Title:
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Contingent learning for creative music technologists
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The main aim of this thesis is to explore the use of learning technology within the music technology
curriculum. First of all, it is recognised that there is a problem for music technology tutors in providing
support for students who have 24-hour access to a music technology studio: typically, there is no
support available outside of normal working hours. One solution is to implement the use of learning
technology in the studio. However, there is no research to date in the field of music education that
considers the pedagogical value of an interactive multimedia-based tool for music technologists. In
order to address this matter, two learning technology interfaces were designed to support music
technology students in different areas of the curriculum, specifically recording and psychoacoustics,
and empirical work was carried out in order to evaluate their effectiveness. The intention was for both
interfaces to enable contingent learning, or learning at a time of need, so that music technology
students could undertake a creative task and retrieve help without having to leave the studio
environment or seek assistance from a member of staff.
In the light of general educational literature on learning and teaching, the information
contained within the pages of these interfaces was divided into two categories, procedural and
conceptual. The former provided step-by-step guidance on the execution of a task, while the latter
provided broader theoretical knowledge associated with that task. A second aim of this thesis is to
examine the effect of acquiring procedural and conceptual information through the interfaces on
students' abilities to perform a task and retain knowledge about it. Two experiments were carried out
involving 48 first-year undergraduates and 30 second-year undergraduates respectively. For each
experiment, the students were divided into two groups and were required to carry out a task using one
of the interfaces. In completing the set task, the first group was asked to gather procedural information
from the interface, while the second group had to gain conceptual information. One month later, the
students were asked to carry out the same task, but without using the interface. On both occasions, the
students submitted task material for assessment. In general, the results showed that there were some
significant differences in the levels of knowledge retention and task performance between the two
groups of students, notably in favour of those who had acquired conceptual information.
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