Expanding Community and Promoting Music Teacher Socialization through Collaborative Video Logs

Christopher Cayari, University of Wisconsin-Madison

This programs, practices, and issues session focuses on music teacher socialization, and it describes how collaborative video logs (CVLs) are being used in music teacher education (MTE) curriculum to promote community, performance, and development of individuals’ voices. A video log, also called a vlog or videoblog is a series of videos that feature a figurehead speaking to the camera for a variety of purposes, which could include entertainment, reflection, opinion, or education. CVLs elicit the same concept in which multiple people take joint ownership through interaction, discussion, and expression. Researchers have found that musicians use vlogging in conjunction with their music making on YouTube as a way to connect with audiences (Cayari, 2011; Lange, 2014). Creating discussion videos on YouTube has been known to encourage dialogic learning (Jackson & Wallin, 2009; Kellner & Kim, 2010), and vlogging in the classroom has been found to encourage peer learning, self-evaluation, and professional development (Hung, 2011). When students group together to create CVLs, the projects promote educational ownership, build a dynamic learning community, and encourage students to embrace the differences amongst their cohort (Cayari & Fox, 2013).

Social networks and digital culture have provided educators opportunities to develop and explore online and traditional classroom communities in new ways. In the 1990s, newsgroups and chatrooms allowed for digital text-based discussion amongst Internet users. In the 2000s, social media sites like MySpace and Facebook provided convenient ways for people to interact via text, pictures, and other digital media. In the 2010s, online video provides novel ways for Internet users to communicate. Future music educators are situated in a world in which creating videos and posting them online is a common activity as nearly half of Internet users age 18-29 have published original videos online (Duggan, 2013).

As an educator and researcher of participatory culture and social media, I have explored ways in which online video helps create community amongst my students, both within the classroom and beyond. Through the use of online video, the connections my students are making with each other in the classroom extend into the Web. By collaboratively video blogging, my students are developing relationships with each other that extend to other spaces beyond the classroom, are creatively exploring new ways to express themselves, and are discussing pertinent topics to music, technology, and education.

This session describes how CVLs can be integrated into MTE curricula. Video examples, project guidelines, and student reflections will be explained. A discussion of both successful and difficult experiences will help music teacher educators decide how CVLs could be set up in their program. CVLs allow video creators to expression emotions through virtual face-to-face discussion where text-only forums can lead to monotony, confusion, or lack of emotional connection. Through CVLs, students have explored mediated musical practices and shared contexts that classmates and instructors never see when limited to the classroom meeting space. Attendees will brainstorm together on ways CVLs can facilitate further community, music teacher socialization, and individuals’ voice development.

References

Cayari, C. (2011). The YouTube effect: How YouTube has provided new ways to consume, create, and share music. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 12(6), 1-28.

Cayari, C., & Fox, H. L. (2013). The pedagogical implications of the collaborative video log. 2013 Annual Proceedings: On the Practice of Educational Communications and Technology. http://www.yourwebhosting.com/publications/proceedings/2013.asp

Duggan, M. (2013). Photo and video sharing grow online. Pew Research Center. http://www.pewinternet.org/files/oldmedia//Files/Reports/2013/PIP_Photos%20and%20videos%20online_102813.pdf

Hung, S. T. (2011). Pedagogical applications of Vlogs: An investigation into ESP learners’ perceptions. British Journal of Educational Technology, 42(5), 736-746.

Jackson, B., & Wallin, J. (2009). Rediscovering the “back-and-forthness” of rhetoric in the age of YouTube. College Composition and Communication, 61(2), 374-396.

Kellner, D., & Kim, G. (2010). YouTube, critical pedagogy, and media activism. Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, 32(1), 3-36.

Lange, P. G. (2014). Kids on YouTube: Technical identities and digital literacies. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press.