A framework for designing on-line listening activities for postsecondary music courses: What students’ performance and perceptions tells us

Abstract

Experiencing close listening of music selections in introductory postsecondary music courses is fraught with obstacles in the classroom environment that degrade the learning experience. To address this problem, two types of on-line delivered listening activities were designed based on theories in music cognition and knowledge acquisition. After completing demographic and prior experience questionnaires, students completed (1) a series of selfpaced, independent on-line listening activities with guiding comments and questions about basic musical elements, and (2) a peer-led discussion within an avatar-based 3D virtual environment. In the self-paced environment, we collected and analysed students’ time on task, page revisitation and accuracy scores. The results indicated that none of the prior experience measures (music experience, computer experience or self-regulation levels) predicted any of the outcome variables. We then analysed the survey results for both activities that asked students to characterize their perceptions of these technology-delivered experiences. Students’ perceptions of the worth of the self-paced listening activities were dependent on their level of self-regulation, that is, students with high self-regulation scores, rated the activities lower than those with low or intermediate self-regulations scores. No differences in perception of worth were found in the subsample that experienced both types of activities.