ict in the teacher training system for academic vocals

ICT in the Teacher Training System for Academic Vocals: Structured

Mentoring

S.S. Aksenova1,а*

1 Musical College named after the Gnessins of the Gnessin Russian Academy of Music, 38, building 1, Povarskaya str., 121069, Moscow, Russia

a [email protected]

* Corresponding author

Keywords: information educational environment, teacher training system for academic vocals, ICT, non-formal education, structured mentoring, learning management systems (LMS), personal learning environments (PLE), additional education, comparative studies, advanced training of vocal teacher, ICT technologies, interactive educational environments, informatization of education, distributed education

Abstract: The subject of the research of this article is the system of advanced training of teachers in vocal of

children’s art schools and children’s music schools, the evolution of approaches (from “learning management

systems (LMS)” to “personal learning environments” (PLEs), including during the training and professional

development of teacher’s academic vocals. The article explores the approaches and methods of professional

development of teachers in vocal in the modern informational music-educational environment. On the basis of

a comparative analysis of pedagogical practice, the conditions for the development of “personal learning

environments (PLEs)” have been identified. The development of an advanced vocational education program

for teachers on academic vocals is justified.

1. Introduction

Questions about the development of the concept and practice of structured mentoring were considered in the

works of Russian and foreign scientists both in the context of consulting in education [1, 2], and in the context

of the transition from the traditions of the “old school” system of teaching academic vocals [3].

Thus, Personal Learning Environments (PLE) is an innovative new development in musical educational

practice through the introduction of information and communication technologies (ICT) and the ability to

promote the creation of “universities without walls” that can meet the needs of the knowledge society, and this

approach is effective in the conditions of advanced training of teachers on academic vocals [3].

2. Materials and Methods

The article examines some aspects of empirical research on the modification of the vocal teacher’s professional

activities conducted on the basis of various educational organizations in Russia and abroad. The results of the

experimental advanced training courses of the Gnesins Music School of the Russian State Academy of Music

named after the Gnessins are given, the development of a vocational education program for teachers on vocal

basis based on IEM RAE is justified.

Changes in the professional environment of future vocalists, modifying requirements for teacher training

and the development of ICT competence of teachers and applicable for training and raising the qualifications

of teachers for vocal “adult learners” [18], are considered in the works foreign researchers [28, 29, 19, 12].

“Online learning environment” (OLE) in the system of additional music education, in particular, when

preparing a vocal teacher, requires adaptability [9] and the formation of “special set of teaching skills”, since

the modern approach to teaching vocal integrates key features. “The master instructor” uses them in ensuring

the quality of training [4] in the system of advanced training of teachers themselves in the context of

informatization of education, including additional education [8, 9, 10].

International Conference on the Development of Education in Eurasia (ICDEE 2019)

Copyright © 2019, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 316

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“Experimental research often begins with the fact that we formulate [our] values and ask ourselves the

question of whether we adhere to them” [22]. Some values that are important for the formation of the

personality of a vocal teacher (and teachers who train teachers) are not always preserved during musical

contacts, as a result of which we are confronted with “life contradictions” [30].

In recent years, the use of ICT in the professional activities of vocal teacher has been considered in various

aspects by both Russian and foreign researchers.

Thus, in modern studies [13], devoted to the analysis of the concepts of immersive media reality in the

context of the methodological support of teacher training in spatial interfaces and interactive 3D environment

for immersive musical performances, immersive reproduction and spatial interfaces are considered as topics

poorly studied in areas focused on developing creativity and enhancing emotional experience. A number of

works [17, 13] are devoted to modifying ICT technologies, expanding the boundaries of creating musical

works, as well as the experience of performing in digital format where the goal is to integrate sound and

interactive 3D graphics that musicians, vocalists can work with and viewers can watch.

As for the modification of the educational process and its methodological support in the conditions of the

development of ICT technologies, vocal teacher activities, the works devoted to the assessment of skill using

the supporting vocal training system based on the visualization of the acoustic properties of the student’s

singing voice [23] substantiate the development of a vocal support system, which is based on the visualization

of the acoustic properties of the student’s singing voice, as well as methods for assessing the level of the

student’s singing skill using this system. As a result of the study, the high convergence of the training results

in both methods was revealed, and the differences between owning a singing voice of students who used the

vocal support system based on the visualization of the acoustic properties of the trainee's vocal voice, and the

students who listened to the performance by a live vocalist, were not found.

The study on the teaching of music teachers and non-formal education in the concept of the Freire model

of the dialogical model [20] on the example of distance education programs (Brazil) [26] notes that the

specifics of teaching consist of three areas that were emphasized during teacher training. Namely, they include

the area of practical musical skill, the area of their authority and theoretical knowledge and the area of their

relationship with the musical world of students. These areas were identified as a result of attempts to find a

dialogical relationship between teachers and students. In the study, an attempt was made to improve practical

work and bring it in line with the values that are necessary for the process of professional self-improvement.

The informal learning model applicable to the vocal teacher’s vocational activity [21] motivates the methods

of teaching music, vocal and the position that it proposes the teacher and student to play in [14, 31, 16]. In

recent studies [26], the results of a pilot research project are presented, in which the Green model was integrated

into a mixed model of distance education teacher training program in Brazil.

Personal Learning Environment (PLE) has become a promising new way of responding to the needs of the

knowledge society and represents a significant change in understanding the role of ICT in education (see Adell

& Castañeda, 2010). Many higher education institutions have implemented the institutional PLE (iPLE) in

their programs (refer to Casquero, Portillo, Ovelar, Romo & Benito, 2010). The iPLE is a digital environment

created by institutions that allow students to create and organize their own networks of learning resources,

applications and tools in accordance with their interests and tasks, as well as communicate with people

participating in specific learning events. These environments provide students with the opportunity to integrate

work areas and individual and group training, which can be divided to a greater or lesser extent, and link

learning acquired in formal or informal settings. From a constructivist and sociocultural point of view, learning

is understood as a process of building knowledge, which is social and general.

As part of the implementation of the PLE concept, the author developed and tested the additional

professional development program “Academic vocals and ICT in the modern musical and educational

environment” for teachers of musical educational organizations of different levels (additional, vocational and

higher education), methodologists and heads of relevant departments in the field of music, art, culture, and

education. The program was tested on the basis of the Institute of Education Management of the Russian

Academy of Education. In this program, the planned learning outcomes include developing the ICT

competence of teachers on academic vocals (knowledge in the application of teaching methods and ICT tools,

information educational resources in the vocalist’s professional activities); skills in collecting, analyzing, and

adapting information related to academic vocals; networking skills between participants in the educational


139

process. In this program, the planned learning outcomes include: improving hearing skills and intonation; ideas

about modern technologies of teaching academic vocals; expanding the possibilities of professional activity in

music education, mastering, and professional testing of the technique and technology of vocal art education,

developed by domestic and foreign masters of vocal art.

Thus, the analysis of the practice of ICT implementation in the musical and pedagogical process, including

the formation of vocal skills (in the process of teaching vocals), made it possible to identify the main directions

of the development of pedagogical technologies:

• Introducing electronic educational resources, allowing to provide free access to the database of vocal

and educational environment, where any concept or term used in the context of the studied topic is

associated with multimedia images (texts, pictures, sounds);

• Creating a Web-portfolio of students (work in the classroom, independent work, work in projects, at

competitions);

• Using social media to enhance the interaction between the participants of the music-vocal educational

environment by placing audio and video recordings with comments;

• Organizing international projects between students to create joint musical compositions in real time

(intercontinental integration of musical cultures);

• Modification of students’ composers, arranging and sound engineering activities with the help of

optimal software corresponding to pedagogical tasks [1, 2].

Analysis of the existing teaching practice in the process of experimental work revealed an insufficient

amount of ICT use in the formation of vocal skills of students. The establishing experiment was conducted on

the basis of advanced training courses of the Gnessins Music College of the Russian Academy of Music named

after the Gnesins in 2014-2015. With the method of questioning and interviewing, readiness was revealed by

vocal teachers to expand the use of ICT in the process of developing vocal skills of students, 237 people took

part in the experiment [2].

Among the trainees of advanced training courses, a survey was conducted regarding the goals of using ICT

in the process of developing singing skills (Fig. 1):

• For practicing skills between students – 15%;

• For collegial projects between teachers – 19%;

• Operational exchange of information – 24%;

• Structured storage of information, portfolio – 23%;

• Not currently used – 49%;

• Do not plan to apply – 25%.

Fig. 1. The results of a survey of students of advanced training courses on the purpose of using ICT in the process of

developing vocal skills.


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Further, the survey was conducted regarding the reasons hindering the introduction of ICT in the musical and

pedagogical process by the teacher:

• Underestimation of the artistic possibilities of digital tools – 87%;

• There is no material and technical base for the introduction of technology – 64%;

• Negative attitude to the process of introducing ICT – 56%;

• Lack of trust from colleagues – 47%;

• No user skills – 35%;

• There is no understanding of the prospects for implementation – 36%.

Fig. 2. The results of the survey of students of the advanced training system.

4. Conclusion

Analysis of the problem of continuity of the tradition in the process of vocal training allowed to consider it in

the context of a factor constraining the introduction of ICT by the teacher in the process of formation of singing

skills. The question arises of translating the “new” and “old school” conflict into a constructive dialogue,

developed and supported by introducing into the educational process modern pedagogical technologies for

designing a musical educational environment. Analysis of the existing teaching practice led to the conclusion

that there is no contradiction in the “inheritance of the positive aspects of the traditions of various vocal schools

in organizing the process of teaching the singer, mastering certain vocal-pedagogical principles of teachers of

the past”, where new information and communication technologies contribute to the improvement of the

modern system of the formation of singing skills and improving the quality of students’ performing skills.

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