EDLD 5318 A Beginning Look at Learning Theory and Design of On Line Course

As I watched the videos and studied this weeks readings something that stuck out to me is the thought from Bates (2015) that teaching is a form of art as well as a form of science.  As a music teacher this struck a chord with me, no pun intended.  I had never previously  thought of teaching as an art form.  I can see how it is now.  This is how I believe we have come to so many theories, methods, and strategies for teaching.  In the course I am planning to develop I am focusing on what I know.  That is music and instrumental music instruction.  When teaching music their are fundamental things a student must learn.  This is much like learning a language.  It is similar to learning your ABC's and a new way of communicating.  There are fundamental things a person must learn and skills they must develop to be able to communicate and these things do not change.  However, how a person learns them, the extent that an individual would need to study or practice them is different for everyone.  

I have taught many music lessons.  This will be my first on line music course I have developed.  My style of teaching is a facilitator.  I like to give students the tools and knowledge in a learning environment and see what they come up with.  I consider myself an expert in the content I have chosen to teach but I feel I am at an intermediate level of working with the technology needed to accomplish the task.  The learning theories I believe support this kind of learning are cognitivism and constructivism.  Cognitivism or understanding how we learn is key in guiding a student through the learning process.  I do not see how we can build on line courses with out cognitivism.  Constructivism is essential as well.  The freedom to express ourselves is the essence of music and expression.  I believe constructivist theory has been and continues to be a large part of music education whether it is in person or on line.  If a person is in serious music study there are times when it is crucial they are engaged in studying something that is meaningful and personal to them.  Without this freedom element many students begin to suffer frustration and burn out.  I can see behaviorism having it's place in music instruction.  This is not an essential piece of developing an on line course.  In the past to get a student to learn fundamental aspects of music on an instrument many music teachers would use a behaviorist model of reward and punishment.  For example a student needs to learn a scale.  The scale to the student is boring so the teacher uses an incentive to get the student to learn it.  If the student does not learn it they do not get the incentive and they are stuck on that scale until it is learned.  In the course I plan to develop I do not see this as necessary for adults learning the material.  The adult is choosing to learn the material in the course.  That is their reward or incentive.  As far as how my course is designed I do plan to backwards design it and use Gagne's events of instruction as an outline to guide me through.  

References

Bates, A. W. (Tony) (2015, Apr. 15) Teaching in The Digital Age: Guidelines Designing Teaching and Learning. BCcampus.  Retrieved from. https://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/

IDKB - Models/Theories. (2002-2014) Select Instructional Models/Theories to Develop Instructional Prototypes.  Retrieved from.  http://cehdclass.gmu.edu/ndabbagh/Resources/IDKB/models_theories.htm