Delete the PDF and Start Again? Exploring the Potential for Innovative Dissemination Methods of Music Education Scholarship

Abstract

Research from Sheehy (2016) found that in-service educators are increasingly disengaging from the scholarly field. This paper highlights and critiques paradigmatic approaches used to disseminate scholarly research in music education which ostensibly lead to teacher disengagement, including the use of academic language, issues of accessibility, and the “printable” formats of scholarly texts. It utilizes Reynolds’ (2009) discussion of factors which led to the development of the musical genre “post-punk” as a framework to critique, compare, and discuss how discourses of social media may inform the development of innovative scholarly research dissemination methods. In doing so a new “genre” of scholarly publication which is informed by normative academic practices and those associated with social media is both proposed and exemplified. It is argued that these proposed innovative dissemination methods have the potential to reengage in-service educators within the scholarly field; and foster academic publications which are considered more engaging, accessible, and relevant.