Technology used to Enhance Composition and Music-Making in Rural and Remote Secondary School Settings (Online Music Education Project)

This case (Crawford, 2017b) discusses an online music education project, designed to address the disparity in the provision of music education programs in regional and remote schools in Australia and proposed that using a range of Web 2.0 technologies to teach and learn music may in part resolve this issue. Project aims included:

- Providing students and teachers within rural and remote schools access to high- quality music learning materials and resources.
- Facilitating the use of online music technology in a blended learning context through engaging students in the development of online music compositions and soundscapes.

Disadvantaged student populations in low socio-economic areas were restricted by factors such as location and cost, hindering opportunities for students to engage with appropriately trained instrumental music teachers, musicians, and access to professional music concerts. Technologies and Web 2.0 platforms were used to find sustainable and equitable ways to enhance learning experiences that are relevant to real-life, which many of these students would otherwise not have had access to. Music specialist teachers incorporated the Interact Music Project into their curriculum, providing a range of interactive and visual music learning resources such as instrumental lessons on a range of instruments and practice techniques, composition tasks to scaffold concrete knowledge and skills while encouraging creative and critical thinking, performance skills, and critical listening activities.

Students were guided in developing music composition skills and knowledge using the open-sourced audio software Audacity. This fast-multi-track audio editor and recorder has features that include envelope editing, mixing, built-in effects, and plugins. Depending on the types of computers and digital devices available, students could also utilize open-sourced software FL Studio, GarageBand, Noteflight and Music Maker. Students created their own compositions and shared their work on the Interact Music Project website. A key element of the project was the use of peer feedback via a blog, allowing students and teachers across schools to share, collaborate, and comment on their compositions and soundscapes. At the time, blogs and social media had been used in informal music learning for a number of years (Salavuo, 2006 and 2008; Waldron, 2013).

This project sought to formalize this practice. New communication technologies provided remote access to city-based instrumental teachers and musicians as a supplement to the work achieved in class. Online video conferencing workshops were run with expert musicians from various professional orchestras and bands and webcast from the studios in the main city. Through the use of virtual online classroom software Elluminate, the students were able to listen and watch musicians performing and practicing and composers working through compositional ideas and techniques in practice. A range of musical genres, styles, and instrumentation were explored and experimented with. Students had opportunities to develop their own music learning through creating compositions and/or playing an instrument.

They could ask questions and make comments of these musicians and composers by typing into the chat window. The primary content to be used in the classroom was designed as 10 learning modules to be set during the course of the year and the sequence expected that by the middle of the year students will have progressed to the end of module 5 and subsequently module 10 by the end of the year. This was a self-directed student learning approach so that students could work through at their own pace and the teacher would facilitate introductions to each module including providing detailed guidance to key musical ideas, skills, concepts, and knowledge, as well as assistance on individual project work. This blended learning context was found to be highly effective. Although each module includes consideration of differentiated learning in terms of styles and ability levels, extension activities were provided in each module for advanced students.

A mixed method research design using a sample size of 20 Year 7 and 8 (ages 12-14) general music classes in secondary schools consisting of 20 teachers and 440 students was used to investigate the impact of the online music project. Results were significant, indicating that 98% of participating students completed all self-directed learning modules by the end of the year and a major factor in this was changing student expectations about music being not interesting, engaging, authentic, or valued knowledge (Crawford, 2017b).

There was a notable increase from the data captured at the beginning of the year when only 140 students or 32% said they think they would use the music project outside of school time, to halfway through the year when the figures indicated that 300 students or 68% were actively using it outside of school time, which increased to 410 students or 93% by the conclusion of the year (Crawford, 2017b). This was correlated with the music teachers who expressed benefits of using technology in an innovative and multidimensional way as they could see the immediate value for their students’ learning and the clear progress that was made across the year. The music project enabled students to build skills in using technology to support the development of music compositions and soundscapes, learning an instrument, and participating in music skill development and knowledge workshops.

The success of the project was largely attributed to the multi-dimensional learning environment that fostered metacognitive processes and multi-modal ways of creating and reflecting. The online platform was designed to be student centered and self-directed, providing a supportive space for creating, sharing, collaborating, and receiving feedback synchronously and asynchronously. The opportunity for students to work with musicians and composers, and to experience high quality music performances through partnerships with professional orchestras and bands developed students’ understanding of musical expression and inspired creativity in ways that would not have otherwise been afforded to these rural and remote located students. The benefits of such technology creating opportunities for quality music education experiences within authentic and real-life contexts supports current curricula objectives and the thinking and requirements of contemporary society.