Piloting of Beta Version (Day 1) 

Highlights: 

• Modified Day 1 syllabi- PPT etc. 

• Gamified--- student participants who would complete Day 1's required tasks (especially survey responses and vocal recordings) will get badges and will be allowed to be part of Day 2 of workshop.

• Creation of a Teacher Manual- which was not read, because Beta Version content and flow was actually discussed during a prior Zoom meeting (May 08th). Nevertheless, what was discussed in the meeting was based on the teacher manual as well. 

• Agreement on: objectives-mostly recommended by SME; instructional media (audio-visual, textual material)- as recommended by SME; 

technologies involved (Zoom provided by SME, vocaroo.com for recordings, laptops or phones as utilized in MuEd 105 classes)

• Practice-pilot of Beta Version Between Ma'am Sherla and Designer

• Creation of a script for SME/instructor Ma'am Sherla for her facilitation of Day 1

• Student participants able to essentially complete tasks for Day 1 (post-session survey and song recordings)

• Awarding of badges via email to  participants/students who completed the required assessment tasks.

Note: Beta version iterated between Ma'am Sherla and designer on May 08th, prior to the actual iteration with the students on May 09, would stil be considered beta.  As per Sir Ley, this iteration on March 09th would still render the design as a beta version, since it functioned as rehearsal

Commentary on Beta Version Iteration

There were a total of 6 participants to the Day 1 iteration--- these participants were MuEd 110 students (formerly the MuEd 105 students analyzed for the design of this workshop).  At this point, there were only 6 students in total. 

Ma'am Sherla (as SME/gatekeeper) taught Day 1. The class was held via Zoom courtesy of the teacher. Time alloted by the teacher was only between 30 - 40 minutes as the class had to  discuss highly pressing concerns related to practicum. The teacher uses a script I had prepared for her beforehand. 

The teacher was able to discuss the topics for Day 1 as well as the objectives and the scope of the teacher's expertise (mainly bel canto). The instructional designer also acted as a silent facilitator, playing the PPT slides on the teacher's behalf. 

The teacher acted as a lecturer, and excelled at verbally discussing content on each slide, while emphasizing that Day 1 was gamified and that certain outputs would merit the participants badges to Days 2 and 3, where finally they would get to join a masterclass with an award-wining jazz singer. The teacher was able to engage the student in a question on the content in the middle of the presentation.  During the part where students were to compare and contrast the treatment of the song Summertime (Gershwin) by Jazz singer Sarah Vaughan and Classical singer Kathleen Battle, only two students out of six were able to provide inputs. Only two items/ criteria in the comparative chart provided (phonation, vowel formation) were filled out. 

For Day 1's most important tasks, one student reported that he could not save his recording on vocaroo.com for some technical reasons. He was trying to save the recording but was getting an error about an invalid link. Prior to the recording task, the instructional designer was made to  show the class how to  use vocaroo.com for recording purposes. 

Essential Outputs from Day 1

Two students out of six (Lis and Archi) were able to complete the required tasks to earn the badge from Day 1: 

a) recording of a song of their choice in both Classical and Jazz renditions; and

 b) answering the Day 1 learning experience survey. Six students (all of them) filled out the said survey. 

Perceived strengths of Day 1 iteration

• Two students as expected out of six got to hand in expected vocal recording outputs 

• Application of important learning theories (Gagne, teacher-learner interaction, learner-content interactions) into a teacher-led session

• Perceived similarity principle applied (content schematically connected to participants' bel canto foundations: bridge between Classical and Jazz- Gershwin's musical eclecticism fusing Classical and Jazz, Sarah Vaughan's Classicalness, utilization of vocal tracts and vowel shape- similarities, differences between both Vaughan and Battle as sample performers)

• All students answered the survey

• Two students are qualified to join Days 2 and 3 having gotten badges from Day 1

Perceived weaknesses/areas for improvement of Day 1 iteration

• Needs more time than just 30- 45 minutes. Should have been at least 1.30 hrs

• Not all students got to provide feedback/input on the Vaughan vs Battle technique comparison

• Lack of learner-learner interactions 

• More students could have recorded their singing if this workshop was an official MuEd 105 requirement 

Link to the full the video recording of the full iteration of Day 1 beta version (See Appendix 3.20):

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1I8VNry60b_2sjDXsCaWkBwGFzRb6To_G/view?usp=drive_link