College of Education
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Item Formats and Features of Professional Development as Predictors of Self-Reported Changes in Music Teachers' Knowledge and Skills(2014) Schneckenburger, Brian K; Hewitt, Michael P; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this study was to describe the self-reported professional development activities of music teachers in the United States and to determine whether selected formats and features of professional development experiences commonly available to music teachers were significant predictors of music teachers' self-reported enhancements in knowledge and skills. The Music Teacher Professional Development Survey was distributed to a simple random sample of 2,257 music teachers in all 50 States and the District of Columbia. It contained items that pertained to participants' professional development activities during the 2012-2013 school year, asking them to describe one of those experiences in-depth and to rate how that experience affected their knowledge and skills. A total of 493 teachers responded to the survey, and 326 completed it. Notable findings indicated that (a) music teachers attended professional development outside of their schools or districts to find professional development relevant to their roles as music teachers, (b) they undertook individual learning to supplement their formal professional development, and commonly spent more than 20 hours during the 2012-2013 school year doing so; and (c) their ideal professional development experiences would be a workshop that involved other music teachers, was relatively short in length, would take place in their own schools or districts, and related to their areas of teaching specialization. Three professional development formats (in-district professional development workshop, workshop sponsored by a college or university, and graduate coursework) were entered into a fixed coefficients multiple regression model with out-of-district music/ music education conference as the referent group and state membership as fixed variables. Results revealed statistically significant effects for (a) graduate coursework and (b) in-district professional development in comparison to the referent group on participants' ratings of enhanced knowledge and skills. Effects for in-district professional development workshops were negative, suggesting that participants rated their enhancements in knowledge and skills significantly lower than the referent group. For features of professional development, fixed coefficient multiple regression analysis results indicated that (a) time span, (b) opportunities of active learning, (c) activity type, and (d) content focus were significant predictors of music teachers' ratings of enhanced knowledge and skill.Item Prisms and Polyphony: The lived experiences of high school band students and their director as the prepare for an adjudicated performance.(2012) Miles, Stephen Wayne; Hultgren, Francine; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This hermeneutic phenomenological inquiry is called by the question: What are the lived experiences of high school band students and their director as they prepare for an adjudicated performance? While there are many lenses through which the phenomenon of music preparation and music making has been explored, a relatively untapped aspect of this phenomenon is the experience as lived by the students themselves. The experiences and behaviors of the band director are so inexorably intertwined with the student experience that this essential contextual element is also explored as a means to understand the phenomenon more fully. Two metaphorical constructs - one visual, one musical - provide a framework upon which this exploration is built. As a prism refracts a single color of light into a wide spectrum of hues, views from within illumine a variety of unique perspectives and uncover both divergent and convergent aspects of this experience. Polyphony (multiple contrasting voices working independently, yet harmoniously, toward a unified musical product) enables understandings of the multiplicity of experiences inherent in ensemble performance. Conversations with student participants and their director, notes from my observations, and journal offerings provide the text for phenomenological reflection and interpretation. The methodology underpinning this human science inquiry is identified by Max van Manen (2003) as one that "involves description, interpretation, and self-reflective or critical analysis" (p. 4). I have reflected on the counterpoint of the student experience, and both purposefully and inadvertently, viewed this counterpoint through the various windows O'Donohue (2004) suggests await our gaze in the inner tower of the mind (p. 127). The student experience showed itself through the ensemble culture, the repertoire studied, the rehearsal process, and the adjudicated performance itself. Student conversations and reflections indicate that they experienced both discovery and transformation as they interacted with the music, each other, and their director throughout this process. The fresh prismatic and polyphonic understandings that emerged may offer the possibility for others to consider more deeply the context of how students experience who they are within an ensemble and how that experience shapes their musical understandings and personal growth.Item THE DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF AN INSTRUMENT TO MEASURE WIND ENSEMBLE ERROR DETECTION SKILLS AMONG INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC EDUCATORS(2012) Koner, Karen Michelle; Hewitt, Michael P; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The Instrumental Music Error Detection Test, or IMEDT, was developed to examine error detection ability regarding pitch rhythm and articulation errors in recordings of a wind ensemble. This test was designed to simulate an authentic rehearsal situation. The musical excerpts were selected from grade three band literature and performed with full instrumentation. A total of 30 errors was inserted into the recordings; 12 pitch errors, 12 rhythm errors, and 8 articulation errors. A university wind ensemble recorded the excerpts, first as written, or what was considered to be a "model performance," and a second time with the errors inserted. The completed IMEDT contained two recordings of each of the eight musical excerpts, the first as written and the second with inserted errors. The IMEDT was administered in six different test administration variations to determine the method that was most valid and reliable and had the highest internal consistency. Each test was administered in an individual setting with the participant and me and took approximately 45 minutes to an hour to complete. Sixty two participants completed this first phase of test administration. Using Cronbach's alpha to estimate the reliability and internal consistency, it was empirically decided that the test administration variation of score and recording with non-controlled time (S&R/N) had the highest alpha level. The order of musical excerpts was also determined empirically through this statistical test. Twenty additional participants completed the second phase of test administration of the IMEDT in the S&R/N method, again in a individual setting, taking approximately 40-45 minutes to complete. After data collection was complete, it was determined that the IMEDT was both reliable and internally consistent (á = .72).