system of
higher education” (Laurillard, 2006, p. 71).
Running parallel to the Net generation
discourse is a
oader discussion amongst tertiary
education providers about the potential of
instructional delivery technologies for enhancing
student learning outcomes. A number of Web
2.0 technologies, specifically blogs, wikis, and
podcasts, are cu
ently implemented in higher
education courses for a range of learning
purposes. Blogs for instance have typically been
used for students to record their reflections about
their learning experiences or to share their insights
Classrooms and chat rooms:
augmenting music education
in initial teacher education
Christopher Klopper and Katie Wei
Griffith University
Abstract
This paper reports on a design-based research project that investigated the possibilities of creating a novel
learning environment in a music teacher education course that would enhance student engagement and learning
outcomes. It substantiates the pedagogical possibilities and practicalities of implementing instructional delivery
technologies to augment music education as a valuable and productive way forward in addressing ongoing issues
of quality and sustainability in initial teacher education. A range of pedagogical possibilities used to augment
face-to-face interaction is presented. These illustrate how creating opportunities for students to engage in a range
of social interaction and collaborative activities encourages a diversity of perspectives and dynamic exchange – a
technological revolution through instructional evolution.
Key words: music teacher education, design-based research, instructional delivery technologies.
Australian Journal of Music Education 2015:1, 42-51
a u s t r a l i a n
s o c i e t y
f o r m u s i c
e d u c a t i o n
i n c o r p o r a t e d
a
s
m
e
Australian Journal of Music Education 43
about the learning content with other students
(Farmer, Yue & Brooks, 2008; Instone, 2005; Osman
& Koh, 2013; Tsingos, Bosnic-Anticevich & Smith,
2014; West, Wright, Ga
itas & Graham, 2006).
Whereas wikis are commonly used for students to
collaborate over the production and publication
of course-related content (Bruns & Humphreys,
2005; Forte & Bruckman, 2006; Venkatesh,
2014). Podcasts, on the other hand, are often
implemented for delivering lecture material or
other learning content and there are reported
examples of more innovative uses of student-
generated podcasts (e.g., Chan, Lee & McLoughlin,
2006; Frydenberg, XXXXXXXXXXWith respect to other
new and emerging technologies, Waycott, Bennet,
Kennedy, Dalgarno and Gray XXXXXXXXXXpresent a
comprehensive literature review about how tools
as mobile phones, MP3 players, social networking
and online gaming can enhance learning
outcomes in higher education contexts.
This paper reports on how instructional digital
technologies can be used to augment existing
face-to-face learning modes in a Music Education
course in response to increasingly diverse student
cohorts. A number of authors have highlighted
a need for an approach to designing university
courses that are more inclusive of students’ diverse
learning needs and the need to deliver courses in
learning environments that are more supportive
of students’ preference for different learning
modes (Lu et al., 2007; Richmond & Liu, 2005).
Blended learning offers a platform through which
to facilitate this (Heinze & Procter, XXXXXXXXXXThe term
“blended learning” is often used interchangeably
with “online delivery” (Oliver & Trigwell, 2005),
however for the purpose of this study, blended
learning refers to a course that is delivered in
a mixture of modes incorporating a range of
different media.
The existing literature on implementing courses
via blended learning is extensive demonstrating
an increasing range of practices and possibilities.
More recently the research has focused on
the efficacy of blended learning approaches
for enhancing student learning outcomes. For
example, Al-Qahani and Higgins XXXXXXXXXXreport
clear increases in students’ achievement as a direct
esult of implementation of blended learning
systems. Furthermore, students’ views were found
to be “highly positive” towards blended learning
in terms of accommodating their learning styles
(Uğur, Akkoyunlu & Ku
anoğlu, 2011).
Universities need to administer access to this vast
a
ay of instructional delivery technology to ensure
they are utilised for the intended learning purpose.
Universities across Australia, and internationally,
do this through virtual learning platforms or
Learning Management Systems (hereafter,
LMS) that provide the web-based framework to
handle all online aspects of the learning process.
These systems cater for a more diverse student
population, however, the underlying assumption
that digital learning technologies better cater for
the learning needs of the “Net generation” does
often not take into account the motivation and
expertise of academics and the context in which
they cu
ently operate. For instance, Australian
universities and their academic staff are foremost
measured on their research status that puts
pressure on lecturers to invest more time on
esearch outputs. Under these conditions the
uptake of new and emerging technologies is, in
the authors’ experience, patchy and varied. This
claim is supported by results from a recent study
y Kaznowska, Rogers and Usher XXXXXXXXXXwhich
demonstrates that not all university faculties
are equally responsive to implementing the
ange of available learning technologies in their
courses. Their data showed students in visual and
performing arts, education and the humanities
had the lowest availability of instructional
delivery technologies (40%) whereas the sciences,
mathematics and computer sciences had the
greatest availability (nearly 60%).
Research by Ocak XXXXXXXXXXidentified eight key
issues that constrain instructor’s willingness and
ability to adopt a blended learning approach
in their courses including complexity of the
Initial teacher education
44 2015, No. 1
instruction; lack of planning and organisation;
lack of effective communication; need for more
time; lack of institutional support; changing roles;
difficulty of adoption to new technologies; and
lack of electronic means. Ocak XXXXXXXXXXcalls for
systematic and sustained discussion around the
complex pedagogical and technical implications
of blended learning, and complement this with
increased technological support for instructors in
order to minimise these issues.
We acknowledge that extensive research has
een undertaken that explores the benefits and
pitfalls of blended learning. However, it takes
the view that in some instances the utilisation
of instructional digital technologies in higher
education has not always achieved the goal of
transforming the delivery of course cu
icula
to fully online, off-campus modes and the
subsequent effects on learning outcomes are not
evident. It does not question whether this mode
is preferable, instead it examines how to better
utilise instructional digital technologies in such
a way as to complement, augment and amplify
traditional modes of course delivery and on-
campus learning in music education. This paper
also acknowledges the ever evolving nature of
instructional digital technologies and the rapid
pace of change limits the generalizability of this
study, however the learning outcomes achieved
y the students in this Music Education course
indicates that the combination of instructional
digital technologies used to augment traditional
modes of delivery is worth sharing with the
oader audience in higher education who
are training music teachers in Australia and
internationally.
The research context
The project that is the focus of this paper is
one part of a larger research project that was
internally funded with a university learning
and teaching grant. The research for that
project examined ways to build staff capacity to
implement instructional digital technologies over
a selection of primary teacher education courses.
The project was approved by the University ethics
committee and was implemented in XXXXXXXXXX
at a large multi-campus university in South East
Queensland. Three academic staff members who
convened different teacher education courses
purposefully selected a range of instructional
digital technologies to deliver their respective
course cu
iculum. Survey and interview data
was obtained from students and staff about their
experiences using different instructional digital
technologies and their efficacy in enhancing
for enhancing students’ learning outcomes (see
Sammel, Weir & Klopper, 2014).
This paper reports on the findings from this
larger research project that specifically relate to
the outcomes in an Music Education course where
instructional digital technologies were used to
augment existing face-to-face learning modes.
Initial teacher education in Australia has been
condemned for its inability to produce teachers
with the necessary confidence to teach even the
simplest levels of artistic skills (Russell-Bowie,
2013). This re-emerged as a concerning finding
in the National Review of School Music Education
(DEST, 2005) and later in the National Review of
Visual Arts Education (DEEWR, XXXXXXXXXXFrom author
experience, a large number of students entering
primary teacher education programs have limited
formal education in all five learning domains
covered by the Arts cu
iculum: music, dance,
drama, visual arts and media arts. This situation
demands scaffolded learning and time to develop
these students’ professional capacity, and yet
face-to-face time for university courses is under
constant pressure to diminish (Russell-Bowie, 2002;
Klopper, 2007; Lummis, Mo
is & Paolino, XXXXXXXXXXA
consequence of these circumstances is that many
of these graduating primary teachers report a
lack of