Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Hot for Teacher: Using Digital Music to Enhance Students’ Experience in Online Courses

  • Published:
TechTrends Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This article provides a review of the instructional potential of digital music to enhance postsecondary students’ experience in online courses by involving them in music-driven instructional activities. The authors describe how music-driven instructional activities, when used appropriately, can (a) humanize, personalize, and energize online courses by enhancing social presence through student-to-student interaction; (b) tap into students’ interests, and elicit positive feelings and associations; and (c) involve students in relevant and meaningful student-to-content interaction by engaging them in active knowledge construction. This article includes descriptions of several music-driven instructional activities that rely on digital music resources to engage students in generative, multisensory student-content interactions that leverage their interest in music, as well as a set of guidelines to support the design and use of music-driven instructional activities in online courses.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Abbott, A. (2007). Mozart doesn’t make you clever. Nature. DOI:10.1038/news070409-13

  • Anderson, T., Rourke, L., Garrison, D. R., & Archer, W. (2001). Assessing teaching presence in a computer conferencing context. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 5(2), 1-17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Balch, W., Bowman, K., & Mohler, L. (1992). Music-dependent memory in immediate and delayed word recall. Memory and Cognition, 20(1), 21-28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baur, B., Uttner, I., Ilmberger, J., Fesl, G., & Mai, N. (2000). Music memory provides access to verbal knowledge in a patient with global amnesia. Neurocase, 6, 415-421.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berge, Z., & Collins, M. (1995). Computermediated communication and the online classroom: Overview and perspectives (Vol. 1). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.

  • Bischoff, A. (2000). The elements of effective online teaching: Overcoming the barriers of success. In K. W. White & B. H. Weight (Eds.), The online teaching guide: A handbook of attitudes, strategies, and techniques for the virtual classroom (pp. 57-72). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blacking, J. (1995). Music, culture and experience. London: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, P. S., Connell, C., & Beegle, A. (2007). Adolescents’ expressed meanings of music in and out of school. Journal of Research in Music Education, 55(3), 220-236. DOI: 10.1177/002242940705500304

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt (1990). Anchored instruction and its relationship to situated cognition. Educational Researcher, 19(6), 2-10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt (1993). Designing learning environments that support thinking. In T. M. Duffy, J. Lowyck, & D. H. Jonassen (Eds.), Designing environments for constructive learning (pp. 9-36). Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.

  • Colwell, R., & Davidson, L. (1996). Musical intelligence and the benefits of music education. NASSP Bulletin, 80, 55-64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Condry, J., & Chambers, J. (1978). Intrinsic motivation and the process of learning. In M. Lepper & D. Greene (Eds.), The hidden costs of reward: New perspectives on the psychology of human motivation (pp. 68-81). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence

    Google Scholar 

  • Erlbaum and Associates. Cooper, B. L. (1979). Popular music: An untapped resource for teaching contemporary black history. The Journal of Negro Education, 48(1), 20-36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Craig, D. (2007). An overview of evidencebased support for the therapeutic use of music in occupational therapy. Occupational Therapy in Health Care, 22(1), 73-95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dunlap, J. C., Dobrovolny, J. L., & Young, D. L. (2008). Preparing eLearning designers using Kolb’s model of experiential learning. Innovate, 4(4). Retrieved from http://innovateonline.info/?view=article&id=490

  • Dunlap, J. C., Furtak, T. E., & Tucker, S. A. (2009). Designing for enhanced conceptual understanding in an online physics course. TechTrends, 53(1), 67-73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dunlap, J.C., & Grabinger, R.S. (2003). Preparing students for lifelong learning: A review of instructional methodologies. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 16(2), 6-25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunlap, J. C., & Lowenthal, P. R. (2009a). Tweeting the night away: Using Twitter to enhance social presence. Journal of Information Systems Education, 20(2), 129-136.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunlap, J. C., & Lowenthal, P. R. (2009b). Horton hears a tweet. Educause Quarterly, 32(4) [online journal –http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Quarterly/E DUC AUS EQ u a r t e r l yMa g a z i -neVolum/HortonHearsaTweet/192955]

  • Dunlap, J. C., Sobel, D. M., & Sands, D. (2007). Supporting students’ cognitive processing in online courses: Designing for deep and meaningful student-tocontent interactions. TechTrends, 51(4), 20-31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eken, D. K. (1996). Ideas for using songs in the English language classroom. English Teaching Forum, 34(1), 46-47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garrison, D. R., & Anderson, T. (2003). Elearning in the 21st century: A framework for research and practice. London, UK: RoutledgeFarmer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Grabinger, R. S., & Dunlap, J. C. (1995). Rich environments for active learning: A definition. Association for Learning Technology Journal (ALT-J), 3(2), 5-34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Griffee, D.T. (1990). Hey baby! Teaching short and slow songs in the ESL classroom. TESL Reporter, 23(4), 3-8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grubb, A., & Hines, M. (2000). Tearing down barriers and building communities: Pedagogical strategies for the webbased environment. In R. A. Cole (Ed.), Issues in Web-based pedagogy: A critical primer (pp. 365-380). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gunawardena, C. N. (1995). Social presence theory and implications for interaction and collaborative learning in computer conferences. International Journal of Educational Telecommunications, 1(2/3), 147-166.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hannafin, M. J. (1992). Emerging technologies, ISD, and learning environments: Critical perspectives. Educational Technology Research and Development, 40(1), 49–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hannafin, M., Hill, J., & Land, S. (1997). Student-centered learning and interactive multimedia: Status, issues, and implications. Contemporary Education, 68(2), 94-99.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hargreaves, D. J., Miell, D., & MacDonald, R. A. R. (2002). What are musical identities, and why are they important? In R. A. R. MacDonald, D. J. Hargreaves, & D. Miell (Eds.), Musical identities (pp. 1-20). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hickok, G., Buchsbaum, B., Humphries, C., & Muftuler, T. (2003). Auditory–motor interaction revealed by MRI: Speech, music, and working memory in Area Spt. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 15(5), 673-682.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holmberg, B. (1993). Key issues in distance education: An academic viewpoint. In Harry, K. John, M., & Keegan, D. (Eds.), Distance education: New perspectives (pp. 330-341). London, UK: Routledge.

  • Kallinen, K. (2004). The effects of background music on using a pocket computer in a cafeteria: Immersion, emotional responses, and social richness of medium. In Proceedings of the conference on human factors in computing systems (pp. 1227–1230). Vienna, Austria: CHI.

  • Keller, J., & Burkman, E. (1993). Motivation principles. In M. Fleming & W. Levie (Eds.), Instructional message design: Principles from the behavioral and cognitive sciences (pp. 3-53). Englewood

  • Cliffs: NJ: Educational Technology Publications. Kinzie, M. (1990). Requirements and benefits of effective interactive instruction: Learner control, self-regulation, and continuing motivation. Educational Technology Research and Development, 38(1), 5-21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knowles, M. S. (1990). The adult learners: A neglected species (4th ed.). Houston, TX: Gulf Publishing Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krumhansl, C. (2002). Music: A link between cognition and emotion. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11(2), 45-50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lowenthal, P. R. (2009a). Social presence. In P. Rogers, G. Berg, J. Boettcher, C. Howard, L. Justice, & K. Schenk (Eds.), Encyclopedia of distance and online learning (2nd ed., pp. 1900-1906). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lowenthal, P. R. (2009b). The evolution of social presence theory and its influence on online learning. In T. T. Kidd (Ed.), Online education and adult Learning: New frontiers for teaching practices.

  • Hershey, PA: IGI Global. Lowenthal, P.R., & Dunlap, J.C. (2010). From pixel on a screen to real person in your students’ lives: Establishing social presence using digital storytelling. Internet and Higher Education, 13(1-2), 70-72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ludwig-Hardman, S., & Dunlap, J. C. (2003). Learning support services for online students: Scaffolding for success. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 4(1). Retrieved from http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/ 131/211

  • Mayer, R. E. (2001/2007). Multimedia learning. New York: Cambridge.

  • Medina, J. (2008). Brain rules. Seattle, WA: Pear Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore, M. G. (1989). Three types of interaction [Electronic version]. The American Journal of Distance Education, 3(2). Retrieved from http://www.ajde.com/Contents/vol3_2.htm#editorial

  • Muirhead, B. (2004). Encouraging interaction in online classes [Electronic Version]. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, 1. Retrieved from http://itdl.org/Journal/Jun_04/article07.htm

  • Murphey, T. (1992). The discourse of pop songs. TESOL Quarterly, 26(4), 770-774.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Northrup, P. (2001). A framework for designing interactivity into web-based instruction. Educational Technology, 41(2), 31-9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Panksepp, J., & Bernatzky, G. (2002). Emotional sounds and the brain: The neuroaffective foundations of musical appreciation. Behavioural Processes, 60(2), 133-155.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Puhl, C. A. (1989). Up from under: English training on the mines. (Report on 1988 research project conducted at Gold Field Training Services). Stellenbosch, South Africa: University of Stellenbosch. (ED No. 335 864)

  • Rauscher, F. H., Shaw, G. L, & Ky, K. N. (1993). Music and spatial task performance. Nature, 365, 611.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richardson, J. C., & Swan, K. (2003). Examining social presence in online courses in relation to students’ perceived learning and satisfaction. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 7(1), 68-88.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, P. (2000). Where is every-body? In R. A. Cole (Ed.), Issues in Web-based pedagogy: A critical primer (pp. 111-123). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Röcker, C., & Etter, R. (2007). Social radio: A music-based approach to emotional awareness mediation. In Proceedings of the 12th international conference on Intelligent user interfaces (pp. 286-289). New York: ACM.

  • Robertson, J., de Quincey, A., Stapleford, T. & Wiggins, G. (1988). Real-time music generation for a virtual environment. In ECAI98 workshop on AI/Alife and Entertainment. Brighton, England. Retrieved from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc /download?doi=10.1.1.2.7918&rep=rep1&type=pdf

  • Salcedo, C. S. (2002). The effects of songs in the foreign language classroom on text recall and involuntary mental rehearsal. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA.

  • Scardamalia, M., & Bereiter, C. (1991). Higher levels of agency for children in knowledge building: A challenge for the design of new knowledge media. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 1(1), 37-68.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scardamalia, M., Bereiter, C., McLean, R. S., Swallow, J., & Woodruff, E. (1989). Computer-supported intentional learning environments. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 5(1), 51-68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schellenberg, E. G. (2005). Music and cognitive abilities. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14(6), 317-320.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Short, J., Williams, E., & Christie, B. (1976). The social psychology of telecommunications. London: John Wiley & Sons.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sloboda, J., & Juslin, P. (2001). Psychological perspective on emotion. In P. Juslin & J. Sloboda (Eds.), Music and emotion (pp. 71-104). New York: Oxford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Snyder, B. (2000). Music and memory: An introduction. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stovall, D. (2006). We can relate: Hip-hop culture, critical pedagogy, and the secondary classroom. Urban Education, 41(6), 585-602.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tung, F., & Deng, Y. (2006). Designing social presence in e-learning environments: Testing the effect of interactivity on children. Interactive Learning Environments, 14(3), 251 – 264.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Voblikova, O. (n.d.). Using songs in the adult classroom. Retrieved from http://www.natek.freenet.kz/texts/voblikova.rtf

  • Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wagner, E. (1994). In support of a functional definition of interaction. The American Journal of Distance Education, 8(2), 6-29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weinberger, N. M. (1998, November). The music in our minds. Educational Leadership, 56(3), 36-40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weinberger, N.M. (2004). Music and the brain. Scientific American, 291(5), 88–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Consortia

Joanna C. Dunlap and Patrick R. Lowenthal

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Joanna C. Dunlap and Patrick R. Lowenthal. Hot for Teacher: Using Digital Music to Enhance Students’ Experience in Online Courses. TECHTRENDS TECH TRENDS 54, 58–73 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-010-0421-4

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-010-0421-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation