Digital teaching scenarios as a supplementary educational tool for music teachers

Abstract

Recently, the orientation of Greek music education in schools is connected to technology use integration in lessons. The Greek Ministry of Education tries to provide digital educational material to teachers encouraging them to introduce the use of technology in their classrooms. Even though, schools in primary and secondary education are not equipped sufficiently, teachers try hard to find ways to incorporate technology in their lessons. Under this perspective, the development of digital teaching scenarios is the last digital support to teachers, up to now. Teachers explore this supplementary digital material and adjust it to their students’ needs and preferences. Selected, according to their qualifications, teachers designed and submitted digital teaching scenarios for teachers at the AESOP (Advanced Electronic Scenarios Operating Platform). They cooperated with a school advisor and a professor in order these ideas to be applicable and in compliance with the official curriculum. Specifically, in music education field, 5 music teachers participated in a vivid work team. But, how did other music teachers evaluate this effort? For this reason, a small scale research (pilot study) was organized
in order to record through semi-structured interviews these opinions. The research took place before the application of these scenarios in their classrooms, so it records their first
perceptions. Results highlight that although teachers were positive to incorporate these
scenarios in practice, they found many obstacles, because of the insufficient technological infrastructure at schools. Though difficulties, they were willing to enrich their lessons with them, whenever it was possible. In conclusion, digital educational scenarios in music education motivate music teachers to incorporate technology use during their lessons. Though teacher willingness, the sufficient technological equipment for application must be provided.

Full text

Proceedings of the 32nd International Seminar of the
ISME Commission on Music in Schools and Teacher Education
(MISTEC)
St. Patricks College Drumcondra
Dublin, Ireland
18-22 July 2016
Editors
Smaragda Chrysostomοu
S. Alex Ruthmann

70
Digital teaching scenarios as a supplementary educational tool for
music teachers
Perakaki Elissavet, Directorate of Secondary Education, Piraeus, Greece
Since 2010 a large-scale educational reform under the title “New School” had taken
place in Greece. In this framework new curricula for all subjects were written and the
technology use was put in the center of teaching procedure. In music education, an
open-ended curriculum gave the opportunity to music educators to “improvise” in
their class and to follow the pace of pupils’ needs and interests (Perakaki, 2012)
allowing space for flexibility. The “Digital School” is one of the basic actions of New
School, which is reinforced by multimedia content, original applications, video, audio
files, cartoons, interactive games and media-enriched music textbooks (Chrysostomou
& Paliokas, 2012; Chrysostomou, 2013; 2014; 2015).
Simultaneously, the Greek Ministry of Education equipped the majority of
primary and secondary schools mainly with laptops, interactive whiteboards and
internet connection. At the same time, the teachers were educated on the use of this
material. More and more teachers were trained how to use blogs, wikis, podcasts,
social networks, interactive whiteboards etc.
Unfortunately, this effort was not adequate. Many schools are still equipped
insufficiently, but teachers try hard to find ways to incorporate technology in their
lessons, using whatever each school can provide. As a result, teachers, who have
deepened into technology use or just want to incorporate it in their teaching
procedure, have to share with their colleagues the few interactive whiteboards or the
unique computer laboratory.
The main reason of their effort and challenge is that they believe in technology
power, as it plays an integral role in education, cultivates students’ digital skills and
broadens students’ minds and horizons in a lifelong learning.
Under these conditions, digital teaching scenarios came to enrich teachers’
educational toolkit providing digital-age learning experience to their students.
Digital teaching scenarios’ framework
In a digital teaching scenario, the sum of activities and educational tools are described
in details. In addition, the motive and the general framework in which teaching and
learning takes place is also mentioned.
The development of it concludes in the steps mentioned below:
1. Determination of the teaching object
2. Detection of prior knowledge and representations of students
3. Specification of objectives

71
4. Teaching material
5. Description of activities (ICT activities are obligatory)
6. Teaching and learning evaluation; Possible extensions
7. Digital material for further consideration; References (Mitsikopoulou et. al,
2015).
For the development of these scenarios a project began with the title “The
Development of Methodology and Digital Teaching Scenarios for the Subjects of
Primary and Secondary General and Vocational Education” on 11/14/2014.
Project Description
The main aim of the project was to provide a high quality teaching material using
informational tools addressed to teachers and learners. The mean of this aim was the
design of original digital teaching scenarios by educators in order the teaching acts of
educators to be improved and enhanced.
European Union and Greek Government co-financed the project, in Education
and Life Long Learning of National Strategic Reference Framework 2007-2013
(NSRF
2
).
At the first phase of this project 6 scientists - experts participated in order to
define the general theoretical framework. For the development of digital teaching
scenarios 195 educator scholars selected, divided as below:
 33 Professors
 38 School Advisors
 1 Head of Health Education
 1 Head of Environmental Education
 1 Head of Cultural Activities
 121 Educators.
The development of these scenarios lasted from 5/16/2015 to 9/15/2015.
The project included:
1. The elaboration of general standards for digital development scenarios (6-
member experts)
2. The establishment of specific requirements and instructions about how to
develop a digital teaching scenario per discipline (44 working groups)
3. The preparation of sample digital scenarios (44 working groups as above)
4. Scientific support via Helpdesk teacher for the selected educators, who
developed digital scenarios
5. The creation more digital teaching scenarios from teachers of the wide
education community.
2
The National Strategic Reference Framework 2007–2013 constitutes the reference
document for the programming of European Union Funds at national level for the 2007–
2013 period www.espa.gr).

72
Concerning teachers, the plan of the project was divided in two phases:
1st phase: The Methodology Development Study of Teaching Scenarios and the
creation of Digital Teaching Scenarios – Sample Scenarios
Educators designed up to three digital teaching scenarios compatible with the existing
curriculum. This task was entrusted to the scientists who had been selected by the
registry specialists, according the requirements of Institute of Educational Policy.
More specifically, these scenarios would support all interested teachers to develop
their own digital scenarios, later on (2nd phase). As a consequence, they should plan
carefully and cover the widest possible range of each subject.
Before or during this task, educators had to study advisably the three example
scenarios designed by IT project team. These scenarios entirely exploited all
possibilities and the interactive tools of the Platform.
2nd phase: Digital Teaching Scenarios submission from the educational community
and evaluation of digital teaching scenarios from increased qualifications teachers.
In this phase, educators developed a digital scenario in any topic of their cognitive
object desire, based on the sample digital scenarios, which were described above and
they had already been designed. They should take for granted the study of how to
develop a digital teaching scenario (1st Phase). The digital teaching scenario would be
submitted to a platform and a considerable crowd of scenarios would be evaluated,
awarded and rewarded.
All these scenarios should fulfill specific prerequisites, according to
instruction issue for sample digital teaching scenario elaboration and to methodology
development and scenario design for teachers.
Supported Platforms
One main platform and two sub-platforms had been developed for the purposes of the
Project:
The main platform is an integrated environment Design / Development /
Assessment of Teaching Scenarios, utilizing the most modern technologies and
technological standards. Its name is Advanced Electronic Scenarios Operating
Platform (A.E.S.O.P. - http://aesop.iep.edu.gr).
The digital teaching scenarios were designed and submitted in the above
platform. The teachers utilized a set of art interactive content tools, for the use of
which no-special requirements were essential, only a modern Web Browser (Mozilla
Firefox, Google Chrome, etc.). The Platform was developed in HTML5 technologies
and PHP, so any kind of additional software was not needed. Google Maps,
interactive videos, interactive images, chronologies, digital interactive presentations,
active areas, etc. were ready to use.

73
Detailed instructions about scenarios, design examples and interactive tools
were included.
The supported sub-Platforms included:
1. E-Class Platform (http://ds2.iep.edu.gr)
This platform was the key collaborative environment, in which teams could cooperate
autonomously and independently. The selected educators could use it in order to have
their work concentrated and they were able to collaborate into a single interface
efficiently.
Usernames and passwords were sent via an email and they were personally
restricted. In this platform links, announcements, records etc. related to each group
were included.
2. Helpdesk (http://ds2.iep.edu.gr/helpdesk)
Whenever there were technical, scientific or management questions, the helpdesk and
support team took care to answer as soon as possible.
Work Teacher Groups Description
At the beginning, the designers had to study the suggested digital scenarios and to
familiarise with the platform and its digital tools.
They selected the thematic area and target age – group and created up to
three (3) sampling digital scenarios until June 30, 2015.
From 07/01/2015 to 09/10/2015, they re-studied the scenarios, they made
corrections and additions, if needed.
Work School Advisors and Professors Description
School Advisors and Professors - in cooperation - were due to collaborate and assist
teachers in their group. During the design of the scenarios, they contributed to the
process by concrete proposals responding to their demands and they solved problems
when needed. They should also have checked the compatibility of the scenarios to the
existing curriculum. With teacher co-operation they elaborated a study about how to
create a digital scenario. This study helped teachers of the wide community to create
their own scenarios.
Criteria for the Digital Teaching Scenarios (Assessment)
The main areas of evaluation were focused on:
 The scenario design (well-structured and concrete)
 The documentation of the digital scenario (clear description, well-defined
didactic objectives, appropriate to students’ age)
 The educational process (strong connection between theory and practice in the
classroom, active student participation and learning, variety of student
assessment methods).

74
 Activities (clear transition from one activity to another in relation to the use of
digital media, or the implementation of a teaching method, graded difficulty,
comprehensible instructions).
The 236 sample submitted digital teaching scenarios from teachers divided into
 13 for Pre-school education,
 58 for Primary Education,
 60 for Junior High School,
 56 for High School,
 44 for Technical High School,
 4 Uncategorised.
Teachers from the wide educational community submitted 600 scenarios for various
faculties.
Copyright
As far as the COPYRIGHT, all of the submitted material (clips of movies, images,
sound, music, etc.) had to be licensed. If the scenario and the material accompanying
images include children, the necessary consent from parents was required. The
submitted digital scenario was licensed under a "Creative Commons Attribution –
NonCommercial - ShareAlike Greece 3.0. It was also required the reference of the
author or licensor. It cannot be used for commercial purposes.
The Ministry of Education and Institute of Educational Policy are entitled to
freely use, recovery and disposal of these materials in electronic and print media in
Greece and abroad for an unlimited period
3
.
Music Team Work
For the music education field, four music teachers were selected and participated in
this project: three of them were music teachers in Music High Schools and one in
Junior High School. A school advisor and a professor were also members of the team.
12 digital teaching scenarios were created with the following titles:
1. A music dialogue: antiphony
2. The Greek traditional rhythms and instruments influence to modern Greek
music
3. Ostinato
4. Music and Cinema
5. Cultivating Acoustical Skills (Preparation for the examinations in order to
enter into Music Studies University).
3
Details License information: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/gr/.

75
6. Are you sure that you are not a musician? (Preparation for the examinations in
order to enter into Music Schools)
7. Recognising musical instruments (Preparation for the examinations in order to
enter into Music Schools)
8. Poetry and Music in Chanson in 16th Century
9. Music Extracts recognition and discrimination
10. Accompany it with a guitar
11. Clef signatures in major keys
12. Secondary dominant chords augmented sixth chord (Italian, German, French).
Although the period of designing these scenarios was very limited, the group worked
effectively. At the beginning, a skype discussion with two of the teachers, the school
advisor and the professor, of our own initiative, took place. During this long
discussion (appr. an hour) many questions about the procedure and the platform were
answered and clarified. We also exchanged ideas and opinions about the first teaching
scenario drafts.
As we had not met and communicated with each other again before, this
activity brought us closer so that we could exchange our opinions comments and
clarifications on others scenarios. The communication with the Professor was daily
and helped us in every step. Her corrections referred mostly to scientific issues and
phrasing. She always encouraged us and she was ready to help us any time of the
day. When a teaching scenario was ready, it was submitted in the platform
temporarily, it was discussed with the team members and then the appropriate
changes took place. All of us agreed that this feedback was really helpful.
Before the last permanent submission, a few changes in digital teaching scenarios
were also made voluntarily.
Music Teachers Opinion (A pilot study)
Methodology
The initiative plan of this project, the Technical Bulletin of the Act, included the
verification of the scenarios by other teachers in classroom. Because of the limited
time and the change of the school year, a modification of this Act was needed.
However, this step is really important, as the most appropriate persons to evaluate
these scenarios are teachers that they will apply them.
At this framework, a small scale qualitative research for the field of music
education took place (pilot study). The aim of the research was to identify the opinion
of music teachers about the digital teaching scenarios and their intention to integrate
them in their music lessons.

76
It lasted the two first weeks of September, at the beginning of academic year
2015-2016. During the first week, teachers urged to discover these scenarios for
music education and during the second one the interview took place.
In this research five music teachers (2 from Music Schools, and 3 from Junior
High Schools) were interviewed (semi-structured interview). Their teaching
experience extended from 8 to 25 years in public junior and high schools (music and
general schools).
The semi-structured interview and its analysis followed the below key issues:
 The description of ICT equipment in their school, which can also be used by
music teachers (accessibility)
 Expression of their opinion about their usefulness
 Evaluation of these scenarios
 The ability of integration in their classrooms
 The possibility these scenarios to be used by students out of school
 The possibility to introduce them to other teachers, sharing their experience.
The answers were recorded and analysed by content analysis method.
Results
Teachers were very willing to express their opinion about this new digital educational
material.
As far as the required digital school equipment, all teachers agreed that it is
not enough to meet teachers’ and students’ needs in their schools. However, all tried
hard to do their best, in order to incorporate technology as much as possible in their
lessons. Only one teacher sometimes had the chance to use the school Computer
Laboratory.
All teachers indicated that all digital scenario contents were clear and concrete
since they can broaden teachers’ ideas facilitating music learning. Music teachers also
stated that interactive videos were useful and attractive and the selected music extracts
were modern, close to students’ tastes and having a strong connection with students’
everyday life. As a consequence, apart from the classroom integration by teachers,
these scenarios could be used by students as supplementary educational material
meeting their own needs and preferences.
The participant music teachers estimated that the teaching time was very
restricted and expressed their doubt if they could follow all of scenario steps.
However, their first aspect was positive and they were willing to integrate them in
their classroom. In the end, they agreed that the platform, with all these digital
teaching scenarios, was a useful tool for music teachers and students.
Conclusions
Digital teaching scenarios come to classrooms as a valuable and useful tool in order to
enrich the educational acts and encourage music teachers to incorporate technology

77
into their teaching procedure. Simultaneously, these scenarios provide the required
educational material to students, as “more and more students have the opportunity to
be engaged in creative activities by using ICT, externalizing, sharing, developing and
refining their thoughts, ideas and insights in ways that cannot be accomplished with
traditional tools” (Kampylis, 2010, p. 78). It is time to realise that the teacher’s role
has become even more challenging and difficult, which means that it necessitates the
development of new and innovative teaching pedagogies (Nimje & Dubey, 2013). In
such contexts, music teachers ought to take into consideration the benefits of
technology use, as technological tools teach organizational skills, strategies and
abstract thinking (Cain, 2002).
The results of this official attempt cannot be assessed yet, but the first teacher
reaction sounds positive. The Ministry of Education in Greece tries to provide
innovative and digital educational material deprived and designed from teachers to
teachers.
However, Sorah (2012), referred to Ertmer (1999) and Ertmer et al. (1999)
surveys, clarifies that several factors play a fundamental role into incorporation
probabilities, such as the influence of teachers’ level of technology integration into
instruction, the inclusion of their beliefs about teaching, training, access to equipment,
reliability of equipment, technical support, and school climate and culture.
This perspective is connected with the small-scale survey results. Music
teachers need and look forward to adopting new supplementary educational material,
in order to meet students’ needs and preferences, but the further upgrade of their
technological skills is required, in order to help them find a teaching balance between
their own traditional ideas and new creative approaches (Ho, 2004).
Every music teacher should have the possibility to find the appropriate means
in order to preserve the pupils’ interest, provoke their prejudices, transform pupils’
views (Perakaki, 2013), providing his/her best to students through technology use in
his/her teaching and discovering innovative ways to integrate technology into their
schools and classrooms.
Funding
The development of digital teaching scenarios was funded by Ministry of Education
and Religion, Institute of Educational Policy and European Union.
References
Cain, E. A. (2002). Technology & Middle School Philosophy: Applications in Music
Education. Honors College. Paper 14.

78
Chrysostomou, S. (2013). The use of media-enriched textbooks in the music
classroom: examples from Greece and Cyprus. RIME (Research in Music
Education) proceedings. Exeter, UK.
Chrysostomou, S. (2014). Interactive text books in the music classroom: applications
of an innovative project in Greece and Cyprus. Paper presented in ISME 2014,
Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Chrysostomou, S. (2015). The new e-books and ‘Photodentro’ learning object
repository in Greece: teachers’ perceptions and practices in the Arts’
classrooms. In Proceedings of INTED2015, Madrid, Spain, 2-4 March 2015.
Chrysostomou, S. & Paliokas, I. (2012). Digital School: Media-enriched Music
Textbooks. Paper presented in ISME 2012, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Ertmer, P. A. (1999). Addressing first- and second-order barriers to change: Strategies
for technology integration. Educational Technology Research and
Development, 47(4), 47-61.
Ertmer, P. A., Addison, P., Lane, M., Ross, E., & Woods, D. (1999). Examining
teachers’ beliefs about the role of technology in the elementary classroom.
Journal of Research on Computing in Education, 32(1), 54-72.
Kampylis, P. (2010). Fostering Creative Thinking: The Role of Primary Teachers.
Jyvaskyla: University Library of Jyvaskyla.
Mitsikopoulou, V., Kalogiannakis, M., Kalogeropoulos, N. & Petropoulou, Ο. (2015).
Issue design specifications and digital development scenarios methodology for
all levels of education. Athens: Institute of Educational Policy (in Greek).
Nimje, A. A., & Dubey, K. T. (2013). The Socratic Lecture Model: An Effective
Teaching Pedagogy in Changing Educational Scenario. Journal of Humanities
and Social Science, 14(6), 117-121.
Perakaki, E. (2012). A Traditional Music Trip in Greece. Presented in Roundtable
with the title “The New Music Curriculum in Greece: Classroom
Applications” in ISME 2012, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Perakaki, E. (2013). Can a music course on Greek Traditional Music change pupils’
dispositions? A classroom teacher research project. HEJMEC, 4 (3), ISSN
1792-2518, www.hejmec.eu .
Sorah, D. W. (2012). The Effects of Music Teacher Beliefs, Training, And Resources
On Use of Technology. Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations. Paper
5194.
Ho, W. (2004). Use of information technology and music learning in the search for
quality education. British Journal of Educational Technology, 35 (1), pp. 57-
67.