4th Teaching & Education Conference, Venice

"BAM! WE JUST STARTED TO PLAY!" LEARNING DESIGN PATTERNS USING DIGITAL LEARNING PLATFORMS FOR ENSEMBLE LESSON

ANNE-METTE NORTVIG

Abstract:

Pupils in primary and lower secondary schools in Denmark are often encouraged to do their homework in subjects like math and foreign languages. Although some pupils do not always do as they are told, the learning outcome for the 'homeworkers' is not affected by the fact that some do not complete their homework. However, in music, the learning outcome in ensemble lessons depends very much on the music skills of all the pupils, and the pupils learn more if everybody has done their homework and is ready to play together. This paper uses empirical data created as a part of a bigger project funded by the Ministry of Education in Denmark. The project that includes the participation of 15 schools, 30 researchers, and more than 100 teachers investigates and designs for the use of learning platforms in schools in Denmark. This paper presents a learning design created through the collaboration of researchers and teachers at a lower secondary school. The research question is: how can a digital learning platform contribute to skills and creativity in ensemble lessons in music? Data for answering that question were generated from observations of platform-based lessons in music and from interviews with the teachers. The findings from this small part of the project show that the learning platform was used as a framework for linking homework recourses and lessons: teachers uploaded video introductions to a specific rhythm and showed the pupils how to rehearse at home. In the beginning of the lesson, the same videos were used again to help the pupils remember the rhythm before they were asked to play all together. On the basis of new platform videos of other rhythms, the pupils were to mix and create rhythms themselves in small groups. Finally, they were to video record, evaluate and upload their video to the platform and share them with the rest of the class. During the oral presentation of this paper, the perceived learning outcome and the learning design pattern will be further explained and discussed, the theoretical aspects of it will be highlighted, and the wider perspectives of digital learning platforms in primary and lower secondary schools will be considered.

Keywords: learning platforms, learning design, music, ensemble lessons

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