Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2008 The Use of Podcasting in the Music Therapy Classroom Curriculum: A Survey Study Hakeem Leonard Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF MUSIC THE USE OF PODCASTING IN THE MUSIC THERAPY CLASSROOM CURRICULUM: A SURVEY STUDY By HAKEEM LEONARD A Thesis submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Music Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2008 The members of the Committee approve the thesis of Hakeem Leonard defended on December 10, 2007. ______________________________ Professor Directing Thesis __________________________________ Committee Member ______________________________ Committee Member Approved: _____________________________________________ Don Gibson, Dean, College of Music The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables ................................................................................................................................ iv Abstract ..........................................................................................................................................v INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 1 REVIEW OF LITERATURE....................................................................................................... .2 PURPOSE .....................................................................................................................................15 SUBJECTS………………………………………………………………………………………16 PROCEDURE…………………………………………………………………………………...17 RESULTS………………………………………………………………………………………..18 DISCUSSION…………………………………………………………………………………...27 APPENDICES...............................................................................................................................34 REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................40 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH…………………………………………………………………….47 iii LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Subjects Question #1: Number and Percentage of Respondents Based on School Classification......................................................................................................................16 Table 2. Subjects Question #2: Number and Percentage of Male and Female Respondents ............................................................................................................................................17 Table 3. Quiz Question #1: Implementation is an important part of what AMTA Document? ........................................................................................................................................... 19 Table 4. Quiz Question#2: What is Standard 4.0 of the AMTA Standards of Clinical Practice?............................................................................................................................ 19 Table 5. Quiz Question #3: What phrase of Standard 4.1 is expounded upon in this podcast/reading?................................................................................................................19 Table 6. Quiz Question #4: The first article referenced in the podcast/reading was about:……………………………………………………………………………………. 20 Table 7. Quiz Question #5: Which of the following is implied by research regarding Music Therapy practicum students? .................................................................20 Table 8. Quiz Question #6: According to the podcast/reading, ‘Involvement’ has been defined by one researcher as: …………………………………………………....21 Table 9. Quiz Question #7: Which of these are observable aspects of involvement?...……...….21 Table 10. Quiz Question #8: What is one simple way the podcast/reading says to involve a group of pre-school children in a hello song?.....................………..………….22 Table 11. Quiz Question #9: The level of client engagement is directly related to:………….….22 Table 12. Quiz Question #10: According to the podcast, ‘Music Involvement’ is used to support what procedure in the hospital pediatric setting?.....................................22 Table 13. Reading Rating #1: How would you rate the information in this reading?...................23 Table 14. Reading Rating #2: How is the length of the reading?..................................................23 Table 15. Podcast Rating #1: How would you rate the sound quality of this podcast?................24 Table 16. Podcast Rating #2: How would you rate the information of this podcast?...................24 Table 17. Podcast Rating #3: How is the duration and rate of the podcast?.................................24 Table 18. Perspective #1: Which would you prefer as the main communication vehicle for a classmate or music therapist to share a summary of music information with you?..........25 Table 19. Perspective #2: Which communication vehicle would you be most excited to produce and most focused in perfecting delivery when assigned to summarize music therapy information for classmates?..................................................................................25 Table 20. Perspective #3: Do you think podcasting would be a beneficial communication tool for students within a music therapy class curriculum?...............................................26 Table 21. Perspective #4: Which format (podcast, text, or podcast-text combination) would be best to center a collaborative student blog or wiki around…………………………...26 iv ABSTRACT This survey compares the recall of music therapy information in audio form versus text form. The researcher uses this information as an introduction to the idea of podcasting in the music therapy classroom curriculum. This survey inquires about students’ past experiences, present knowledge, and future interests and opinions concerning the technology of podcasting, as well as associated technologies of blogs and wikis. Of those registered as members of the American Music Therapy Association, 808 (608 undergraduate, 200 graduate) are listed as student members as of 2006. The researcher sent out one of two similar surveys to these student members. The researcher successfully sent out 357 surveys with 52 responding from a ‘Podcast Group’ for a 14.6% response rate, and 355 surveys with 78 responding from a ‘Reading Group’ for a 22% response rate. Results indicated no apparent difference on recall of music therapy information among those that listened to audio information (Podcast Group) and those that read a text (Reading Group). Of the Podcast Group, 76.9%, and 81% of the Reading Group thought that podcasting would be beneficial to the music therapy class curriculum. Subjects from the Podcast Group and Reading Group also responded that they would rather (1) receive music therapy information and (2) see a student blog or wiki built around a podcast-text combination than either podcast or text alone. The researcher includes information and suggestions about possible applications of podcasting within the music therapy classroom curriculum. v INTRODUCTION A podcast is a digital audio file that can be stored on the Internet and downloaded to a personal computer or to an Mp3 player (Siegle, 2007). Technology, such as computers and audio recording has been used in the profession of Music Therapy in the past. Podcasts are a fairly newer technology which has added more portability, accessibility, and collaborative ability to audio. This portability comes from the prevalence of mp3 players, including iPods, which has been documented in past research, but is not the focus of this paper. The accessibility comes from two sources. In one sense, it is because nearly everyone has a computer, where they can download any audio file, including a podcast. The next and greater level of accessibility comes from a technology associated with podcasting, called RSS (Really Simple Syndication). Explained later in the paper, RSS allows for online information to be collected in one location and notifies a user of a new edition of a podcast, blog, etc. The collaborative ability comes from the usage of podcasts in combination with online text applications like blogs or wikis. This new level of accessibility and collaboration through podcasting are being used in other fields of study. The researcher has produced this paper in light of that information and with the question of the role that podcasting may be able to play in the music therapy classroom curriculum. The focus of the survey is on the comparative recall of music therapy information on a Podcast Group (audio) versus a Reading Group (text). This audio excerpt was produced by the researcher in the semblance of a podcast in length, usage of audio recording equipment and software, and use of computer storage and online syndication. The text is a script version of the audio file. The researcher also sought to discover students past experience and present knowledge of these technologies and their responses concerning the possible future of podcasting and associated technologies in the music therapy classroom curriculum. 1 REVIEW OF LITERATURE Student-centered learning This study is based on the social constructivist perspective of learning, asserting that knowledge is not only learned individually, but is also greatly affected by collaboration and