Design Project: A New Technological Learning Environment for Guitar Students

Simon Forst & Samuel Nelles ETEC 510, Section 65B Dr. Diane Janes April 1, 2012

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students to improve and enhance their guitar skills while learning the musical theory which will enable them to become beginner composers. While students will receive traditional classroom instruction, they will also be given access to a website designed for their use in building their guitar playing and music theory skills. This technologysupported design tool will allow the students to advance at their own speed through a set of lessons and resources designed to build both their guitar playing proficiency and their skill at composing original songs. The objective is to have the students complete the unit of study and be able to create an original song melody with accompanying guitar harmony. The proposed guitar skills design project is situated within instructional design theory. The system is design oriented and focuses on learners abilities for attaining their goals (Reigeluth, 1999). The design tool is a method to support and enhance classroom instruction, and is not meant to replace it. The design is customized to the students age level and current ability level. The students are learning actively rather than passively, and proceed at their own pace throughout the course of instruction. This is one of Reigeluths tenets of instructional design theory; instead of giving everyone the same amount of time and allowing achievement to vary, each learner can have the time necessary to reach the goal of the new design. While the students are engaging with the design tool, the teacher is acting as a facilitator. The students will be using instructional technology in an appealing and novel learning environment. The proposed design tool will utilize some of the key elements of Dick and

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Careys Systems Approach (1990) for instructional design. The performance objective that the students will be expected to achieve is the application of their guitar skills in the creation of an original piece of music with melody and chords. The main instructional tool, an online website, is intended to act as a supplement to enhance classroom instruction. This technology-supported design project also incorporates key concepts in Jonassen's (1999) theories of constructivist learning environments. In accordance with the guidelines of Jonassens theory, the students will be assigned the over-arching goal of writing their own song, but as they begin, they will be unsure what it is they need to know to complete their task. They will also be required to make judgments about why they solved the problem in the manner of their choosing. This learning environment is designed to be interesting and engaging for students in grades six to ten, which Jonassen suggests is key to meaningful learning. Jonassens term, problem manipulation space, when applied to this design, will be the end construct for the students: the creation of their song (pp. 222). Through the use of the website, the students will compose their original works as they choose and abandon, try and retry, and finally accept or reject various combinations of chords, strumming patterns, tempi, melodies, and lyrics in order to satisfy their performance objective. Lastly, the design will incorporate Jonassens three concepts of modeling through the visual demonstration by the instructor on the website and in person, coaching through constructive criticism from the instructor and scaffolding through the incorporation of progressively more difficult musical theory components that will allow students the opportunity for increasingly more challenging learning opportunities as they progress in their study (pp. 231).

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on the part of the design team to build something familiar to the target demographic. By grade six, and certainly by grade ten, students will have experience with using and navigating numerous websites both in and out of school. This familiarity with web affordances and conventions is important, as Norman (1999) states that the art of the designer is to ensure that the desired, relevant actions are readily perceivable (pp.41). To further examine whether using a website as a new learning environment is practical or not, one can utilize concepts presented in the work of Bates and Poole (2003). Their SECTIONS framework examines eight different factors in the selection and use of technology. Among these considerations are the elements of ease of use and reliability, cost, and interactivity. By using the familiar format of a website, students already know how to use similar tools, and the manner in which they engage with the instructional videos and images to learn new concepts on the guitar allows for interactivity. The cost to the teacher or school is negligible, and the only requirement to be considered is access to a computer lab or another computer with online access outside the school. The design of this project also incorporates some of the levels of Bloom's taxonomic domains (Atherton, 2011). The design goals will focus students within the cognitive domain in their recollection and recognition of previous skills and knowledge. First, students will demonstrate goal achievement by applying these skills to new combinations of guitar chords and key concepts of guitar playing and second, they must study charts for the chords required to complete the tasks, and evaluate their end product to decide whether or not they are satisfied with it. Blooms affective domain will be targeted through both the students

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participation in the use of the design, and their willingness to manipulate the design tool (Atherton, 2011). Students individual value systems will be highlighted through the choices they make as they navigate through the components of the design tool deciding on the level of difficulty and complexity of their compositional choices. Throughout this technology-supported design tool, the psychomotor domain of Blooms taxonomy is perhaps the easiest to measure of the three domains (Atherton, 2011). The students physical participation in playing the guitar involves hand-eye coordination, correct body posture, specific hand positions, and the fine motor skills of each finger moving separately. Through the implementation of the proposed design, students will actively navigate through a series of lessons on multiple web pages, and with guitar in hand they will be physically involved in the entire process. The teacher will also be involved during this process. When this design is used at school the teacher can engage in guided responses. Video examples on the website will also demonstrate skills for the students to practice and build their direct hands on skill with playing guitar. One of the highest levels of complexity in the psychomotor category is what Simpson (1972) suggests may be categorized as originating (pp. 30). Students will be attempting to demonstrate the concept of origination through the development of their musical theory skill set based on the knowledge learned through their use of the design tool. Intentions and Positions The intention of this design, in conjunction with classroom teaching, is to teach students the mechanics of playing the guitar and learning the relevant musical theory to compose songs. This will be accomplished while engaging them in a meaningful learning

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process that is not only free from peer pressure but is also, ultimately, enjoyable. The intended target group for this project is students in grades six to ten. The students will be learning about the guitar and related musical concepts for the first time, and this technology-supported design tool will offer them an opportunity to strengthen skills learned both in a traditional classroom setting, and through the Internet at home. While the process of using an Internet-based resource will be both relevant to class instruction and engaging to student interest levels, the end goal is the performance objective: the students will be able to apply their guitar skills to create an original piece of music with melody and chords. The aim of the support tool is for students to learn higher-level guitar skills, emulate other musicians and develop their musical theory ability to create their own original music. It is well documented that scholarly research supports the benefits of music education. In their 1997 study, researchers studied the effect of training in music and performance on spatial reasoning tests (Rauscher, Shaw, Levine, Wright, Dennis, et al.). With the use of control groups and test groups, the researchers determined that students who received music instruction showed improved assessment results, with one particular group of children scoring higher by one standard deviation on a standardized test of spatial-temporal reasoning. Catterall and Rauscher (2008) also studied how music education affects intellectual capacities. They reviewed research on how music instruction affects arithmetic, spatial abilities, visual-motor integration, verbal and reading performance. From their analysis, they conclude that gains in general intelligence result from gains in visual-spatial reasoning skills. They found this to be more pronounced in students who

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had scored low on IQ tests before they received musical instruction. In a 2006 study, Fujioka, Ross, Kakigi, Pantev and Trainor determined that there are measurable differences in the brains of students who have studied music compared to those who have not. The study showed that brain activity, measured over the course of a year, determined that responses to sound differed in students who had received musical training. Additionally, general memory skills and memory capacity improved more in the students who studied music. The conclusions of the study indicated that music was beneficial to cognitive development. This technology-supported design tool will also help meet the requirements of the British Columbia government mandated music curriculum. The British Columbia 2010 curriculum guide for music outlines multiple learning outcomes for each grade level. The grade six and seven outcomes, for example, include requirements for singing and playing musical instruments, music performance skills, and analyzing both self and peer musical performance. There are also requirements for using rhythm, melody and expression to interpret meaning and composing music for specific purposes. Additionally, the document requires students to study both form and structure of music, use expressive phrasing, and sing and play in different textures. From the perspective of a classroom teacher, the proposed design tool will be a valuable asset to help satisfy many of the goals of the required provincial music curriculum. Both government-mandated curriculum and Southcott and Crawford (2011) have identified that the incorporation of technology should be a key area of focus for music teachers in identifying the importance of technology in school music education. Teachers who follow curriculum closely know that the use of technology to aid

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instruction is an area in which they should focus their attention. Southcott and Crawford acknowledge that while some school districts say very little on the issue, or make broad statements with few specifics, most address technology as a requirement in the music classroom. They highlight how technology can be used to enhance and focus creativity, composition and development of skills that incorporate a variety of sound sources. They conclude by suggesting that classroom teachers need to collaborate with colleagues in information and computing technology, and be judicious in their choices of which technologies to include in their classrooms. There are also links to uses of technology in the British Columbia music curriculum. Students are expected to demonstrate appropriate use of technology and equipment specifically tied to music learning objectives. Many other areas of the provincial curriculum require the use of computer skills, including the disciplines of visual arts, health and career education, mathematics and social studies. The predominant technology that students will require to use the website is a computer equipped with Internet access, web-browser, and speakers. Students will sit in front of the computer with a guitar, and be prepared to listen, play, and navigate through different pages of the design website. The individualized, self-paced instruction relies on access to a school-based computer lab and home computer. While students could work in pairs, thus enabling a peer-helping environment, it would be difficult to work in groups comprised of more than two students. Access therefore to a computer lab is desirable; however, a classroom with a projector and screen would also suffice. This would allow the teacher to make the page large enough for an entire class to see while providing the opportunity for group instruction. Students will also be able to access this resource from

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home, or any other remote location where they have access to a computer and Internet. By introducing this website to students, they will be exposed to an area that many of them may not have previously explored. Anderson (2008) discusses the implications of using the Internet and its impact on learners and suggests that students will have the opportunity to dig into other online knowledge resources to further enhance their experience with using this design tool. As Anderson suggests, they may find near limitless means for them to grow their knowledge and find their own way around the knowledge of the discipline, benefitting from its expression in thousands of forms and contexts (pp.49). Key Concepts and Contexts This technology-supported design project is focused on providing an online resource of key concepts for learning guitar and basic songwriting. The project is designed to encourage students to engage in the learning of basic guitar skills, including chords and strumming patterns, in order to facilitate students to develop their musical creativity in the medium of songwriting. Seddon and Biasutti (2008) argue that for an elearning resource to be effective it should use appropriate technology, content should be organized and include creative tasks, and it should provide the opportunity for participant evaluation and interaction. This design tool uses the technologies of school or personal guitars and if available, both school and personal computers. The design tool content is organized to be clear to the students and include creative tasks for putting chords together and creating a song. Participants in the learning environment have will have the opportunity to be evaluated by instructors and interact with fellow students in their class. The projects conceptual knowledge focus is based on classroom pedagogy and

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what the students will be required to know in order to learn to play the guitar and write their own songs. This includes learning basic chord fingerings by following web-based diagrams that are accompanied by photos of actual guitar fingerings to assist students with learning how to read them. A second web page on strumming patterns and fingerpicking styles will include videos which will further add to the above visual learning cues, as these are often very difficult aspects for beginner guitarists to master. These skills create a context that will allow students to develop procedural knowledge of combining multiple chords into harmonic progressions that will become the building blocks of the songwriting process. Ottoman and Mainous (1995) state that specific chords go together to make music in the Western European tradition on which todays popular music is based and this principal is incorporated into the theoretical foundation of the design tool. The basic chord structure is based on an Ionian scale and typically uses the root, fourth and fifth chords. Following these simple rules of music theory, students will be able to use their creativity to produce harmonic progressions that will result in the kind of overall sound they are looking for. Kirkman (2009) suggests that giving students a certain amount of structure can promote creativity, providing them with a guide for their decision-making process. Once students develop a chord progression they are happy with, this curriculum design context will provide the steps to allow them to create melodies built through their newly acquired procedural theory knowledge. The concepts introduced in this on-line learning environment are designed to enhance teaching in a traditional face-to-face classroom. It provides music educators with a resource targeting students in grade six to ten allowing them to learn the fundamentals

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of guitar theory and songwriting in any environment they choose. The grade six to ten developmental years present challenges that often make it difficult to capture the interest of students and to keep them motivated in the learning process; there is often a great divide between what they see as school music, and what they see as the real music that they enjoy in their lives outside of school. Green (2006) describes this concept as old-peoples music and what the students refer to as their own music (pp. 101). She suggests that students make this distinction because they think that popular musicians learn to play and compose music in very informal ways and that teachers largely ignore this in traditional music classrooms. This concept is incorporated into this on-line learning environment by allowing students to work at their own speed and choose what aspect of the online design tool they practice at each step. Greens findings are further supported by Artino (2010), who suggests that students will achieve the greatest success in technology based learning environments, if they perceive the content to be interesting and important in their daily lives. This technology-supported learning environment also aims to further enhance the interest of students by allowing them to practice outside of the classroom in environments of their choosing. This will allow them the ability to experiment in a more comfortable environment at home or anywhere else they feel comfortable building their musical skills and expressing their creativity. Noted educational psychologist and theorist Jerome Bruner has written extensively on the role of the educator in helping students to see the infinite possibilities in their learning process which creates higher levels of student motivation to excel in their studies (Bruner, 2008). This premise is the foundation behind this design proposal.

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Structuring an online learning environment that is accessible and enjoyable to middle and high school students through the incorporation of popular music will result in a dynamic that lowers peer pressure and motivates the students to achieve the intended learning outcomes (Nolen, Horn, Ward & Childers, 2011). Lowering the possibility of peer pressure in this highly impressionable age group of students through the design of this online learning environment may effectively decrease student stress and procrastination in achieving their goals; students will be able to practice and create melodies free from judgment that may stifle their creativity in a traditional classroom environment (Michinov, Brunot, Le Bohec, Juhel, & Delaval, 2010). InterActivities Visit http://forstnelles.weebly.com to see the website used as the learning environment for this project. After looking at possibilities of using a learning management system (such as Moodle) or a social learning network (such as Edmodo), a website was chosen as it is easily accessible to the grade six to ten students that will be participants in our lessons. Weebly was chosen as the host due to the broad range of design possibilities available, the ease with which to add images and videos, and the lack of advertisements. Some of the images were created using art and graphic software included with Microsoft Office, while others are photographs and videos taken with a personal camera. Verifications This new technological learning environment for guitar students will require assessment to determine if it is accomplishing the purpose for which it was designed. According to the Dick and Carey (1990) systems approach for designing instruction, the

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components that must work together include the learners, instructor, instructional materials, and learning environment. Dick and Carey indicate that instructional material, in this case the guitar instruction website, must be evaluated in order to identify how to improve instruction. This formative evaluation can include one to one evaluations, small group evaluations, or field evaluations. Using this website with a test group of students would be an excellent implementation point. The instructor could compare the result of having one group of students use the design tool, while another group is exposed to only traditional, formal classroom-based instruction by the teacher. The first form that the evaluation could take in this instance is observation of participants. Questions to consider in the evaluative process may include: are the students on task? Are they engaged with the instructional materials and learning environment? Are the students finding the information necessary for completing the assignment? The classroom teacher is present during the observation as students are using this tool, and can easily determine the efficacy of the website based on student comments and interactions. An opportunity for written feedback on the use of the website would reveal the students considered reactions to the learning tool, although some bias involving grades or perceived conflict might impede valid results. Perhaps the best assessment of the learning tool would be the end product the students generate from the combination of classwork, formal instruction, and use of the guitar website; their original compositions. Changes or additions to the design tool can be quickly made during the formative evaluation phase or after the unit has been completed by the students, a summative evaluation is another way of assessing their learning experiences (Dick & Carey, 1990). A summative evaluation

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technique would be more reflective in nature, as changes made using a formative technique could not be evaluated until students completed their interaction with the design tool. The role that this design tool website could play in music instruction in a class is not the only measure of its value. Teachers are accountable to follow the guidelines set forth in the provincial curriculum, which features the use of computers or information technology in most areas or strands. The public education system has a responsibility to prepare students for the increasing prominence of technology in our society. Reflections and Connections - Group Reflection The designing of a new technological learning environment for guitar students was an ambitious project for a two-person team. The small size of our group made for a heavier workload, but was also beneficial. Neither partner was interested in working on a project that would have limited use or no use at all in our personal classrooms. The fact that we both teach guitar classes to intermediate level students, and that we both strive to keep our curriculum fresh and exciting for the students, led naturally into this project. We knew we wanted to work on a guitar related project, so the next step was simple. We waited for one of us to be struck by brilliance, and asked each other a series of questions. What did we want the students to be able to do? What would be the best way to get this done? What do we know how to do? And, what could a website do for us and for our students? Collaboration was far simpler than if we were dealing with a group of five collaborators, and our decision making process proved to be fast and painless. Division of labour was also relatively simple; whatever one person did not do, the other did. A

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potential drawback to having a large team is losing ownership of the design. The end result could have the potential to create a situation where one or more contributors feel undervalued or even marginalized. A smaller group is much more likely to value the contributions of all of the team members. Challenges inherent in working in a team of two include: fewer pairs of eyes to catch potential problems, fewer people to locate sources and learning theories, and a less diverse professional background. Google Docs was the perfect tool for our collaboration. We would make changes, leave notes about what we had done, or notes about what we thought of each others contributions, and the project quickly took shape. The use of Weebly as the host for our website is due to its ease of use and design appeal. It allows for a broad range of text, image and video content, and is visually appealing. Weebly websites are free of some of the required advertising that is present in other free website creation programs and proved to be ideal for public school use. Following the SECTIONS framework for selecting and using technology there are a number of reasons why choosing to develop a website was a good choice for us in the creation of this design tool (Bates & Poole, 2003). Students in the target age range for which we are designing are familiar with Internet use and protocol, and it is easy for both students and teachers to use. There is no cost other than teacher preparation time involved with this learning tool, and it is both interactive and novel for the students. It gets them out of their regular classroom, out of a textbook, and sitting in an environment in which many of them are comfortable. Connections The new guitar learning technology developed for this course is designed to get

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students working towards a final goal of writing an original song. Learning about music can be a very private and personal journey that can become public through choosing to share personal compositions by showing them to the world. Whether the students are playing their final creations to their teacher, classmates or parents is secondary to the fact that they are sharing their connection to music. Some students may already have shown a propensity for public performance, but most students find this very hard to do. They are publicly revealing their creation, and once it is let go, it is no longer solely theirs. While using this design tool, the students are not alone on this journey because there is always a component of classroom instruction and use of the tool during school time. While the students interact with this learning environment and their peers, the teacher is in the room, and is also present in the construction of the website. For some children, it is perhaps more relevant that their classmates are all around them while they are learning. Jonassen (1994) indicates that for students to learn about something and truly internalize it, learners need to collaborate together. Any teacher who has watched their students working in groups toward a common goal knows that they learn best when working together on something that interests them. It is no different in a music class. Students form small clusters or groups and work on things collectively. The addition of a website gives this collective learning a much more modern appeal. Many students who use the Internet are aware of the social interactivity it affords. The appeal of this learning tool is that students can access it from school or home, together or apart, and the use of the Internet presents a strong potential for social interaction (McMahon, 1997). Boyd (2008) discusses the benefits and collaborative possibilities of websites such as that created through this design tool, as spaces and audiences that are bound together through

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technological networks (pp. 125) as it allows students to work together when they may not be in a traditional classroom environment. It was our intention to offer the opportunity of creative online learning to our music classrooms. This design tool is a resource that will offer knowledge and enrichment to students in a technologically relevant way while it is supported by components within the public-school curriculum. This will be a valuable resource for both home and school, and students will benefit from the learning environment by completing a class assignment and meeting the curriculum goals. In the bigger picture, the students will learn musical skills and confidence that will stay with them for a lifetime. Individual Reflection - Samuel Nelles I had a fairly steep learning curve throughout this course. I had never taken an online course before, and had to navigate my way through applying to UBC Graduate school, registering for courses, paying fees and learning to use all manner of different interfaces in the last four months. The design wiki just about broke me! However, the opportunity to work in a group appealed to me, as I have had a team (a team of two!) to lean on for a bit of support in getting the task done. My biggest challenges in this particular task were learning to use Google Docs, which ended up being fairly simple, and working within the APA framework. All work I have done up until I began my MET journey was within the confines of the MLA format. Communicating with my teammate was easy, although we did use email outside the UBC Web CT system. We both were open to each others suggestions and I felt we worked together well. The other challenge on this project was creation of the website. I was very

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fortunate that my teammate was comfortable with web design. I fed him a few ideas and some content from my class, and he did a great job of building the technological learning environment. Individual Reflection - Simon Forst I found this project very useful, as it allowed me to create a learning environment that I had been wishing I had access to for a while. The project really forced me to think about how to teach something in a less directive way that enhanced the creativity and enjoyment of my students. I had to think about what the students would need to learn in order to be able to achieve the desired outcomes. This is something that I do in everyday teaching, however I found this medium quite different as I usually use the students reactions to gauge how my lesson design is working and change it on the fly as needed. This could still be done to a certain extent, once I start using the website with students, but it will require updating things after class when I have time rather than at the moment students need it. The major challenge I faced was trying to figure out which program to use to create our environment. I had previously created a website using Apples iWeb program, which worked really well, but I thought it needed to have a paid domain host to be able to be seen online. I had heard of Moodle, but it didnt seem very user friendly (though it seems to have recently undergone a refresh), and visited Edmodo, which didnt seem to have the ability to do what we wanted to with the project. I took a look at Googles Sites and Blogger, Posterous, and Wix, which all seemed to be lacking a few features we were looking for. I tried Weebly, but couldnt see how to add video without paying for an upgraded version. I then found Webs.com, which would let me do everything I wanted,

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although it added advertisements to the free version of our website, and the user interface was not great. The Webs.com version is the one I included in our proposal. In working on the final version of our site, I discovered that I could host an iWeb site for free through Dropbox. I started creating an iWeb site, but I realized that after this project was finished, my project partner would no longer have access to editing the site, if he wanted to make changes. Finally, in talking with some colleagues at my school, I realized that adding video to Weebly is really very easy, I just didnt see the button. So our final version is http://forstnelles.weebly.com. It has the best user interface, the free version does not leave advertisements on our website, and it had the best access to images and videos in a layout I could control. Another challenge I had was trying to avoid copyright infringement, as it would have been very simple to copy and paste what other sites had done. Instead, I had to figure out how to create and upload the images and videos myself. Weebly also includes a link to Creative Commons images that can be used copyright free. My partner on this project did most of the written part of the assignment, with input from me. Luckily, I am fairly experienced with APA formatting and was able to help with that part. This allowed me the time to put together the website, with ideas that we had both used in our classrooms.

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