Face-to-face and distance teaching and learning in higher education: Lessons from the preparation of professional musicians

Abstract

In this article, it is suggested that academic programmes in higher education can benefit from focusing on procedural (or practical and phenomenal) and propositional (or theoretical and abstract) knowledge. The preparation of professional musicians is particularly relevant to this issue because musicians' focus is often on procedural knowledge gained through making music. Accordingly, two approaches to preparing professional musicians are contrasted -face-to-face and distance education -and these illustrate how the transmission and acquisition of procedural knowledge works. The first, face-to-face teaching and learning, is thought about figuratively in terms of an artist who apprentices pupils or disciples and leads them to become exponents of particular musical practices. The second, distance teaching and learning in music as practiced worldwide, is informed particularly by metaphors of the web, factory and boutique that invoke, respectively, notions of connectivity, production and consumption in music education. The role of technology in mediating the process of teacher and student interaction in distance KEywoRds face-to-face instruction distance education music teaching and learning procedural knowledge propositional knowledge technological mediation higher education.

New Ways to Teach and Learn in China and Finland

“…Distance learning, the online learning environment and blended learning can well be used in music education provided that the technological facilities are to a high standard (see Jorgensen, 2014).…”

Self-Determination Theory for Motivation in Distance Music Education

“…The researchers found that posture and grip, right- and left-hand technique, and performance and musicality dimensions were the same in the remote group as in the in-person group. Those dimensions, which Jorgensen (2014) would characterize as procedural knowledge, were achievable when the instruction was conducted remotely, resulting in similar skill levels achieved in both delivery modes. Similarly, Pike and Shoemaker (2013) compared piano sight-reading skill acquisition among children who received instruction online with those taught in person.…”

“…Learning music requires an understanding and demonstration of both cognitive and behavioral skills, which are forms of propositional and procedural knowledge, respectively (Jorgensen, 2014). Propositional knowledge includes, for example, knowledge in music theory, music history, or music repertoire, whereas procedural knowledge refers to music performance skills and abilities.…”

“…The distinction between these two types of knowledge and related pedagogies is critical when considering how students learn music at a distance. While educators might prepackage or prepare materials and resources needed for a theoretical understanding of musical concepts (i.e., propositional knowledge), procedural knowledge is “ambiguous and defies standardized, product-driven and pre-programmed instruction” (Jorgensen, 2014, p. 187). Although the acquisition of procedural knowledge through online education is complex, it is feasible through the application of appropriate pedagogical techniques (Koutsoupidou, 2014).…”