What I Learned - Week 8

What I learned – Week 8

Research in music education is such a broad topic.  How do we tackle so much information in such a short amount of time? Quickly, that’s how!

I found this class overwhelming a lot of the time.  I think a lot of that comes from my uneasiness with reading and being able to fully comprehend everything quickly.  This uneasiness dates back to well before high school.  However, I appreciated the way the assignments prepared us for each subsequent task.  

Taking the time to review one single research article early on in the course gave me the opportunity to learn how to break down an article and find the relevant information.  After the second article, I felt more confident as to how to read these articles for literature reviews later on in the course.

After my assessment class earlier this term, I felt very comfortable with the prospect of analyzing data.  I was well aware and comfortable with the concepts of mean, median, mode, standard deviation, variance, and correlation coefficient.  I still feel as though I need more training and information on how to code qualitative data as opposed to quantitative, which is clearly provided as necessary.  

My initial review of literature and research topic that I discussed at length with my classmates involved the effect of online music courses and brick & mortar school music program enrollment.  I found precious little literature on the topic and that cause me some frustration.  However, I do not think that the lack of significant research means the topic is not worth studying.  I think that because online music education is so new, there has not been sufficient time for appropriate studies to be conducted.  I think that as the years progress and virtual schooling becomes more commonplace, research on music in particular will become more prevalent

Working on my research proposal was eye opening.  I chose music performance anxiety because I, myself, have suffered from MPA for years.  I have also watched my students have panic attacks minutes prior to a performance due to anxiety.  As music educators, I think that this is a crucial topic to continue to research.  

The texts were very relevant to the material we were learning.   I appreciated the way the Phillips text was written from time to time.  It had almost a “play by play” aspect to each phase of research.  The text was very beneficial to me and my understanding of some of the key concepts.

Something I would like to have much more information on is the actual survey design process.  I think that this is a vital part of research in music education.  I found a major flaw in my own survey for my Research Etude.  Several of the questions that I asked had absolutely no relevance to the data I was collecting.  It wasn’t until I was collecting and coding my data that I discovered this mistake.   My classmates provided great feedback on my survey, but they missed this information as well.  I feel as though a more well designed survey would have yielded more valuable results.  

The topic of how to research is so vast and I feel as though this course only scratched the surface of what we need to know as budding educators.  This course had so much information in it that I would have preferred to see a 16 week /6 credit hour design, rather than 8 weeks /3 credit hours.  I would just be beginning to grasp some of the concepts and then it would be time to move on to the next.  I am not yet confident or knowledgeable enough to conduct my own survey, or design a questionnaire, or interpret results, but thanks to this class, I’m a little bit closer.

What I Learned - Week 7

I really enjoyed reading my classmates’ reflections on how they decided to become music educators.   It’s amazing how so many people can come from such diverse backgrounds can end up all teaching music to young people.  

I found the Research Etude to be a frustrating assignment.  I was unable to have students take the survey so I was forced to ask friends of mine on Facebook to fill out my survey.  It was great of them to take the time to fill out the questionnaire, but none of the data with which I was presented was unusable.  It was fictional data, and I struggled to make sense of it.  I am also unsure that my survey was an effective way to collect the data I was looking for.  It really wasn’t until I was coding my data that I thought of a better way to ask a couple of the questions.  Unfortunately, my classmates had not caught it and I feel as though it hindered my ability to effectively analyze my data.  Additionally, I am not confident in my ability to code and analyze qualitative data.  This is one major reason that I chose a quantitative study.

For my research proposal, I went away from my topic of online music education and discussed music performance anxiety.  While reading the literature, the most obvious conclusion I made was that music performance anxiety exists at all stages of life.  I am very interested in whether or not management techniques can work at any age level.  I found the fact that in the Ryan & Andrews study, they found that the conductor had a significant impact on the anxiety level of the performers.  I think that, as music teachers, this is something we need to be aware of.  

The process of recording my video was less painful than what some of my fellow classmates went through.   I was able to get through a few of the articles for my literature review, and I felt as though I efficiently explained the reasoning and process of the study.  I am looking forward to viewing my classmates’ videos in the coming days.

I have been worried about the scope of the research proposal.  However, now that the research presentation is complete, I feel better about my chances of completing the research proposal on time and in a manner that is acceptable and appropriate.  I think the topic that I have chosen is very relevant and I am considering conducting an actual study of this manner at some point in the future.

What I Learned - Week 6

I found that this week’s discussions were very fascinating.  My classmates and I all discovered that our mass media articles were littered with inconsistencies and misinformation.  My article, on violent video games, had quite a few bits of information incorrect.  The biggest problem I had with the article was the fact that it stated that one of the goals of the particular game was to compete with one another, when the study clearly states that the game was cooperative.  

I was particularly struck by the amount of local slant the Washington Post had on Andrew’s discussion.  His article title seemed to be almost in direct contrast to the titles of the multiple other articles that quote the exact same study.  I think that journalists are doing a major disservice to the public when they misrepresent information to readers because a lot of the times, these types of articles are often quoted to shape public policy.  It seems to me that journalists need to be more responsible in presenting survey results in a straightforward, readable way and not put any type of spin to the data.  Then again, I am talking about something that journalists have struggled with for generations.

I feel as though data analysis is one of my strongest skills when it comes to research.  I am comfortable working with number and Excel, and all of the types of analyses make good sense to me.  I think that hard numbers are a great way to confirm or refute hypotheses as they relate to research questions.

What I Learned - Week 4

This week has been very enlightening.  As I searched for articles an research about my topic, I realized how little research actually exists.  There is, of course, lots of information on the benefits and dangers of virtual education overall, but not a lot on music education in particular.  I was surprised that much of the research I uncovered was from Europe.  In addition, a significant portion of the online music education articles actually relate to collegiate and graduate study (and lots of articles on online graduate degrees for teachers).  

As a virtual music educator, I find my research topic to be extremely relevant and important to American music education.  I have had conversations with my colleagues about how they are concerned that online music courses will draw students away from their general music classes and ensembles.  I tend to disagree.  In my short time at FLVS, I have had students tell me that they are more interested in joining a music class at their local school because of their involvement with my Music of the World course.  I believe that this course opens them up to a new way of thinking about music, and they have a better understanding and appreciation for the history of western music (the main focus of the class) and they want to know more.  This experience with my own students is the entire foundation of my research topic project.  

My discussions with my classmates were very enlightening and enjoyable this week.  Although we did talk a bit about the article we read and the design of it, much of our discussion focused on how we related to the stressors indicated in the article.  It was nice to read how my fellow music educators sometimes struggle with the same issues that I have.  

As we progress through this class, I am becoming more and more comfortable with the general format of a research article.  I have found that as a reader, I prefer the qualitative studies due to their more narrative format.  However, as a writer, I feel as though I would be more comfortable with a quantitative study, due to my comfort level in working with numbers.   I am still uncomfortable with the small number of subjects in a qualitative research study, because I feel as though a test group of only 3 or 4 people does not constitute a viable cross section of a particular group.  I am anxious to learn more about the way these studies are conducted so when the time comes to conduct my own I am confident in my ability to do it well.

What I Learned - Week 3

This week presented a unique challenge in the form of the Music Education Scavenger Hunt.  At first, I was overwhelmed with this assignment.  I think what overwhelmed me the most was the sheer number of research databases at my disposal.  I felt that it was necessary to explore each one prior to starting the assignment in order to learn which ones would be the most useful to me.  I found the IIMP and the ERIC databases to be the most helpful in my work on this assignment.  As I got more comfortable with the format of the assignment, the research became easier.  I was able to quickly narrow my searches (usually by publication type) and find relevant entries that I could cite and describe in the assignment.  Still, some topics proved more challenging than others.  I found the most trouble with the topic regarding musical expressivity (Topic #3).  As much as I would refine the keywords, I just couldn’t seem to find an article that was relevant enough to include in the assignment.  Finally, when I added the word “instrumental,” a great article appeared and I included it.  I have found that just the slightest change to a search parameter can yield tremendously varied results. 

I also feel as though I became more adept and constructing APA Citations.  I feel as though the format was beginning to come more naturally to me as I progressed.  I was still checking my format against the models given on the reference websites, but I have become more confident in my use of APA Citation formatting.  While nearly each class I have taken so far at UF for my Masters has required APA formatting, this course has given me the opportunity to become more familiar with it, and I can only assume that I will continue to gain confidence in the APA style as this course progresses.

I really enjoyed reading and responding to my classmates’ posts on the discussion forum.  It was clear that each of their possible research topics were very important to them, and I tried to be as supportive as I could in my responses.  I think that the fact (as stated in the readings) that the topic of your intended research must be of interest to you is so crucial.  I can’t imagine spending countless hours developing research on a topic in which I was not interested.  Each of my classmates wrote very strong entries regarding their possible topics.  I had a particular interest in one student’s writing about the impact of the one-to-one initiative in his school band program.  Each student in grades 6-12 will receive their own computer.  As a virtual school teacher, I believe that the proper use of technology in the classroom is crucial to the advancement of education throughout the 21^st century.  Any research topic relating to technology hits close to home and I am drawn to it.  The possibilities presented by each music student having a computer and access to free web resources (such as www.musictheory.net) or paid programs (such as Finale or SmartMusic) are endless.  The inclusion of technology into the music classroom is an exciting step forward for Music Education in America.