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Full Papers from the 35th ISME World Conference
Online
17 – 22 July 2022
Editor: Ian Harvey
Assistant Editor: Kerry Rees
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Proceedings of the International Society for Music Education
35th World Conference on Music Education
Online 17 – 22 July 2022
Papers submitted for originally scheduled conference Brisbane, 17 – 22 July 2022
Edited by Ian Harvey (Editor) & Kerry Rees (Editorial Assistant)
ISBN 978-1-922303-14-1
© 2022 International Society for Music Education (ISME)
Published in Australia in 2022
International Society for Music Education (ISME)
Suite 148
45 Glenferrie Road
Malvern, Victoria 3144
Australia
Copy requests:
isme@isme.org
All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of a short passage for the purposes of criticism or review,
no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form
or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior
permission from the publisher.
The full papers submitted to the 2022 International Conference were double blind refereed by
members of the conference scientific committee before inclusion in the Conference Proceedings.
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(Abstract 645)
"Refinding my soul as a music teacher”: the flipped classroom in face-to-face
lessons after quarantine
Elissavet Perakaki
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
Abstract
Some years ago, nobody could have imagined that an unexpected circumstance, such as a
pandemic, could influence the music teaching and the learning procedure to such a great
extent. The COVID-19 pandemic has influenced education worldwide, forcing music
teachers not only to follow certain necessary restrictions against the virus, but also to
transform and reshape their lessons from online to in-person and vice versa. Under this
unprecedented situation, how can a music teacher overcome the obstacles and meet both
student and personal needs? How can they offer opportunities for creativity? Which teaching
method is appropriate to adopt after a long quarantine? Trying to find answers to these
questions, Y. -a junior high school music teacher- decided to implement the flipped classroom
method after 6 months of distance teaching. The educator narrates the effort to meet personal
needs as a teacher and the students’ as well, to become creative again, and to re-establish
effective communication during music lessons. According to the flipped classroom teaching
approach, students ought to watch or interact using digital materials (e.g., videos, and digital
resources such as book creator, padlet e.tc.) before entering the classroom. Coming back to
the classroom after the quarantine there is plenty of time during the music lesson for
cooperation, interaction, group- and other creative musical activities that arouse students’
social skills again and help them overcome their anxieties. The content analysis of Y. 4
semi-structured interviews demonstrates the importance of flipped classroom implementation
in music education, especially after a long quarantine, along with the benefits, and the
challenges. This educational framework allows more time for collaboration and performance,
group activities and a lesson focusing on music rather than a lesson about music. After the
quarantine, the teacher and the students returned to face-to-face lessons, feeling creative
again and with positive emotions. As nobody can foresee the impact of the pandemic on
students and teachers, the emphasis in music practice and creativity within the flipped
classroom framework emerges as a sufficient solution.
Keywords
pandemic influences, blended learning, flipped classroom, teacher’s and student’s emotions,
music creative activities, innovative pedagogies
Background
In the light of technological development, a great need for education and school systems to
reshape teaching strategies and adjust educational material to address pupil or student arises.
Nowadays, P/Cs, tablets, laptops, and smartphones are often used as they are a preferred
medium for communication and interaction among peers. Under these conditions, various
questions have been raised: To what extent can all previously mentioned devices be used for
learning as well? On the other hand, how can we preserve the benefits of face-to-face
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collaboration and creativity? How can learning via technology come hand in hand with the
experiential one? In what ways can Bloom’s Taxonomy upper level (applying, analyzing,
evaluating, and creating) be applied? Since 2000, the flipped teaching method has been a
matter of much discussion (Baker, 2000). Worldwide, in different cognitive domains and
levels (primary, secondary, and tertiary education), many teachers prioritize student
preferences and needs, and implement this approach to find answers to all the above
concerns.
In March 2020, most schools and universities around the world shut their doors, due to the
Corona Virus pandemic. This new situation brought unprecedented challenges to teaching,
learning, education management, and teaching effectiveness. As many schools were closed,
teaching online was the inevitable step. All teachers at every educational level were made to
adapt former educational methodologies of face-to-face learning to distance learning
(Schleicher, 2020), and “shift gears immediately to respond to students’ and families’ needs”
(Jones & Kessler, 2020). Depending on the severity of the virus, schools closed and opened,
re-closed and re-opened. This uncertainty in the daily life of both the student and teacher
increased their anxiety and fear. As Karakaya et al. (2021, p.25) research reports:
“The COVID-19 pandemic process has social and psychological effects on students… [such
as] boredom, decreased sense of belonging to the school, lack of interaction, loss of
motivation and digital dependency. In addition, it was determined that the deficiencies that
distance education will create in terms of affective are more than cognitive education. In the
pandemic process… students cannot get together with their friends in terms of social
development, they cannot play games, and they are deprived of activities that support their
social development”. During the 2020-2021 school year, online lessons lasted from
November till April for secondary education in Greece. Communication and collaboration
were minimized due to a long quarantine and anxiety and social isolation emerged.
According to the reports of UNICEF, the repercussions of school closure on students’
learning, health and well-being are devastating. In this framework, and like many other
educators worldwide, Y., a junior high school music teacher, tried hard to implement new
teaching approaches in order to find impressive ways to attract their students’ interest in
distant lessons, even if their cameras were often off. Music group activities, improvisation,
singing, communication with others and performing were very difficult to integrate in the
digital world, while trying to maintain a creative atmosphere in the classroom as well as
social interaction. Realizing the students’ need for collaboration and
interaction with one another, when they came back to in person lessons, Y. decided to apply
the flipped classroom instead of direct instruction that had been implemented for many years
prior to the virus. The following narrative inquiry demonstrates their effort to implement the
flipped classroom teaching approach, to meet both their own needs as a teacher and the
students’ as well, to become a creative teacher again, and to indicate the importance of
collaboration and effective communication among students and the instructor. Benefits and
challenges are also discussed.
The flipped classroom as a teaching model
The flipped classroom model is a type of blended learning, as it combines face-to-face
instruction with the asynchronous one (Hrastinski, 2019). Scholars define the flipped learning
model as the model with which pupils/students study the theoretical content of the lesson at
home (watching videos or other digital educational material) and then, when they are in the
classroom, they collaborate with their peers and their teacher (Calamlam, 2016; Doi, 2016;
Nagy, 2017; Akbel, 2018). According to Beason-Abmayr, Caprette and Gopalan (2021)
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flipped teaching is a student-centered instruction that places lectures out of the classroom,
allowing class time to be used for active learning with the instructor acting as the facilitator
of the learning process (Doi, 2016).
Consequently, the learners watch the video lessons or other digital material created through
various applications and resources (e.g., PowerPoint, Book Creator, Padlet e.tc.) before class
time, whenever they consider convenient and at their own pace. In class, they can cooperate
and interact with each other or/and with their teacher. Under these conditions, the
pupils/students focus on the first two levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy (remember and
understand), and they delve into their knowledge, spending time in class applying, analyzing,
evaluating, and creating (the upper levels of Taxonomy) (Anderson et al., 2001).
Although the flipped classroom model was first implemented in tertiary education (Baker,
2000), more and more educators all over the world are trying to integrate it in secondary and
even in primary education. In 2009, Bergman and Sams were the first teachers who
implemented it in secondary education aiming to provide absent students with an effective
way to participate in the lesson (Doi, 2016). Since then, more and more research papers have
focused on this type of teaching approach, its cognitive benefits, the collaboration involved
and its advantages and limitations.
Some of the advantages of flipped classroom implementation are mentioned by Chilingaryan
& Zvereva (in Goksu & Duran, 2020):
a) it increases contact time between the teacher and the student
b) it customizes learning
c) it gives the teacher the opportunity to create authentic mini lectures
d) it increases the responsibility and autonomy of the learner
e) it gives absent students a chance to catch up
f) students can work at their own pace
g) it gives students the ability to concentrate more on the subject in a free environment
h) it increases the motivation of the student
i) it enhances the atmosphere in the classroom, making it more welcoming and
comfortable
j) it increases student creativity and critical thinking as continual archiving of the
material enables the students to access online material continuously.
Due to all these aforementioned benefits, many music educators have implemented this
approach to teach various topics such as music history, music instrument lessons and listening
apprehension (Duker et al., 2015; Gilbert, 2016; Nagy, 2017; Bernhofer & Wieland, 2018;
Jia, 2019).
Methodology
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In November 2020, Greek junior high schools closed their doors and therefore lessons
continued online for 6 months. When they re-opened, in May 2021, following severe hygiene
precautions, music teachers and students had to learn how to communicate with one another
again without touching and sharing instruments, but at the same time smiling behind the
masks. Singing using the humming technique, students making their own music instruments,
body percussion and music listening are some of the most common activities, which were
selected by music teachers mostly this period of time (Kivi et al., 2020).
The narrative inquiry took place in May 2021, when teachers and students returned to the
classroom after 6 months of distance teaching. This lasted for three weeks until the summer
break. Y., a junior high school music teacher, narrates how they felt, how they confronted and
overcame these conditions, and their efforts to meet 12-year-old students’ emotional needs
with the power of music. To fully exploit time in the classroom and offer opportunities for
collaboration and interaction among students, they decided to implement the flipped teaching
approach. Moreover, the advantages and drawbacks of the flipped classroom implementation
in face-to-face music lessons after distance learning and teaching, and the teacher’s and
students’ reactions and responses are also explored.
The content analysis of Y.’s 4 semi-structured interviews (3 after the lessons and a final one)
is based on two categories: a) the teaching procedure applied in face-to face lessons, mainly
using the four pillars of the FLIP acronym: flexible environment, learning culture, intentional
content and professional education (Yarbro et al., 2014) and b) self-reflection, about the pros
and cons of their teaching and the approach used to handle students’ cognitive and emotional
issues.
Permission for interview recordings was granted by Y. For ethical reasons, Y. is a letter that
represents the educator’s name, and is not associated with any gender.
Y.’s profile
Y. is a well-experienced music teacher, who has taught Music in Junior High School for 19
years. They are interested in the implementation of innovative teaching approaches, such as
the flipped classroom one. Singing, performing, body percussion, listening to music,
composing, improvising and group activities are included in their lesson plans. Y. is digitally
skilled and during online lessons they used videos, apps, and slide presentations along with a
short lecture in the beginning and then audio material for music listening and rhythmic
activities. Like many other teachers, Y. faced difficulties in adapting their teaching in order to
cater to the needs of different students and to maintain student engagement in online classes
(Jain, Lall & Singh, 2020). Feeling music as opposed to learning about it was the main
objective. Y. has a positive relationship with students, which is important for students’
personal and academic success (Edgar, 2014-2015). All students had access to an Internet
connection, which made distance learning a feasible and equal opportunity for all.
From in-person to distant teaching and vice versa
The school year 2020-2021 started on September 14th, a week later than usual and with many
hygienic restrictions, as stated in the message of the Greek National Public Health
Organization “Keeping Safe”. According to these precautions, all teachers and students had
to wear face masks inside the classroom, and every instrument had to be cleaned after each
use. Moreover, choir singing, and the teaching of wind instruments were not allowed. Under
the prevailing conditions, the music teacher had to select some of the prepandemic music
activities and then adapt them or just exclude them from in-person lessons.
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Because of the rapid spread of the virus, schools closed after eight weeks. The online lessons
began immediately and so did social isolation. As time went by, Y. tried hard to engage
students in creative activities, but they gradually realized that:
“Teaching through WEBEX had greatly altered the experiential content of my music lesson
and the students were strongly willing to look for it … Distance learning made me very tired.
No matter how well an online lesson went, I felt that something essential was missing.
Everything was "a talk about music", but not about music itself. My teaching practice
depended on the dynamic of the classroom atmosphere, on the activities that students
expected, on collaboration and communication with them, on the "freely" structured sequence
of activities and on the sense that everyone had its own space and time … As time passed, my
students started to lose their interest more and more every lesson. How can the power of
transported music via the screen touch students’ heart? So, I promised my students that on
returning to our classroom, we would not deal with "theories" at all and that we would go
straight to musical activities. My only solution was to implement a teaching approach, which
focused on practice.” Meantime, Y. started to learn more about the flipped classroom, as they
had to keep their promise and not disappoint their students. They agreed with Dabrowski
(2021) who states that teachers who experience amotivation and anxiety are less effective in
supporting student well-being and student performance in school. They planned face-to-face
instructions, whenever possible, according to flipped classroom principles:
“It was not that easy to plan my lessons differently. In the previous lessons, there was not
sufficient time for many creative activities. I used to explain the appropriate terminology of
the lesson first and the time left was used for music practice. I must change that.”
In May 2021, all schools opened again following the initial restrictions and precautions. Y.
used the existing digital course material in face-to-face instruction, as time to create new
material was limited. Adapting the existing course material to new in-person circumstances is
a common strategy in the flipped classroom (Heiss & Oxley, 2021). However, they could
delve into already known content, and place emphasis on collaborative musical activities. Y.
described their experience during the flipped classroom implementation, as follows:
“Three lessons remained up until the end of the school year, to keep my promise and
influence my students’ emotions!... I was hesitant about the teaching procedure during the
first lesson. It was not that easy for me to implement the flipped classroom! But my students
were enthusiastic! They actively participated in the lesson. They had a lot of fun, and
expressed it in various ways (smiling, commenting, laughing, improvising), which made me
happy but anxious, as well. I thought I had lost classroom management. On the contrary, that
was effective. I noticed that students who had less interest during online lessons, or others
that I considered had no interest, took part in all activities with passion and joy. Focusing on
experiential activities motivated them to spend the required few minutes in the Learning
Management System (e-class), studying the digital material beforehand. During the second
and the third lesson, I felt less anxious. The lessons proved successful, as I focused on
musical activities, and I achieved all my objectives. I felt more like a child than an adult”.
Discussion
Although COVID-19 has created unprecedented challenges for schools, staff and students,
creativity, innovation, and opportunity have developed (Dabrowski, 2021). Y.’s narration
underlines that transforming a music lesson to online instruction without losing its
experiential feature is challenging. Students and teachers consider the active and creative
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learning atmosphere that a music lesson which is combined not only with the cognitive but
also the affective domain, beneficial. Students need to participate in musical group activities
more than ever, especially during a pandemic and social isolation, to express themselves and
to cooperate and communicate with their classmates. Kim’s statement (2004, p.30) stresses
the fundamental features of cooperative learning which we should always keep in mind
especially from now on: “Cooperative learning can promote better student understanding,
participation and enjoyment of music. It gives teachers the opportunity to stimulate students
to think, resolve conflicts and improve their interpersonal relationships while nurturing their
behavior. It takes advantage of the students' natural tendency to play and work together. It
adds excitement to their learning”. Additionally, the implementation of the flipped classroom
encouraged students with low self-confidence to actively participate in the lessons, which
made them feel a fundamental part of the music class. This model can provide students with
some control over their learning in a world that feels quite out of control (Smith, 2020).
Although the flipped classroom can also be applied in virtual lessons (Collado-Valero et al.,
2021) and the conventional flipped classes can be transformed into online ones (Hew, et al.,
2020), the face-to-face musical and group activities motivate student and teacher
collaboration and encourage the expression of feelings. Simultaneously, teachers share the
same emotions with students. Dabrowski (2021) underlines that the stress and burnout will
likely increase now and beyond the current pandemic, as they face enormous challenges in
their roles. The aforementioned educational framework urged Y. to become creative again:
“The flipped classroom method allowed me to rediscover my lost music teacher soul. I had
been searching for months to find alternative ways of teaching. It helped me to re-establish
my relationship with some students who were distant in synchronous instruction, even though
they were physically present in front of their screens”.
The preventive measures due to COVID-19 influenced teachers’ and students’ emotions.
Finding new teaching methods, such as the flipped classroom, which address our needs, and
by listening to our inner voices can make us stronger and more powerful than ever before.
(Abstract 653)
Learning Differentiation Music Education Curriculum Theory
Susan Raponi
Carnegie Mellon College of Fine Arts
Abstract
In 2019, I employed a Dual-Phased Integrated Summative and Directed Qualitative Content
Analysis in order to integrate key foundational tenets, concepts, and strategies of
differentiation instruction and curriculum theory with praxial curriculum theory design.
Following an in-depth analysis and working interpretation, an emergent curriculum design
theory was constructed from the expansion: Learning Differentiation Music Education
Theory (Raponi 2019). This new curriculum theory, constructed from the key concepts of
differentiation theory (Bender 2012; Gregory and Chapman 2002; Sousa and Tomlinson
2011; Standerfer 2011) and praxial curriculum theory (Elliott and Silverman 2015), was
created to inform pre-service and in-service music educators for the purpose of addressing
varied learner needs in mixed ability inclusion contexts.
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