Teaching music online: Changing pedagogical approach when moving to the online environment

Abstract

The development of educational technology has provided platforms for undergraduate music courses to take place in an online environment. While technology is available, this does not mean that all teaching staff are ready for the pedagogical change required to implement teaching online. A transformation of pedagogical practice (that is, to online pedagogy) is required for teaching courses online. Researchers suggest that the use of social-constructivist learning and collaborative online learning models strongly support online student learning. The following case study explores how teaching staff in an American university music department (N=7) transformed their pedagogy when teaching undergraduate music courses online. The study highlights the diversity of perceptions about teaching music online, and the influence of these perceptions on the pedagogical approaches and strategies used when teaching and developing an online music course. The pedagogical elements of teaching music online were found to have connections with the community of inquiry framework’s nexus of teaching presence, cognitive presence and social presence, and suggested a social-constructivist course design. Finally, the findings show that teaching staff experienced a shift of pedagogical approach when transitioning to teaching music online. Implications include assisting music faculty in the adoption of pedagogical approaches and that they should be addressed at individual, departmental and institutional levels.