I presented at the International Symposium on Performance Science in Iceland on Sept. 1. The presentation was about a research study that I carried out with Phil Kearney where 22 adults learned to play string instruments over the course of a semester. I talked about self-efficacy and self-regulation in learning and how these people managed their learning across the study.
Inspired by Stephen Downes, who shares everything he does, I live streamed the session and both the stream and the slides are embedded below:
Although you can see the slides above, and in the live video
I have a few links within the slides themselves, and also some ‘presenter notes’ that include some of the other references I mentioned that I couldn’t figure out how to make live on the embed, so have listed them footnote-style, below. Any comments or questions are welcome. This reflection on the presentation was posted by Stephen Downes.The paper from this research is being submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.
Notes to accompany slides:
- Slide 2: Our backgrounds: Phil (Decathlon), me (music- cello, teaching) Both require precision physical movements. Both involve dedicated practice. Both are performance related. Get the shot, get the notes. Both involve personal coaching/teaching. Although the differences can quickly be picked apart, the similarities give a base for transference.
- Slide 3: In-slide links, to the review article, and to the Applications of self-regulation across disciplines book. Novice performers have been shown to lack key self-regulatory skills (Leon-Guerra, 2008; McPherson & Renwick, 2001; Pitts, Davidson, & McPherson, 2000). Learners also show poor self-awareness of their practice behaviours (Byo & Cassidy, 2008; Hallam, 2001), or demonstrate a gap between knowledge and use of strategies (Christensen, 2010). Furthermore, Kostka (2002) identified conflicting reports from music teachers and students; while almost all teachers reported discussing practice strategies with their students, 67% of those same students reported that they had not discussed practice strategies with their teachers (see also Jørgensen, 2000). Thus, it appears that novice learners require additional assistance to promote their use of self-regulation (Austin & Haefner, 2006).
- Slide 4: “With self-regulation, students take an active role in initiating, choosing, and carrying out learning, as opposed to following a pre-determined path and reacting to set, external instruction. The strategies students adopt depend on their resourcefulness and capability for engaging with cognitive processes; if students either do not understand or are not proficient with a method, they are unlikely to use it” (Ritchie, 2015).
- Slide 5: “Progress can be more efficient when the learner is open to allowing for change and is sensitive to the course of learning so strategies can be adapted to best suit each individual setting. Without ingenuity, a student could carry out the teacher’s instructions in rote-type learning or in a purely linear manner, even though this is not the most effective way to learn” (Ritchie, 2015).
- Slide 6: Determining factor in everything. Empirical studies work hard to show its involvement, and I’ve come to believe part of the ambiguity is in questioning and recognising.
- Slide 8: Minuet 2 was learned BY THEMSELVES. This was in part to see if and how they were able to learn. The idea was that they would use strategies to learn this piece.
- Slide 10: Both groups had techniques explained,
Not told this is the process and you must use it or recreate it in your practice – not specifically told how to apply it to the worksheet – in order to keep it the same - Slide 11: this three step process (set process goals, self-monitor, strategic attributions) has been used in several interventions previously in the motor domain (e.g., dart throwing, basketball free throw shooting), but we had not seen it explicitly applied to music.
- Slide 15: The initial 22 were divided into two groups
Within a month, over half of the placebo group dropped out.
Only 4 from the placebo group completed the study, and
9 from the experimental group. - Slide 17: Implications are that people couldn’t see the point. – and these are learned people who work or are in Higher Education
- Slide 20: People need to be expressly taught the strategies, it is too much to expect them to infer them
On reflection, we thought about the participants as adult learners, and not as novice learners. Whitehead in the 1920’s talked about the “romance phase” being the earliest stage in learning, and perhaps the formal strategy was introduced too soon. - Slide 21: Aiming for a study with 50 next time. Same controls – teacher, room, method of teaching, content… but will introduce strategies, will use the worksheet for SOME practice sessions – focused doses instead of all the time. –also twinkle at the end!
- Slide 22: If anyone has any advice on how to measure the self-regulation that we don’t see… in that time away from the teacher… That’s what the pottery shaving picture is about. 🙂