Allen C. Henderson, Austin Peay State University

The technology available for use in the teaching of music at the university level continues to grow exponentially. However, for a variety of reasons, many colleagues are unaware or uninterested in using technology to improve their teaching and provide students another stimulus in their intellectual growth as musicians. Most are aware of the more popular uses of technology such as MIDI, and ear training programs. These applications are widely used in such subjects as theory, composition, sight singing, and ear training. However, other applications, such as using Internet capabilities for research purposes and communications, and multimedia applications, are skills which many are convinced must be taught to today’s students in order to function in a twenty-first century culture. A recent Associated Press article states that more than eighty-five percent of the nation’s colleges, universities, and junior colleges are linked to the Internet. Many campuses are seeing a concerted effort among administrators to catch-up or get ahead in technological areas. In some cases this is linked with money available for programs that are developing new and innovative ways to use technology in the classroom. This presentation presents the results of an investigation of the uses of distance learning technology in the teaching of music at the university level.

Distance learning provides an effective way for students and faculty to interact with professionals and experts in various fields and with other students locally and around the world. This involves the use of video, sound, and communications technology for the teaching of various subjects. Studies on distance learning have shown that students are more involved, and learn as well or better than students in a normal classroom setting. In many cases the instructor is at one location with pupils while another class at a different location also sees and hears the instructor and can interact with him or her. The remote class can also see members of the primary class and interact and discuss. Most professionals are of the opinion that we need to discover the appropriate uses of this technology to enhance and improve the art. We believe our ongoing research using these new technologies can be used to improve the art of conducting, as well as other performance areas in music.

Our interest in applying this technology to music comes from a desire to see students prepared for the future and rather than wait for technology to come to them, to seize the opportunity as technology is developing to make it adaptable for use in their chosen field, thereby becoming molders of the technology. Second, there is a desire to challenge our students, which include many non-traditional students and students from rural backgrounds, to develop their art to its highest potential. Because of our locale, students are not constantly stimulated by performances of the highest caliber as often as those in larger metropolitan areas. Video teleconferencing has been a proven an effective tool for conference and lecture applications in both education and the business world, however, its applications in music performance have been limited. Therefore, the research questions driving this study are:

The first performance area chosen for investigation was conducting. Conducting was chosen because of the need to evaluate the limits of the video as well as the sound quality of the equipment. The constant motion of the conductors will test the resolution of the video. The quality of sound is important for the critique of a conductor’s ability to mold individual voices into a choral sound as well as hear the many intricacies of choral singing. Many students of conducting would relish the opportunity to be critiqued by a well known conductor. Most teachers would find it cost prohibitive to bring in three or four well known conductors per semester to work with student conductors. However, through video teleconferencing there would be no travel or housing costs. The conductor could simply go to the distance learning facility at his or her local university and be connected with a class across the country or across the world.

The subjects for this study were three professors teaching and seventeen students participating in conducting courses at three universities within the state of Tennessee. The three professors were male and participated on a voluntary basis. The two graduate and 15 undergraduate students consisted of ten female and seven male students. Twelve of the students were between the ages of 21 and 25 with one student under the age of 20, three students between 26 and 30, and one student above age 36. Eleven of the students possessed a GPA of between 3.5 and 3.9, two had a GPA of 4.0, and four students had a GPA between 3.0 and 3.4.

The three conducting classes participated in a video teleconferencing session lasting one hour. Each professor taught a fifteen minute segment with fifteen minutes divided for introductions and wrap-up. The content of the segments consisted of teaching three expressive gestures: legato, marcato, and staccato. Each segment included lecture, demonstration, and practice by students with guidance and comments by the professors. At the end of the session, students and professors received and completed separate evaluation instruments.

The student evaluation instruments included demographic questions in addition to questions about the students’ level of familiarity and comfort with the technology, their perceptions about the professors’ preparation and use of the technology, their general interactions with the professors and class members, their motivation, and their judgment of video and sound quality. All items except demographic questions were measured on a five point Likert scale anchored with strongly agree and strongly disagree.

The professor evaluation instruments included questions about their familiarity with the technology, their perceptions and attitudes of the preparation needed for teaching with this technology, their perceptions of student reactions to the session, their perceptions of the amount of difficulty associated with preparing and using the technology, and their motivation to continue to use this technology. All of these items were measured on the same Likert scale as the student evaluations. Two additional questions were asked that required professors to "check all that apply." These questions assessed what professors would do differently next time and how the results of the experience will impact their teaching. A final open ended question asked professors to suggest other applications for the use of this technology in their field.

The results of the student evaluations revealed that this was the first experience with video teleconferencing for all students participating in the study. Students responded positively regarding their ability to both see and hear teachers, their demonstrations, and questions by both students and teachers. They also reported positive interaction experiences with teachers and students. Students did not feel prohibited from interacting with teachers and other students over the technology and believed there was adequate time for this. However, many stated they didn’t ask questions they may have asked in a normal classroom setting. Students reported they would likely tell others they enjoyed the experience and that similar experiences could enhance their learning in music. Students also reported that the content could not have been taught as effectively with a videotape session. In the final area of course judgment students were indecisive about whether they would consider registering for a distance education class in their field if it was available.

Results of the professor’s evaluations revealed several areas of disparity. Room setup was a problem for some which caused some sight problems when observing conductors. Disparity also existed when professors were asked if they would use the same types of examples as in a traditional classroom setting. This suggests one professor may have felt their examples and teaching style worked well while another felt he would need to make changes in teaching when using compressed video. All the professors reported that they would use more interactive strategies with students and redesign their presentation style to better use the technology the next time they taught such a session. They also agreed that as a result of their experience they want more training in interactive techniques using video teleconferencing to maximize their exchange with students. They reported a positive orientation toward future use of such technology and reported that their department would be wise to look into further opportunities to share courses with other campuses over interactive systems. The realities of this statement were brought to light when one of the authors spoke with a colleague at another university. Recently the president of the colleague’s university had met with the performing arts faculty and informed them that every extra dollar that comes to the university is being channeled toward technology initiatives in this and other areas. While he was trying to encourage the faculty to investigate technological applications, this indicates a possible willingness to channel monies toward those areas involved in technological applications.

Results support the use of video teleconferencing within the field of music and suggest that conducting can be taught long distance. The potential also exists for application of this and other technology to the teaching of various other performing areas including choral concerts, voice, piano, and opera. Some of the potential limitations of this teleconferencing session and others may be the students’ discomfort of asking questions they might normally ask in a regular setting. However, we assume that this inhibition may have been due to this being their first experience, and as students become more comfortable with the technology, we expect them to become more comfortable interacting across classes. In addition, before offering a total distance education course in this field, it would be wise to expose students gradually to this technology within other regular courses as was done here to increase the likelihood that they would enroll in such a course. Room setup may also be a limitation in some classrooms and should be a consideration for planning the use of video teleconferencing equipment. Results also indicate that teachers may need some initial training or suggestions for how to most appropriately prepare their instruction for video teleconferencing to increase the benefits of this instruction for the students. Two of the three professors, however, adapted their presentation effectively as problems arose, therefore, this limitation is one that can be easily overcome for those teachers interested in using this technology on a regular basis.

The advantages of this technology are numerous. The ability of the students and professors to adequately see and hear each other at other locations was the most important finding. The quality of sound during teleconferencing was an initial concern and question within this study due to the necessity for quality sound during instruction in music performance. The results indicate that students and professors were comfortable with their ability to see and hear the presentations and performances of others. Results also indicate that the subjects were able to see the presentations clearly. This alleviates any reservation professors may have about the deterioration which may occur in compressed video due to the speed and range of motion involved in most performance areas. In addition, one aspect that surfaced during the study was the possibility, depending on the setup of the room and positioning of the conductor, of viewing the conductor from both the front and side at the same time. This has many possible benefits for the students

Potential uses for this technology include (a) team teaching and collaboration among colleagues at distant locales to provide more stimuli and different approaches to students, (b) reaching a remote group such as a group of choir directors in schools and churches in a remote area, and (c) enrichment of courses through guest lectures, presentations, and performances by experts in the field at great savings to the department. Our ongoing research includes testing the limits of the sound quality (can it be mixed, etc?) and the possibility of using CUSeeMe and M-Bone technologies available over the Internet to make sessions available to those locations that do not have access to video teleconferencing equipment. In a recent partnership with the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, discussions have begun to hold master classes in a variety of performance areas and to possibly provide real-time opera performances to school children in remote or disadvantaged areas.