Engaging Student Singers: Developing Reflection and Collaboration in a Technology-enhanced Learning Environment

This thesis explores the integration of a wiki technology tool to support collaboration and reflection in a secondary school music context. The wiki intervention also allows the examination of students' development of self-regulated learning processes, as well as the impact of such an approach on the role of the teacher within the classroom. The vocal wiki was integrated in a school setting, analyzed, and developed using a design-based methodology. The study began with a pilot phase, followed by two iteration cycles. At the end of each cycle, data was collected and analyzed to inform changes to the design of the wiki tool for the following iteration. Study participants involved 50 secondary music students as well as the teacher/researcher. The student-created content of the vocal wiki, which encompassed individual reflections, collaborative discussion, vocal recordings, and student-selected photos, as well as focus group interviews and the teacher/researcher journal, provided data for the design evaluation. Data analysis included coding and descriptive summaries of student wiki contributions in the various design iterations, as well as three case studies intended to provide a deeper narrative exploration into individual student experiences of engaging with the vocal wiki tool. The data was analyzed according to three dimensions that represented different aspects of the design, enactment, and overall impact of the vocal wiki tool: collaboration, reflection and performance. Study findings support the interpretation that there was an improved level of student agency and self-regulated learning that resulted from the process of reflection on performance as well as collaborative dialogue and peer interaction. By engaging in reflection on their own musical experiences, students gained efficacy in monitoring their own musical progress, and set more realistic musical goals. Through the development of self-regulated learning skills, my work suggests that students become more independent as musicians, and further develop their musical identities, when they began to think differently about their own singing and their contributions to the ensemble. This work supports a pedagogical shift concerning the role of the music teacher in performance-based classrooms, from the traditional conductor-centered view to a more student-centered approach with a focus on reflection and collaboration.Ph.D