http://www.premiumbeat.com/articles/music_in_elearning.php
It gives the example of a young person learning the Alphabet:
Three teachers are trying to teach first-time students the alphabet.
- The first teacher writes the letters on the blackboard but does not pronounce them. Result? Without the sound input, the students have no clue as to what’s being taught.
- The second teacher writes the letters on the blackboard while saying them out loud. The students are able to associate shapes with sounds.
- The third teacher goes a little further— writing the alphabet on the board, while saying the letters out loud, and then singing the ABC nursery rhyme. The children are greatly interested in the lesson. They not only find it easy to associate the sound with the shapes on board, but are also able to remember and repeat the alphabet as they sing along.
- Provide a multi-sensory learning experience to the learner—audio, video and text
- Facilitate memory retention. When music is combined with information, we find it easier to remember.
- Enhance active learning sessions
- Provide a background sound for learning activities
- Focus attention
- Energize learning
- Enhance theme-oriented lessons
Final tips suggested by this site were:
- Each one is us learns differently. So while learners with auditory learning style will benefit from the musical input, others might feel overloaded if you use music indiscriminately throughout the course. A good thumb rule is to use music for 30% of the duration of the course.
- Variety is essential. Avoid running a single track over and over again through the course. Instead, use appropriate and relevant audio input as and when required.
- Silence is important. Don’t force the learner to listen to a variety of music throughout the course. Give them breathing space.
- Avoid music with lyrics. It can distract and interfere with learning.
- Avoid using music in the assessment modules.
I've never used music apart from in TEFL classes but it might be an interesting thing to consider in our attempt to keep on being more creative and interesting.
I think that it is not the music as such that keeps students motivated but the change in the teaching strategy. Students enjoy doing/experiencing something new; something that makes a particular lesson different from the week’s other fifteen lessons (even if in the short-term they might resist change). For example, at IICT we are so happy to have projectors in all classes (), that we overuse slide show presentations. Due to this repetitive use, students get instantly restless as soon as they realize that a slide show is going to be used in a lesson. To keep students interested I try to use different teaching strategies, and it works for me.
ReplyDeleteQuoting 883:
ReplyDelete"La musica non si fermera' mai,
la puoi chiamare se ti trovi ne guai.
Musica meno male che c'e',
La puoi chiamare fara' bene anche a te"
It's true that music can help memory retention a lot. I can still remember the nursery rhymes I used to learn in Kindergarden and the lyrics of music from the early 90's.
Apart from that, some lyrics can provide a very good tool for initiating a discussion or quoting them to support an argument.
And in most cases students tend to learn more when they are involved with something they like.
In fact, during this academic year I gave them 2 assignments, one based on a Music Scenario and the other based on a Sports Secnario. Since all students loved music, they appreciated much more the former than the latter!!
In my opinion music and mood go very much together. IF you want to provide a relaxing environment, use soft/lounge music. To intensify or gather attention more intense music is used. We can notice this in films or documentaries. I think it is very difficult to watch a movies without sound, i.e with sub-titles only. Same goes with documentaries. You will loose all the climax required changing from intersting to annoying.
ReplyDeleteBeing a great music fan, this topic caught my attention as soon as I entered the blog. I am a firm believer that music is the language of our minds and souls and provides a never-ending list of benefits. Without doubt, such benefits can be applied in education.
ReplyDeleteIn his book "Music and Learning" [1], Chris Boyd Brewer discusses how music can be integrated in the curriculum. One chapter in particular discusses the use of music in the classroom [2]. Here, Brewer highlights three areas of teaching where music can be used effectively; namely for learning information, to enhance attention, attitude and atmosphere, and as a means of musical expression. For each area, he highlights simple techniques which have been found to work successfully with young people and adults alike.
However, one questions how such techniques can be used in e-learning. As well-noted by KD, music in films and documentaries is an integral part to build the required atmosphere. The same effect can be applied in our presentations and videos. Different kind of music can be used to highlight different kind of points, thus attracting the required attention for points that are more important than others.
________________________________________
[1] Brewer, C. B. (1995). Music and Learning.
[2] Brewer, C. B. (1995). Music and Learning: Integrating Music in the Classroom. Retrieved June 9, 2010, from New horizons for Learning: http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/arts/brewer.htm
"In the popular film School of Rock, Jack Black, as substitute teacher Dewey Finn, leaps to the front of the classroom, whips out an electric guitar, and plays an original Led-Zeppelin-esque tune for his stunned fifth graders"
ReplyDeleteI am also a music fan and this technique I found it very useful when I was teaching Grade 3 in a Primary school. Students used to pay more attention, they were more motivated to learn and remember more easily.
Teaching in a college is different however I still adopt such techniques to motivate students to learn. I totally agree with Christine who said that 'such techniques can be used in e-learning'.
I suggest that different music would be applied according to different topics in order to make different connotations and students can remember it more easily. However I would leave this optional for the student because in the end not every student learns through music therefore we have to think of such students as well.
http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/instructor/jan05_music.htm
Adding to what Nadia has said above, I have found that music can actually work in class, even though we are teaching at a college and it can sound a bit strange. Teaching the Foundation Classes a grammar topic is always something that they find daunting. When the students realize that a grammar topic is going to be covered during that lessons they automatically ‘switch off’, therefore I try introducing the topic in different ways that make it interesting – and music is often one of the methods which I use and which works with my students.
ReplyDeleteSwitching back to music in the context of e-learning, I found this interesting link entitled: Should you add background audio to your e-learning courses?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.articulate.com/rapid-elearning/should-you-add-background-audio-to-your-e-learning-courses/
It addresses the fact that adding background music to e-learning courses might help especially when the content is somewhat considered as boring.
According to studies, background audio, has a positive impact on both your working memory and your memory retention, even if it is not related to the actual content.
Despite the above has been proven, it might not work for other people. For instance, I tend to work alot wearing my headphones while doing my own office work. I find this very helpful to keep me alert, but others might find it very distracting if they did the same. The same applies to our students, when they are studying, doing worksheets, online research etc.
I also listen to music with my students while they are painting and drawing, since I believe that music can enhance their imagination and they can express their own emotions and identity better. Each student, including myself, have a file with his/her own music and we play it randomly to give us the opportunity to share and get to know each other better. It also gives the students a chance to become familiar with different types of music.
ReplyDeleteI agree with many of the points that were raised in this blog, especially using music as a motivator, although I have reservations regarding using mellow music as this might lead to many drifting off to dreamland :)
ReplyDeleteAt Art and Design we use the media a lot, especially films to suppliment our teaching. For instance there are very good productions about the lives of the artists, which are both enjoyable to watch as well as informative.
There are also very good documentaries which we show our students, from time to time. Such as those produced by the BBC. Below are some links which you might find intersting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feqMQfRbRnk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoSjRRv6ZrE
enjoy ... in these videos you watch and listen..reading is but secondary :)
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ReplyDeleteIn order to compliment what Desiree posted above, research about accelerated learning indicates that acquisition and retention are enhanced when multiple senses are engaged during the learning process. Howard Gardner suggests that we have multiple “intelligences.” (Gardner, 1993), out of which there is also included a musical intelligence. The more intelligences are used (including visual, linguistic, logical intelligences), the more the student would be able to learn and retain the information provided.
ReplyDeleteReference: Gardner, Howard (1993). Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences.
New York: Basic Books.
I was reading a book on animation last week and I was surprised when listening to music was not suggested since apparently it is difficult to focus on more than one thing at once.
ReplyDeleteI am strongly against this statement as music is one of the main source of inspiration for many artists and designers, so it can trigger many different ideas.
The only problem I have found when trying to incorporate listening to music in the classroom is that my students have different tastes in music so it is hard to please everyone.
I suppose when it comes to e-learning there could be suggested pieces of music one could listen to when undertaking a specific exercise, just to sort of "set the mood"
In several research projects I have done I have found students who need music as a background to their work as well as students who claim they cannot concenrate if they have music while doing HW or trying to study, especially if the music is too interesting.
ReplyDeleteI myself have gone through phases in my life when I needed music while studying but at other times I needed complete silence.
Moving towards music teaching on-line, I think it is possible to have music lessons on-line especially theory, history, harmony etc. However learning an instrument is a big question. I mean, ok you can learn the basics of an intrument on-line but I still think that face-to-face tutoring is essential primarily because of the immediate feedback you need from the tutor as well as the individual progress and individual needs. Progress in performing is very individual and needs individual attention. On-line performing lessons are ok but not as the only form of tuition. Apart from that, listening to a tutor's playing and sound production can never be substituted with the sound we get on-line. Master classes on You Tube etc are fine and they do help but it is only as part of the training...blended learning :)
Tatjana Chircop
Music can be the most motivating and inspiring energy during a painting session. The relationship between music and painting can help students to concentrate and amalgamate sound and visual, similar to an effect experienced by individuals who experience Synesthesia.
ReplyDeleteStudies on the relationship between music and painting can be traced back to ancient history and are closely linked to the comparison between musical keys and shades of colour.
"Kandinsky was fascinated by music's emotional power. Because music expresses itself through sound and time, it allows the listener a freedom of imagination, interpretation, and emotional response that is not based on the literal or the descriptive, but rather on the abstract quality that painting, still dependent on representing the visible world, could not provide."
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/K/kandinsky.html
Music can help students during their education since it creates a positive learning environment and a pleasant atmosphere. It gives us a sense of anticipation and it gives more life and energy to activities done in class. Improves also memory, facilitate a multisensory learning experience, release tension and enhance imagination. Music can be a form of therapy for students with social problems and special needs. Music therapy can improve motor skills, communication skills, academic skills, attention span and so on.
ReplyDelete"Music is the electrical soil in which the spirit lives, thinks and invents." Ludwig van Beethoven
“Each one of us learns differently. So while learners with auditory learning style will benefit from the musical input, others might feel overloaded if you use music indiscriminately throughout the course. A good thumb rule is to use music for 30% of the duration of the course.” (premiumbeat.com )
ReplyDeleteOne should avoid playing a single track over and over again during an exercise. A selection of appropriate music should be played randomly. Silence is also important, so one should give a breathing space. I try to avoid music with Lyrics, this can be distrustful and I also ask students what type of music they prefer.
Source: http://www.premiumbeat.com/articles/music_in_elearning.php
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ReplyDeleteBelow are the links to the You Tube Presentation for Tatjana Chircop.
ReplyDeleteViolin Basics: Session one Part one A
http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=oENzBVvIL6I&playnext_from=TL&videos=CUVOHdreH3E&feature=rec-LGOUT-real_rn-1r-2-HM
Violin Basics. Session one Part one B
http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=SwvsZ8MIQTU&feature=related
The 20 minute session is targeted at first time violin students who already have a background of music but are going to learn how to play the violin through blended learning. E-learning would be blended with face to face individual sessions.
Tatjana Chircop
When I was at school music was quite a large part of our classes. From a very young age, we had compulsory music classes at least once a week, which all the kids seemed to look forward to, it was almost theraputic. We experimented with xylophones, guitars, recorders, the piano, all sorts of instruments. Also I remember music was a big part of Spanish class. My Spanish teacher used to bring her guitar to school with her, and we sang Spanish songs at least 2 times a week. This made learning much more fun, and probably most of the students used to end up choosing Spanish as their second language class! We also watched lots of Spanish movies and had cooking Fridays where we made Fajitas or some other Spanish food. It was a fun class, and Spanish ended up being my highest o'level and A'level mark... was it the music??
ReplyDeleteThe intentional use of music in the classroom will set the learning atmosphere to enhance our teaching and learning activities. Plus, using music for learning makes the process much more fun and interesting!
ReplyDeleteThus I believe that using the right music in class will activate students mentally, physically, and emotionally and create learning states which enhance understanding of learning material and thus eliminates that problem of having students walking into lectures with headphones on. For example, play music with an association for your topic in the background while reading a concise summary of the important information. The more interesting and dramatic, the more easily the information is remembered.