How can autonomy and active learning be stimulated in a blended oboe class program?

Irma Kort

This research is an exploration into stimulating autonomy and active learning in musical tuition. Through an explorative journey in my teaching practice I developed tools to increase autonomy, active learning and self-regulation in students, using the self-determination theory, new learning and self-regulation as the main learning theories to find answers to my research question. In my lesson practice students rarely come in as active-, self-directing autonomous learners. However, literature and experiences of other teachers, show us that students – even beginners – can learn to become active, self-directed learners. It is not common practice yet to implement these theories in music classes. This is why I would like to create a toolkit and a user manual for teachers that would like to incorporate autonomy supportive teaching and self-regulation in their practices. I will also create a blueprint to inspire working with blended programs in music classes. A flipped classroom can trigger an ongoing learning process in the week, it can aid students in their practice and it is a tool to reflect on teaching practices, teaching styles and programs. The research took place in the BASIS oboe classes at the School for Young Talent, in The Royal Conservatoire of The Hague. There were 5 beginning oboe players, in the age group of 7 till 13 years. I used a combination of design and action research. With the design research I developed the online learning space and the tools for active learning and self-regulation. With action research I reflected on my teaching, students learning, development and well-being and the use of the tools. It was possible to use learning theories in different ways. I used tables and frameworks to reflect on my teaching, I used existing tools, I tailored tools to the age group of my students and I combined aspects of active learning and self-regulation. After three design cycles there is a blueprint of a toolkit that can be used in a flexible way and there is a blueprint for blended learning in instrumental music classes. The changes in my teaching style, the implementation of the learning theories and the reflections on the program using the online environment had a great impact on the teacher – student dialogue, the content of my lessons and the overview of the program. In students I saw an increase in motivation, autonomy and effectiveness. They are very engaged young learners, they learned to choose repertoire and strategies in their practice, they are able to plan, practice and reflect on their process and they have covered more repertoire and technique over the last year in comparison to the year before. They started sharing their music outside of classes and started thinking about their own goals in their oboe practice.

Introduction

How can autonomy and active learning be stimulated in a blended oboe class program?

In my lesson practice students rarely come in as active-, self-directing autonomous learners. However, literature and experiences of other teachers, show us that students – even beginners – can learn to become active, self-directed learners.

For me, the students and their development are most important: I would like them to become independent musicians. When they can set their own goals, plan their practice and reflect on it, they are ready for any challenge on their path. So along with learning to play an instrument, I believe it is very important for them to learn how to learn.

In this research I will explore how to stimulate these topics and develop a toolkit for teachers and students. Teachers can introduce the tools to trigger students' autonomy and give them opportunities to develop self-regulation. Futhermore, it is important to find a balance between an effective scaffolded program that offers challenges to students and creates space to explore their autonomy.

A blended program that implements learning theories can be an extremely helpful and flexible tool in differentiated learning and can provide teachers with insight on their program and teaching style. That is why it is logical to set this research project in an online space. The Teams environment opens possibilities to co-create a personal, lively learning space with lots of teacher and student presence. A flipped classroom online is a learning extension to the weekly lessons, it can aid the practice process and it can provide teacher and students with an ongoing dialogue. The tools to stimulate autonomy and self-regulation can be used in the live lessons and the practice at home, while the online environment is a library for the documents and creates opportunities to reflect on the use of the tools. Furthermore the online space provides teachers with a clear overview on the lesson content and it can give more insight in the study processes of students and their activities. It can also trigger more involvement through cooperative learning projects, gamification and dialogue.

Because of all these possibilities to enrich the program and gain more insight in my teaching, developing the online space as an extension of my live classes is an important part of this research.

Relevance

Young oboe players in the age group of the Dutch primary schools (7 till 12 years old) play a central role in this research. At 7 they come in oboe classes as young children, they are fine to follow the teachers' lesson content and they are supported by their family in planning practice sessions. But because they have access to devices from a very young age and use many media platforms such as TikTok, YouTube and Instagram at the age of 10, they start to develop a sense of autonomy earlier than before.

The approach to teaching young children music hasn't changed a lot over the years. It is mostly based on methods that are often teacher content driven and there is little time to teach 'learning to learn' in a musical context. Some programs are extremely well scaffolded plans, others are very free in their content and based on teachers' experiences.

Most children in The Netherlands have a smart phone at the age of 10. This gives them access to a different world. They watch and learn complex choreographies on TikTok, listen to many different kinds of music on YouTube and watch and follow Instagram sites with huge fan-bases.

This is when teacher driven content in classes starts to conflict with their interests and with what they want to express on their instruments. When they ask for more autonomy, it often doesn't fit the program and they lose their motivation. They become increasingly critical about lesson content, musicianship, performance and their learning path, but they have no tools to develop practice processes and work from setting their musical learning goals to reaching the goals through strategy use.

Learning theories on active learning, self-regulation, quality practice and autonomy have been developed and tested in education with positive results on increasing motivation and self-efficacy.

Therefor implementing these theories in music teaching could be a solution. It can increase motivation in young learners and help them develop cognitive and meta-cognitive skills, which in turn can help them to reach their musical and performance goals.

The aim of my research is to create a possibility for students to become autonomous, active, self-regulating musicians. Musicians that are motivated and can steer their own development. It is also my intention to create tools and a manual for teachers to implement 'learning to learn' in musical classes, plus a blueprint of a flipped classroom that can function as an example for teachers interested in creating blended learning programs.

Research question and hypothesis

The main research question is: How can autonomy and active learning be stimulated in a blended oboe class program?

Additional questions are: What is autonomy based and active learning in the context of musical tuition?

What are aspects of blended learning and what kinds of blended learning fit instrumental music classes?

What are the effects of using 'learning to learn' tools in a blended oboe class program for an understanding of a students' learning process?

The first question asks about how to translate topics from learning theories and make them fit in a program for musical tuition using a blended learning program.

The second question inquiers into what the meanings of the terms autonomy based and active learning are from the perspective of the learning theories. It also inquiers into the process of developing tools for 'learning to learn'.

The third question asks how to implement the theories and tools in an online learning environment that serves as an extention to the live lessons and stimulates an ongoing process. What kinds of blended learning exist and what works best in musical tuition.

The last question investigates into the effects on the development of the program and the process thinking and understanding in students.

My hypothesis for this research is: Students can develop autonomy, active learning and self-regulation within the context of a blended oboe class program, when introduced to these learning aspects, students can create a process overview with learning functions that can be applied in future musical contexts.

Research approach

The concepts of 'learning to learn' and developing autonomy in young musicians wasn't a natural part of my teaching practice in 2019.

I felt the need to explore and develop tools to implement active learning and self-regulation. Therefor I needed to start a process in which I could observe my teaching and reflect on it with observation frameworks from active learning and the self-determination theory.

I felt the need to create a blended learning environment because I believed in the added value it could bring to my students' learning processes, in terms of their ongoing learning.

The research presented in this project originated from a combination of design and action research. Three design research cycles were used to develop and test the 'learning to learn' tools and to develop the online environment. Action research was used in the forms of case studies on teaching and students' learning, questionnaires, lesson observations and online environment use.

The aim was to develop tools and record the effects on motivation, self-efficacy and autonomy in young learners. With the design of the online learning platform I wanted to create an ongoing learning process during the week.

Although my experiences as a teacher and player lead to the assumption that 'learning to learn' and supporting autonomy in students will increase motivation and have a profound effect on students competences and skills development, I wanted to test implementation in my music teaching practice and record the process and the effects to prove this.

Outline of the research

In the following pages of this presentation I will not folllow the classical built up of a written research exposition. I will take the reader on a journey through my research over a period of 2 years. I start with a description of my research methodology, followed by a theoretical framework, directly connected to the implications in my teaching practice, introducing the tools.

I will first explain in Chapter 1. Research why I choose for the approaches of Design Research and Action Research and how I applied them in my teaching practice.

Chapter 2 and 3 I describe the steps I took from learning theory to learning tool.

Chapter 4 is a full overview of the three design research cycles and the action research, with conclusions and implications for the program.

In Chapters 5 and 6, I conclude, discuss and share my ideas on the application of the research outcomes and tools.

Finally I share references and tools in the appendices.

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