Abstract
In this paper, we present an analysis of feedback as it occurs in classroom-based and technology supported music instrument learning. Feedback is key to learning in music education and we have developed technology based on ideas from social media and audio annotation which aims to make feedback more effective. The analysis here aims to enhance our understanding of technology-mediated feedback. The result of this analysis is three ontologies describing feedback and feedback systems. First, we developed the teacher's ontology using a qualitative, observational approach to describe the types of feedback that music instrument tutors give to their students. We used this ontology to inform the design of an online music annotation platform for music students. Second, we develop the grounded ontology using a grounded theory approach, based on 2,000 annotations made by students and tutors using the annotation platform. We compare the grounded and teacher's ontologies by examining structural, semantic and expressive features. Through this comparison, we find that the grounded ontology includes elements of the teacher's ontology as well as elements relating to practical and social aspects of the annotation platform, while the teacher's ontology contains more domain knowledge. Third, we formalize the transactional capabilities of the platform into the third ontology, the platform ontology, which we have written in the OWL language, and show how this allows us to develop several practical use cases, including the use of semantic web capabilities in music education contexts.
Highlights
Feedback is at the heart of learning a musical instrument; It provides vital information about performance to students
We developed the teacher’s ontology and the grounded ontology in the context of an EU funded project which was investigating the use of social media technology for enhancing feedback in music education
Our method consists of the following elements: Structural analysis: We carry out an structural analysis of each ontology and compare them based on meta-data features as follows: (i) by identifying the number and types of entities and relationships in the ontologies as suggested in Krogstie (2004), in order to compare the structural configuration of the ontologies, and (ii) through a measure of information content as defined in Resnik (1995)—which suggests that the higher a concept is in a taxonomy, the more abstract it is, decreasing its degree of informativeness—in order to identify how abstract/specific each ontology is by calculating the depth of detail of each ontology
Summary
Feedback is at the heart of learning a musical instrument; It provides vital information about performance to students. Feedback can come from different sources, both the physical and the social world. The learner listening in real time to their playing, the learner listening later to a recording, and in the social world, from other learners and from expert instrumentalists and teachers who can provide nuanced, empathetic and constructive feedback about a range of different aspects of developing musicianship. Feedback has a strong, positive effect on learning and achievement. According to research by Hattie and Timperley (2007) which measured this effect across multiple studies using meta-analysis techniques, “the type of feedback and the way it is given can be differentially effective,” We believe that education technology can be used to address this problem if it supports the provision of effective types of feedback in effective ways
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