A Pilot Project Exploring Rural Classroom Music Teachers’ Perceptions and Practices via an Online Professional Development Course

Abstract

Music teachers in urban, suburban, and rural communities face a multitude of challenges and opportunities. To identify and examine specific experiences that may be unique to rural general music teachers, we recruited six teacher-participants to complete a 5-week online professional development (PD) course for this exploratory study. We created a teacher-led approach for this PD, implementing topics and solutions generated by the participants. Using qualitative content analysis, we found two categories of themes in the online discussion posts that either connected or disconnected our participants with other music teachers on their general music context or their geographic setting. Although participants clearly articulated the influences of setting and place-based pedagogy, we found shared issues related to general music that transcended location. Implications for future PD include the importance of online delivery methods and developing PD differentiated by teaching contexts and geographic settings.

Virtual Professional Learning Communities: A Case Study in Rural Music Teacher Professional Development

“…By facilitating VPLCs, music teacher educators could help to forge an online community where rural music educators connect and collaborate with other music teachers. Not only could VPLCs assist rural music teachers in improving their teaching practices, but they hold the potential to help this “often-neglected subgroup of teachers” (Johnson & Stanley, 2021, p. 13) feel less isolated as professionals. Through VPLCs, a connection to a supportive and knowledgeable network of music educators is accessible to virtually anyone.…”

“…Music teachers can experience feelings of professional isolation at various points throughout their careers, and these feelings manifest from a variety of sources. Perhaps the most obvious isolating factor for many music teachers is that they might be employed as the only music teacher within a school or entire community (Burkett, 2011; Johnson & Stanley, 2021; McConnell et al, 2013). According to Krueger (1999), the physical isolation caused by distance can also lead to intellectual isolation because music teachers do not have music colleagues in the building with which to collaborate, share ideas, or discuss music teaching in general.…”

“…In an attempt to connect with colleagues in similar teaching situations and content areas, some teachers have sought out opportunities through advancements in technology, such as online communities of practice, which are often different than focused and goal-oriented PLCs. The label online communities of practice often refers to unstructured online forums (including professional social media groups) where teachers post and discuss a variety of education topics (Bell-Robertson, 2014; Johnson & Stanley, 2021; Rickels & Brewer, 2017). Online communities can provide spaces for teachers to share emotions, combat isolation, discuss teaching and learning, and experience professional camaraderie all while retaining a certain level of anonymity.…”

Collaborative Reflection-on-Action as a Catalyst for Change in Middle-Level General Music

“…Scholars investigating music education PD have examined many topics including the PD needs and experiences of music teachers at various career stages (Blair, 2008; Conway et al, 2012; Eros, 2012; Johnson et al, 2019; Koner & Eros, 2019), working in rural contexts (Johnson & Stanley, 2021; Rolandson & Ross-Hekkel, 2022), and specializing in specific forms of music learning such as general music (Bautista et al, 2018). Drawing on a framework for PD outlined by Desimone (2009), the music teacher PD literature generally supports PD that is (a) content specific, (b) pedagogically active, (c) relevant to the teacher’s work, (d) long-term, and (e) collaborative (see Bautista et al, 2017; Eros, 2012; Rolandson & Ross-Hekkel, 2022).…”

Performance Practice in a Pandemic: Training Ensemble Skills Using E-Tivities in Music Teacher Education

“…Since the year 2020, the process of re-examining the teaching strategies for redesigning music education for effective online delivery and implementing the active learning designs in online environment has begun (Phipps, 2021). In these frameworks, the comparative analysis of music teachers' practices and perceptions of traditional classrooms with professional experience in online teaching became more relevant (Johnson and Stanley, 2021).…”