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INITIAL CONVERSATION WITH THE SME DURING INTERNSHIP APPLICATION INTERVIEW 

PRIOR TO JOINING MUED 105 SYNCHRONOUS CLASS SESSIONS

October 21, 2022 (Interview for internship application)

Meeting with Asst. Prof. Maria Sherla Najera- my would-be gatekeeper/subject matter expert. Prior to this meeting, I had already communicated with the Dean of the College of Music, Dr. Laverne de la Peña . I had presented to him my intent to work as an instructional design intern at the UP College of Music, showing him links to my portfolio of instructional design-oriented coursework at UP Open, as well as my profile as a jazz singer/artist.  The Dean referred me to the Music Education Chair, Asst Prof Maria Sherla Najera. Hence, the October 21, 2022 interview which was conducted on Zoom. 

In the interview, Ma'am Sherla (as I would eventually casually call her) was interested in my profile as a jazz artist/singer. She also noted how rich and varied my instructional design portfolio was. She then helped me take a quick survey of as many possible courses under her music education department as applicable to my internship. She agreed to me joining MuED 105 (Pedagogy of Voice) which she herself taught. Also, Ma'am Sherla opined that she could be open to any jazz-oriented project applicable to my internship in her MuEd 105 class. 

As a jazz vocalist with basic vocal training in Classical music/Opera, I would be able to relate to the course content/subject matter. It was however noted that MuEd 105 students are highly busy senior students, dealing with other important major courses while preparing for an upcoming music education practicum (MuEd 110) in the following term. The gatekeeper at the onset set expectations towards difficulty getting MuEd 105 students to participate in internship-related activities I might organize for them. The gatekeeper/SME herself Prof. Najera was also highly preoccupied handling MuEd 105, while chairing the Music Education Department, and overseeing the UP-CWTS Open School of Music. As early as this October 2021 meeting with the gatekeeper, I had to think of ways on how I could positively motivate the MuEd 105 students as well as my gatekeeper to participate in internship-oriented activities I might have to organize. 

One very important thing pointed out to me by Ma'am Sherla earlier on was that most of her teaching style veered towards  experiential learning.

October 25, 2022 Zoom-recorded class observation

Observation of a recorded synchronous class from October 25th. 

The class did a vocal relaxation activity as modeled by the teacher for the first 10-15 mins of class. Cameras were not turned on on the students' end.  After a relaxation activity, the students had another getting-to-know-each-other session (two truths and a lie game) especially among the newcomers catching up on class activities. The teacher went through the course guide. The teacher highlighted important concepts to be learned in the MuEd 105 course especially in relation to vocal phonation, resonance, power of words (articulation and expressivity) as well as the historical development and philosophies of voice pedagogy. In this session, the teacher also emphasized an important Classical (European) pedagogical principle in voice production- which is doing away with the "breathy" sound of the singer. This breathiness issue may run counter to vocal jazz pedagogical principles which encourages the voice to be free and be as natural as possible in terms of quality and texture. 

An important concept discussed in class by the teacher was about a voice teacher's duty to adjust to the student's profile and singing abilities: 

-copy the tone of the student; do not insist on the pitch that you want the student to hit;

-relate to the student, then help the student reach the the pitch that you want; and

-as teachers we adjust to where the students are. 

In this observation, I took down personal notes of the session as an  instructional design  intern: the importance of the zone of proximal development principle, schematic, scaffolded voice teaching (Juachon-Panlilio, 2020), Robert Gagne's 9 levels of instruction (Ullah et al., 2015), as well as consideration of a student's unique learning style. 

Second Synchronous class observation using Salmon's e-tivities (See Appendix 3.4)

Evidence/full report at: 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15urxWRPmsFLpMhpORzZfWwPpvR76BVC_USO9FfuMxRY/edit?usp=sharing 

This time I observed the class in reference to Salmon's e-tivities  (Anderson, 2008) mainly in terms of information  exchange and knowledge construction. As well, I had to include the previous observation's area for improvement: teacher-learner interaction. 

The topic for today mainly rested on the the sequencing of essential voice pedagogy aspects: Resonation, Relaxation Phonation, Posture, Breathing, Articulation,  Expressive tools, and Range Extension. I was very, very impressed with the class today. As far as Salmon's e-tivities are concerned, I could say that knowledge construction with the learners was perfect and highly commendable. Everyone was participating.

An area for improvement on my end could have been a post-class 15-minute talk or a 5-question written survey with the students to interview on learning styles. 

In this synchronous class, I saw how transactional presence was manifested through a more dynamic teacher-learner interaction on a Zoom-based class.  Therefore, based on a social-constructivist learning paradigm, I gave the teacher a very satisfactory rating of 5/5 (based on MacGregor rubrics). Feedback was emailed to the teacher (my SME/gatekeeper), who was thankful for the helpful and graphic analyses. (Observation graph shown below.)

Third Synchronous MuED 105 Teaching Demo Role-Plays (See Appendix 3.5)

Evidence/ Full Report:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bri6K9Bh8Qm67Q6qGlA1XCHhZ1uhcCLY06sZAL1sO_I/edit?usp=sharing 

I noted on one of the teaching practice demonstrations where Student is adolescent: by adjusting to the student's initial range/tonal register, the teacher exhibited use of scaffolding techniques (Vygotsky) (Juachon-Panlilio, 2020). Considering the student's developing voice as an adolescent, the teacher seemed aware of Piaget's adaptation/assimilation/ accommodation principles. Nevertheless, the teacher also needs to be aware of the socio-cultural aspects of voice and gender. The teacher must be a more knowledgeable other in the student's zone of proximal development (Vygotksy). The teacher taught in a friendly way. The teacher successfully acted as an expert/ more knowledgeable other (Vygtosky), as well as a good role model. The teacher attempted to socialize with the students by incorporating the student's favorite game into the lesson as relates to the subject matter at hand.

In this session, I focused my observation on the teaching role-plays of the would-be singing pedagogues. The teaching role-players lacked active experimentation in their demonstrations. At this point, I opined that it may be beneficial for MuEd 105 students to experience active experimentation in class activities so that they themselves could embody and carry on this particular teaching principle not only as singers but also as music teachers. 

Overall commentary on the synchronous class observations/immersions

Synchronous class observations resulted in recollection of prior learnings in Introduction to Online Education and Foundations of Education- COI (Community of Inquiry), interactionist learning, dialogic learning, contribution-based pedagogy, transactional distance management, the Laurillard Conversational Framework,  connectivism and the like (Anderson, 2008). Learning psychology-wise, I realized how important classical conditioning (behaviorism), as well as social-cognitivism (Erikson), and experiential learning principles are as a whole to creating a dynamic, interactive learning environment (Juachon-Panlilio, 2020). For the most part, the approach to the teaching of MuEd 105 was didactic in nature (teacher-led) in which the instructor discussed concepts, modeled the desired behavior, and acted as a credible resource person. Multimedia resources for Classically-informed vocal production were made available through YouTube links. Quizzes which mostly incited recall of important concepts were taken by students at certain intervals throughout the term. As far as I could observe, students were neither made to craft such creative projects as collaborative vlogs or blogs, nor interact with online communities of vocal pedagogues and students from other universities. 

When it comes to content, my synchronous class immersions/observations confirmed my initial observation that vocal jazz was not covered in the lessons or discussions especially in regard to phonation, articulation, resonation and vocal expression which are the bedrock of voice pedagogy as a subject matter. Techniques covered, such as proper formation, enunciation of vowels, articulation of consonants, breathing, phonation, overall articulation, resonation, expressive tools and overall dome-shaped tonality were all European in form. 

"According to James Stark, 'Bel canto [or European/Italian Classical singing] is a concept that takes into account two separate but related matters. First, it is a highly refined method of using the singing voice in which the glottal source, the vocal tract, and the respiratory system interact in such a way as to create the qualities of chiaroscuro, appoggio, register equalization, malleability of pitch and intensity, and a pleasing vibrato. The idiomatic use of this voice includes various forms of vocal onset, legato, portamento, glottal articulation, crescendo, decrescendo, messa di voce, mezza voce, floridity and trills, and tempo rubato [in an] expressive way'"(Canedo, 2019). 

Vocalization exercises were also crafted in the standard European, bel canto fashion. There was no mention of any blues-inflected vowel or consonant vocalization technique, which is basic to vocal jazz, although there was discussion of mainstream singing being mostly grounded in a belted, chesty approach. 

While my class immersions convinced me that the MuEd 105 teacher was an excellent lecturer of bel canto singing technique, I figured that an area for opportunity in the class would be the lack of content related to such non European styles as jazz, which is a socio-culturally and economically important and unique musical genre studied by music majors in universities abroad, and performed by artists working in luxurious, high-end venues (Fisher, 1981; Whiteoak, 2022; Burland, 2012; Tonelli, 2015; Kleinschmidt, 2011).

Moreover, another challenge to an online MuEd 105 class which used to be taught in-person was transactional distance management even during synchronous online sessions. While the teacher often utilized the use of expressive emojis on Zoom to check up on the students' moods as well as the chat box to have students type in answers to questions, comments, or feedback to the ongoing discussion, I noticed that most students' cameras were turned off probably to save up on bandwidth. 

I emphasize an observation that there was not any vocal jazz-oriented, or -related content in the MuEd 105 discussions. The teaching style of the instructor also appeared to be significantly didactic in nature (focused on transfer of knowledge/sage-on-a-stage approach).

In a search on the UP College of Music library resources, there is not any record of a vocal jazz workshop or any vocal jazz-related academic activity conducted by MuEd 105 students so far; although there are performances of certain jazz standards included in voice majors' recital work, presumably delivered in Classical, bel canto fashion (Tuklas.up.edu.ph, 2023). Overall, there is neither a vocal jazz syllabus, course, nor an elective available to voice majors at the College of Music, referencing the curriculum checklist available at https://music.upd.edu.ph/Undergraduate_Programs.html

Content-wise, I was beginning to get convinced on a jazz-oriented pursuit at this point. At the same time, I had to take into account the challenge of helping MuEd 105 become a more interactive class. 

It is important to note that a lecturer can be creative in engaging a class especially a virtual, online class. A game, debate or any other type of collaborative activity can be organized. 

In order for  me to validate my interaction- and content-oriented observations, I decided to create a prototype of a vocal jazz workshop that would introduce Classically trained voice students to the art of Jazz singing in a way that is not too far off from the MuEd 105 syllabus. This workshop prototype would materialize through my free trial of an iSpring Suite account which would allow me to create a self-paced yet highly interactive digital e-workshop with "unskippable" slides.

Accessible on tablets, laptops and mobile phones, this digital e-workshop would be designed with transactional presence in mind. Students are provided material that will talk about vocal jazz as much schematically related to their bel canto orientation as possible.  Slides cannot be skipped unless an interaction on some prior slides is completed by the student. Formative and summative assessments are also built into the e-workshop. Following the e-workshop, a survey is going to be conducted to validate the students' readiness for vocal jazz-oriented learning content, as well as reaction to dynamic, interactive instructional strategies. The survey will be partly based on System Usability Scale principles (Azzano, 2023), Moore's interactionist theory (learner-learner, learner-content, learner-teacher) interactions (Park, 2011), as well as Anderson's teacher, cognitive, social presences (Arinto & Garcia, 2009; Anderson, 2011). 

CREATION OF AN E-LEARNING TYPE OF WORKSHOP PROTOTYPE (using iSpring Suite)

General Inspiration

The idea of a self-paced vocal jazz e-workshop using iSpring Suite stemmed from my observations of MuEd 105 especially as regards the lack of jazz-oriented or -related material in the syllabi, as well as my intent to address transactional distance issues in class.  iSpring Suite (especially iSpring version 8) provides a highly interactive digital learning environment  being a "presentation flash-based [type of] software. iSpring is a flash-based program which is integrated with the presentation program of [Microsoft] PowerPoint. It presents the learning materials in the form of a flash slide that contains pictures, animation, video, or audio. Basically, it can be used as the alternative learning media for the teacher to deliver the learning materials in an interesting way. It is also more practical and optimal since it also can engage the students more in the lesson" (Nurwijayanti et al, 2018).  One important feature to iSpring Suite is its "unskippable" slides on which a learner has to finish the interaction required and cannot just simply move thoughtlessly through the presentation. 

In a nutshell, I also wanted to test how MuEd 105 students would react to a self-paced, interactive type of workshop where teacher-learner, content-learner and learner-learner interactions are potentially underpinning the learning environment. This e-workshop would also be followed by a survey to determine students' learning styles as well as interest in jazz music. 

Pedagogical Basis

Content to this e-workshop was made to be schematically related to Classical vocal technique. The most important video resource employed was in fact a YouTube video differentiating, comparing between Classical voice and Jazz voice. Performers in the workshop were also renowned Classical/Opera singers performing Jazz pieces--- this was to strike perceived similarity between Classically trained students and  the Jazz-singing Opera singers.  Transactional presence fostered through interactive slides and intermittent quizzes in which the student could not move past a slide without completing the required interaction on it.  Positive reinforcement was provided by congratulatory remarks and points earned once a quiz is  correctly answered. The e-workshop was meant to be to an extent didactic but also interactive and learner-centered. 

This e-workshop was also gamified--- points were earned from interactions throughout the digital workshop; and participants had to submit a recording of their jazz singing. The jazziest recording would merit a prize--- which is a chance to sing on TV with the post-workshop survey answered--- meaning, no jazz recording, no survey response: no prize. 

Creation of an e-workshop learner manual (see Appendix 3.6):  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Sl2uUfg9Vu8G3nE3eoDW4mn1QMNDxHOE/view?usp=drive_link

The above manual was created as some sort of a pedagogical wrapper to the e-workshop. 

Instructional Material Design Vis-a-vis Pedagogical Considerations

• Something-for-everyone workshop design (All possible types of learners): Diverger (creative, generates alternatives), Assimilator (defines problems, creates theoretical models), Converger (practical applications, makes decisions), and Accommodator (takes risks, gets things done) (Brooks-Harris & Stock-Ward, 999). 

• Use of multimedia (audio visual, performance samples, voice-overs mimicking a teacher's voice) (Mayer, 2014)

• Dual-coding theory (Barber et al., 2007).  More simply, multimedia in education can primarily be grounded in dual coding theory, which posits that information can be presented either verbally or visually. On a more elaborate basis, Robert Dale gives us a Cone of Experience theory which claims that “people generally remember: 10% of what they read, 20% of what they hear, 30% of what they see, 50% of what they see and hear, 70% of what they see and write, and 90% of what they do” (Barber et al., 2007). Educational multimedia to me appears to be rooted in dual coding theory and multimodal learning. There are as much different ways to teach as there are different ways to learn. Learning theory over the last few decades has favored a more constructivist, more immersive, more experiential, and more learner-centered approach to pedagogy. Multimedia can aid in making teaching less didactic, less boring, and less teacher-centered.  

Objectives, Instructional Activities and Assessment (Bloom's Taxonomy, Didactic Class Discussion/s- schematic revisit of previous related MuEd 105 concepts, Video Watching- Expert vocal jazz demonstration of an expert; comparison of parallels/differences between vocal jazz and classical styles, and Authentic Assessment)

Two major objectives to the e-workshop were for the student participant to:

1) Highlight applications of bel canto technique into jazz singing in terms of 

vowel formation, mouth opening, resonation, shifting of registers, 

rhythmic flexibibility, as well as expressive and dynamic tools 

(ANALYSIS)

2) Demonstrate the differences of bel canto and jazz vocal technique and 

dynamics by singing a portion of the Classical-Jazz crossover song 

Summertime (Gershwin) in both bel canto and jazz styles 

(APPLICATION)

Objectives were crafted in reference to Bloom's taxonomy (Morphew, 2005).

For the assessment, the student was made to sing the jazz standard In a Sentimental Mood (which was a song modelled in the workshop by renowned Opera singers). Two participating students namely Lis and Ben emailed their jazz takes on  In a Sentimental Mood, demonstrating Classical technique while freely bending notes at some point and throwing in some melodic deviation.

Evidence of learning: Emails of song recordings submitted by students organized via vocaroo.com (See Appendix 3.7).

Below is a snippet of an actual slide in the e-workshop:

Below is a link to the full navigation of the e-workshop as recorded on Zoom 

E-learning workshop evidence ( A recording of an actual taking of the above e-learning workshop created via i-Spring Suite):

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VA5b19bQInmpoOi9ERPgLMDiZQnNnyfj/view?usp=sharing

Note: I had to record the navigation because I was subscribed to a trial version of iSpring Suite, meaning I only had approximately 15 days to get the content accessible to anyone. 

Proposal for Vocal Jazz Workshop Based on Prior E-Learning Workshop (See Appendix 3.10)

(Proposal presented March 09th, 2023 to SME/Gatekeeper Ma'am Sherla)

Evidence: Proposed Day 1 content in PowerPoint: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/18NidDGlGxVMK8WNupQ2xXCqUcHjdm6mI/view?usp=sharing / https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1X290jba4gD2MMt8OgGdxRrfVTMTaaGLu/edit?usp=share_link&ouid=117893716258164377805&rtpof=true&sd=true

General Inspiration

Based on a MuEd 105 immersion, the designer of this workshop believes that Classically trained/ bel

canto singers and voice teachers can broaden their artistic acumen and enhance future employability as singers and teachers by exploring jazz music which primarily combines Classical/European and African musical traditions. From a digital introduction to vocal jazz workshop prototype recently field-tested among MuED 105 students by this proposal’s author, it can be noted that MuED 105 students trained in the bel canto technique are open to learning a non-Classical genre of music, showing interest in multiculturalism, ethnomusicology and anthropology. The said students also displayed considerable competence in applying Classical technique into a jazz standard as part of the digital workshop’sassessment.

UNESCO itself has a very high regard for jazz music as a music of peace, intercultural dialogue, freedom and creativity, declaring April 30th of each year as International Jazz Day. Jazz originated in a

multicultural America as a reaction to racial discrimination and social inequalities. Since the 1920s jazz

music has evolved into more global, more multicultural formats melding with Brazilian, Latin American,

European, Asian, Indian, and even Filipino musical traditions (Unesco.Org, n.d.).

Classical singers can further enhance their creativity through jazz. A recent German study showed that

Jazz musicians showed higher ideational creativity than Folk musicians (p = .01, and p = .01) and Classical musicians (p = .09, and p = .02), thereby revealing that Jazz musicians show higher divergent thinking ability, and a higher number of creative activities and achievements in the musical domain as compared to musicians from other genres such as Classical music or Folk music. These findings support the view that the music genre of Jazz is highly associated with creativity, both in terms of musical activities and psychometric aspects of musicians (Benedek et al., 2013).

Over the last four decades especially in the US and Canada, jazz education has been considerably

established in high schools and colleges (Fisher, 1981; Kuzmich, 1989) (Carter, 1986; McDaniel, 1993;

Murphy, 1994) (Thomas, 2022; English, 2004; Brenan, 2005).

In America, "By 1979 it was estimated that there were more than 500,000 students in jazz-related

ensembles across the country, and over 70 percent of the 30,000 middle and high schools had at least

one jazz ensemble (Berry, 1979). The steady increase of jazz bands has continued at the

middle level, in high schools, and at the college level all across the country. The growth of vocal jazz

ensembles has not been as steady or as widespread" (Monkelien, 2001).

As do Europe and Australia, Canada does have plenty of post-secondary institutions offering

undergraduate as well as graduate jazz programs (Kearns, 2011).

In the Philippines, only the University of Santo Tomas offers a jazz studies program. This 3-day vocal jazz workshop is envisioned not only to expand students’ training in voice pedagogy, but also to help inspire the UP College of Music to consider offering a vocal or instrumental jazz program.

Pedagogical Basis

Based on the field-testing of the e-workshop prototype, pedagogy would rest on mostly gamified, teacher-led learning which utilizes multimedia (audio-visual material), as well interactive discussions.  Evaluation of learning would center on applicatory and creative skills, requiring workshop participants to produce vocal music artefacts as relates to the subject matter.  The workshop would be generally designed considering visual, auditory and kinesthetic learners, striking a balanced learning environment for divergers, assimilators, convergers and accommodators. 

Instructional Material Design vis-a-vis pedagogical considerations

At this point, the very first version of the proposed workshop envisioned a gamified 3-day curriculum where Day 1 is teacher-led and would award a badge to participants who could complete Day 1's required tasks. This badge would entitle them to Days 2 and 3 of the workshop.

Due to the highly busy schedules of the gatekeeper/SME and the MuEd 105 students, Day 1 would be online (Zoom-based) and at most run for around 1.30 hours to also coincide with the usual class schedule of MuEd 105.  Day 1 would focus on comparisons between Classical and Jazz vocals. 

Day 2 would also be online and approximately be the same length as Day 1 but would center on straight-ahead vocal jazz content with Professor Katherine Molina of the College of Music who teaches both Jazz and Classical techniques. 

Day 3, on the other hand, would be a masterclass with an actual vocal jazz practitioner and may be conducted online. Duration at the time of the original proposal was yet to be determined. 

Objectives and Assessment

General Objectives of the 3-Day Vocal Jazz Intro Proposal 

Workshop Objectives (Crafted based on Bloom's Taxonomy)

Throughout and at the end of the workshop, the student should be able to:

•  Highlight applications of bel canto technique into jazz singing in terms of vowel

formation, mouth opening, resonation, shifting of registers, rhythmic flexibibilty,

as well as expressive and dynamic tools (ANALYSIS)

•  Demonstrate the differences of bel canto and jazz vocal technique and dynamics

by singing a portion of the Classical-Jazz crossover song Summertime (Gershwin)

in both bel canto and jazz styles (APPLICATION)

•  Revise renditions of one single jazz standard song from a ballad to swing and

bossa nova formats through a performance in an online masterclass with an

esteemed jazz singer (SYNTHESIS)

•  To justify the flexibility of a jazz song in terms of feel, rhythm and dynamics by

posting a 100-word online blog centered on the creative philosophy of jazz

(EVALUATION)