Kenneth L. Liske, Ph.D.University of Wisconsin Oshkosh

The Effects of Type of Instructional Web Support and Instructional Mode on the Knowledge and Discrimination of Musical Texture Among Undergraduate Elementary Education Majors

Research in Music Instructional Technology: A Sharing Session2002 TI:ME National Music Technology ConferenceApril 10, 2002 • Nashville, TN

Purpose of the Study

Investigation of: Varying types of out-of-class web support media Active versus passive modes of in-class instruction

Implementation of: Simple authoring options for creating instructor-

designed, multimedia web content

Setting

Instructional Context: Three sections of a music fundamentals/methods course

for undergraduate elementary education majors Six-lesson segment on identifying musical texture

Subjects: N = 58 Primarily non-musician, pre-service elementary or early

childhood educators

Independent Variables

Out-of-class web support medium: Text and notation/graphics only (visual only)

Text, notation/graphics, and audio (audio-visual) Progressively disclosed QuickTime multimedia (multimedia)

In-class instructional mode: Activities-experiential (active)

Singing and performing children’s music to learn about texture

Listening (passive) Listening to “standard” music literature

Dependent Variables

Mastery of musical texture content/skills Terminology Texture identification of printed and listening excerpts

Transfer of learning Near/far transfer of texture identification tasks

Use of web support materials

Student attitudes toward web materials

Experimental Design

P

O

S

T

T

E

S

T

T

R

A

N

S

F

E

R

Listening

Text/Graphics

Teacher 2Listening

ProgressiveDisclosure

Teacher 1Listening

Text/Graphics/

Audio

Teacher 1

Activities

Text/Graphics

ResearcherActivities

ProgressiveDisclosure

ResearcherActivities

Text/Graphics/

Audio

P

R

E

T

E

S

T

Researcher

Section 1Section 2Section 3

Expected Instructional Outcomes

Musical Texture Unit

A conceptual understanding of the presence of unique, independent musical voices.

A conceptual understanding of the quality of those voices as either sequential (melodic) or simultaneous (chordal).

The ability to visually and aurally identify the presence/absence of individual voices and their quality.

Knowledge of the specific terminology used to refer to the textural qualities. Knowledge of the conventional names and characteristics of types of music

in children's songs and standard music literature which use particular textural formats.

General Content Definitions

MusicalTexture is the element of music which describes the depth, nature, andrelationshipamongdifferentmusicalvoices.

Monophonic Texture consists of a singlemelodyalone.

Polyphonic Texture consists of severalmelodiesperformedtogetheratthesametime,resultinginharmony.

Homophonic Texture consists of a melodywithchordalaccompaniment,orchordalharmonyalone.

Mixed Texture consists of two or moremelodicvoicespluschordalharmony.

-- OR --

Web Support Materials

Created with readily available authoring tools MIDI, notation graphics: Finale (Coda) Audio editing/conversion: QuickTime Pro (Apple) Multimedia presentations: QuickTime Pro (Apple) Web page creation: Netscape Composer Graphics creation: ClarisWorks (Apple)

Used technology accessible to non-expert web designers

Intended to encourage home accessWeb Examples

Results (Content/Skills Mastery)

There was a significant overall effect in all groups due to instruction.

3-Way ANOVAs with repeated measures showed: No significant posttest

gains due to web support medium

No significant posttest gains due to mode of in-class instruction

Therefore: Instruction was effective, but, Under these conditions

the three web media conditions were equally effective

Both active and passive instruction modes were equally effective.

Results (Content/Skills Mastery)

010

2030

405060

7080

90100

PosttestPretest

DefinitionsPretest/Posttest

Definitions Item Analysis

Printed/Listening Item Analysis

Homophonic

PolyphonicMonophonicTexture

Printed and ListeningPretest/Posttest

010

2030

405060

7080

90100

Item Analyses

Results (Transfer)

Near/Far Transfer12

10

8

6

4

2

0

Instructional ModeTransfer Test

3-Way ANOVAs with repeated measures showed: Near and far transfer test

results were similar among all subgroups.

But, both standard literature and children’s song groups identified texture of standard literature recordings better.

Results (Use of Web Support Materials)

Pearson Product-Moment Correlations showed no significant relationship between web use time and posttest gains.

Use of web support materials decreased as the complexity (and file size) of media increased.

Results (Use of Web Support Materials)

General Student Attitude Survey Results 93% of students felt their understanding of texture concepts and

terms improved after the unit. 97% indicated that in-class musical excerpts and activities helped

them understand texture. 86% indicated that in-class musical excerpts and activities helped

them prepare for the unit quiz (posttest). 76% indicated that the web materials helped them understand and

prepare for the test. 88% indicated that the web support site was well organized and

easy to navigate. As multimedia complexity and file size increased, so did the

perception that downloads took too long.

Limitations

Encouraging home access to web support resulted in the need for certain limitations:

Recorded excerpts were kept short (10-30 seconds) Longer recorded and MIDI excerpts required less

graphic involvement Some students experienced difficulty in downloading

and installing quickTime, or their systems were incompatible

Findings

Under the conditions of this investigation, access to QuickTime capabilities on computers outside the controlled environment of the school computer lab was not viable for some students, and consistent downloading of large multimedia files could not be guaranteed.

There was no statistically significant effect on content mastery resulting from access to varying types of multimedia web support, nor was there a significant relationship between increased use of web materials increased content mastery.

Student attitudes concerning the helpfulness of out-of-class access to web support materials were generally positive, but attitudes toward in-class instructional activities were more positive.

Findings

Results indicated that participatory musical experiences, including singing and playing simple children's songs, were as effective as standard literature guided listening experiences for the purpose of illustrating musical texture concepts.

Regardless of the performance medium and musical style of the excerpts used for instruction, students were better able to transfer their texture identification skills to unfamiliar listening excerpts of standard music literature than to children's song literature.

For additional information:Dr. Kenneth L. Liske

University of Wisconsin Oshkosh

http://www.uwosh.edu/faculty_staff/liske

liske@uwosh.edu