Article Preview
TopIntroduction
Music education deserves much further attention and more active cultivation in higher education today. Jensen (2005) stated that constant exposure to music in general can enhance a person’s creativity which is “an essential human attribute lying at the heart of all learning and as processes of making something new” (Burnard, 2007, p. 37). Koelsch and Siebel’s (2005) study has found that constant experience of musical activities is essential to a person’s development not only for enhancing overall creativity but also for emotion management.
In this study, we focus on how music education could be developed beyond the traditional e-learning framework. Specifically, an open online music education environment empowered by Web 2.0 technologies—e-HO—has been created in keeping with the characteristics of today’s college students. E-HO (see Figure 1), complementary to the traditional e-learning, is designed, in part, to strengthen the horizontal connection among various disciplines proposed in higher education (Lee, Pan, & Liao, 2011). E-HO, as an integrative learning environment, embraces a full spectrum of the general curriculum, including music, fine arts, science, literature, history, as well as emotional intelligence, to fulfill its purpose as ‘holistic’ education and as a ‘horizontal’ linkage among various domains (Lee et al., 2011). To achieve this, E-HO includes: (1) complementary content beyond course-required e-learning; (2) contemporary digital cultures suitable for current university students; (3) a user-friendly and supported platform allowing students and faculty from different disciplines to easily contribute; and (4) various online activities in diverse settings (Lee et al., 2011). The efficacies of the implementation of the above individual components in e-HO for general education was enhanced, as reported by Lee, Pan, Liao, Chen, and Walters (2013). Therefore, concerning open online music education incorporated in e-HO, some benefits and significant outcomes beyond those of traditional pedagogies could be reasonably anticipated.
Beyond traditional classroom learning, an e-music platform on e-HO is designed to immerse students in performed music (see Figure 2). Most of the audio and video music on e-HO was shared online by students. While being immersed in classical and contemporary music, students were also encouraged to compose their own music. By using music software (Finale, a free music composition program), students arranged simple rhythms and accompaniments to compose their own digital music. After students’ works were uploaded, everyone on e-HO could listen to them and give feedback and reflection for every individual music piece.
By teaching digital-rich music pedagogy, music teachers are creating a flexible and effective learning environment. Through the e-HO platform, this study attempts to investigate how online musical activities and technology influence students’ musical creativity. The study extends Burnard’s study (2007), in which Engestrom’s Activity Theory (AT) was adopted as the main theoretical framework, by focusing on examining the AT framework in which online music activities enhance musical creativity.
Figure 2. e-Music activities in e-HO