Title: The Application of Constructivist Techniques to Online Graduate Music Education Course
1Source The Christian Harmony (Compiled by Wm.
Walker - 1873 ed.)
2The Application of Constructivist Techniques to
an Online Graduate Music Education Course
3Rationale for Study
- James Voigt (2001) online courses can access
out-of-town experts for discussions and guest
lectures. - 1883 1st distance course at U.W.
- 1932 U. Iowa used TVs in distance ed
- 1997 Harvard had 10 of its 1.5 billion budget
from online education - Dyrud (2000) virtual universities are popping up
like mushrooms and that distance education
offerings in traditional venues are multiplying
like rabbits.
4Rationale (continued)
- University of Phoenix Online
- 1997 4,700 students
- 2002 49,400 students
- 40 minority students
- Average age is 34
- 70 undergraduate
- 26 graduate
- 65 graduation rate!
5Related Literature
- Phipps Merisotis (1999) it seems clear that
technology cannot replace the human factor in
higher education. - Chickering Ehrmann (1996) good practice uses
active learning techniques
6WebQuest
- Dodge (1996) an inquiry-oriented activity in
which some or all of the information that
learners interact with comes from resources on
the Internet. - Six Step Cookbook-Style Recipe
- Introduction
- The activity or task at hand
- The process of the activity
- Resources or information sources
- Evaluation of the learners project
- Conclusion
7Salmon (2002)
- E-tivities
- Access and motivation
- Online socialization
- Information exchange
- Knowledge construction
- Development
8Jonassen (1999)
- Constructivist Learning Environment
- Problem or project
- Related cases
- Information resources
- Cognitive tools
- Conversation and collaboration tools
- Social / contextual support
9Perkins (1992)
- Components for a constructivist activity online
should include - Information banks
- Symbol pads
- Construction kits
- Phenomenaria
- Task Managers
10Research Questions
- What services or resources would the participants
use? - Can this method of JavaScript be used to track
and accurately represent a grad students
research process? - What resources are most popularly used in the
participants' research process? - How often and what time of day do these graduate
students typically access course materials? - Is the method of delivery an issue for the
students or is it transparent enough to allow
full investigation of the course material instead
of learning the technology?
11Teacher-Research Design
- Collage page is a metaphor as the entrance for
the class to explore their classroom - 42 Tunebooks, 40 listening examples, 30 web
pages, tons of hyperlinks, anchors, built-in
interaction, communication tools, and a checklist - JavaScript tracking of participants pages
visited and times the pages were opened - In class presentations were the culminating
activity - Triangulation through tracking logs, pre- and
post-surveys, and grade from presentation
121. What services or resources would the
participants use?
- Tunebook.html - 19.22 of time (66 hits)
- Lesson.php - 3.65 of time (61 hits)
- Gather.html - 1.51 of time (32 hits)
- Present.html - 4.14 of time (23 hits)
- External links - 1.30 of time (21 hits)
- Library homepage - 3.52 of time (17 hits)
- Classroom.html - 1.84 of time (12 hits)
- Google.com - 2.39 of time (10 hits)
- Mailto links - 1.68 of time (9 hits)
- Music Index Online - 0.36 of time (8 hits)
- ERIC Database - 2.53 of time (7 hits)
- Individual tunebooks - 13.54 of time (50 hits)
132. Can this method of JavaScript be used to
track and accurately represent a grad students
research process?
- Researched the topic before viewing the primary
sources - Many did not complete the required readings
before going into the activity - Bonk (2001) future studies of web-based
conferencing and other forms of online learning
can benefit from computer logs and surveys.
143. What resources are most popularly used in the
participants' research process?
- Search pages accounted for 12.8
- Viewing primary sources accounted for 13.5
- Focus group pages accounted for 32.7
- Activity-based pages accounted for 28.8
- Assigned readings accounted for 6.5
- Communication pages accounted for 2
154. How often and how much time do these graduate
students typically access course materials?
- Total time logged was 28 hours with 482 pages
viewed - Doctoral (2.3 hours) v. Masters (4.2 hours)
- Average pages viewed by the 8 participants was 60
- Inter-rater reliability of the presentations was
r .843 between the two graders
165. Is the method of delivery an issue for the
students or is it transparent enough to allow
full investigation of the course material instead
of learning the technology?
- Technology is an extension of the lesson, not a
replacement for the educator - Russell (1999) learning is not caused by the
technology but by the instructional method
embedded in the media. - No participants accessed help via the IATS logo
on the classroom page - 1 participant downloaded Adobe 6.0
17Implications for Educators
- Less pages with more content
- Offer several places for students to utilize
search engines - Assigned readings were not correlated to grades
nor time heavy by these participants - More scaffolding on each focus group page instead
of the classroom metaphor page - Primary sources were not viewed until they had
researched about the sources first
18Suggestions for Future Research
- JavaScript issues
- Disable back button on the browser
- Hyperlinks do not open in new windows
- Logging out is essential
- Pacing of activities
- Lock topics to be claimed until a certain point
- Login page should direct to a personalized
checklist page instead of the metaphor page - Presentations
- Less directed and constructivist in nature
- Tie to standards in music
- Emphasize the transfer to their current classroom
- Larger sample size to corroborate these findings
19Thank you for attending this dissertation defense!
- What questions may I answer for you about this
study?