Teddy’s Disciplinary Perspective Report 04.11.2010
Delivering student feedback in higher education: the role of podcasting
Teddy’s CTCH604 Reading Log 04.11.2010
For class session 04.13.2010
Have you ever enrolled in a class and around mid-term realize that you never received a grade on any of your work. The teacher has not returned any assignments with markings. No verbal or written communications as to how you’re doing in the class. Well, I have and it’s a frustrating and bewildering experience to have to continue on in a class of that nature. It can really do a job on a student’s self-confidence and self-efficacy. I have often wondered what teachers thought about when they planned these classes, then it came to me, no planning was involved.
In this article the author argues what constitutes good feedback and how it is delivered. Using podcasting technology students are engaged to learn while listening. According to the author, many participants in this research stated that their retention of knowledge was higher as a result of acquiring a more detail delivery system like podcasting. Students were able to easily access feedback analysis from the instructor using email and play it back again and again. This method allowed the student and teacher a form of instant gratification. Assessment of current student work can be posted and received as a clear and deliberate message that indicates what is expected to correct less than acceptable attributes of assignments. Student response is allowed open access to reply and re-submit evaluated work.
Author, Steve Cooper (2008), quotes Nicole and Macfarlane (2006) that teachers and students are partners in the feedback process. It would be senseless to think that a teacher response without a student response could complete the feedback circle. Personally, my experience has been that deeper understanding of knowledge and higher retention of that knowledge comes over a period of time. In other words, this process improves our learning as it is repeated over time! I believe that the student response encourages questions and inquiry that otherwise might not have taken place in the classroom, but has done so through great reflection and timely response from the teacher, evoked an emergence of creative and critical thinking in the minds of the students.
Summary of Carrie Ann’s “Research in Music Education” presentation
What is research in Music Education? Where has our field been in terms of research? Where are we now and where are we going in our scholarship? This is what I will be discussing with our class on Tuesday, April 13th. In order to present this topic, I will be referencing Bennett Reimer’s Senior Researcher Award Speech from 2008. Mr. Reimer, a preeminent scholar in the field of music education, seemed the best way to show the progression and evolution of research in my particular field. Though all aspects of music, including the philosophy of the arts (aesthetics), we must make the connections to teaching, learning and basic musical practice.
Research in music education is a fairly young discipline, beginning towards the middle of the twentieth century. Therefore, our research in our field is just as young and is still evolving. There has been a switch in recent years from a qualitative approach in music education research to a quantitative (evidence based) approach, due to political issues affecting our field. Currently there has been a third approach to music education research; an arts based approach that builds on the aesthetic nature of music and the arts.
Lastly, Mr. Reimer brings to the fore a fundamental flaw in terms of music education research… a lack of unifying structure within which to carry out our work and how we are fragmented and directionless in terms of the central practice of research. This is just another issue that needs to be addressed by the members of our field.
I will discuss these above topics in my presentation tomorrow, in addition to looking at what an arts based approach to research is based on. Research in music education is evolving and we must, as researchers in our field know where we were, are now, and are going to be in the future.