CTImusic
News
Winter 1998
Peer Learning in Music (PLIM)
Music Division, School of Media and Performing Arts, University of Ulster
Cliona Doris
Aims of the Project
- To promote and develop programmes in using peer learning in music and cognate disciplines
- To encourage the informed and imaginative application of peer learning through an intensive programme of dissemination throughout the Higher Education sector
- To collaborate with others in developing programmes involving peer learning
Peer learning and, perhaps more familiarly, peer assessment involve groups of students critically evaluating each other's work. The evaluation process itself, and the sharing of experience of both subject and evaluator, can greatly enrich the learning process if they are carried out within a supportive (and tutor-supported) environment.
There has been considerable interest in the PLIM project outside the University of Ulster. Visits have been undertaken to the music departments at King Alfred's College, Winchester, The Queen's University of Belfast, Lancaster University and Kingston University; and to Trinity College of Music and Birmingham Conservatoire. It is envisaged that collaborative programmes will be pursued with these institutions. Internal dissemination has involved staff in the School of Language and Literature at the Magee Campus of the University of Ulster. We are continuing the exchange of ideas with our colleagues in the Faculty of Art and Design, who have had experience of peer and self assessment over a period of several years.
We have issued invitations to colleagues in other music departments, who have expertise in peer assessment, to take part in workshops at the University of Ulster on different aspects of peer learning. A workshop on peer learning in composition involved staff from Kingston University, The Queen's University of Belfast, North Down and Ards Institute of Further and Higher Education and the University of Ulster. A workshop on peer learning in performance was held in June 1997. Further workshops are planned for the first semester of the 1997/98 academic year on assessment criteria in the creative and performing arts, and peer learning in the humanities and in art and design.
Peer Learning in Practice
The three-year project focuses on the implementation of peer learning techniques in the undergraduate teaching of music, primarily in performance studies and music history. The Music Division of the University of Ulster has successfully incorporated peer learning and assessment in performance studies for the last five years. These techniques are being further developed and similar methods are being introduced into selected music history seminars, orchestration and music analysis classes.
The main focus of these activities is on interpretation and communication (involving demonstration, active listening, discussion and debate) and peer and group learning. Students gain experience in peer tutoring, peer assessment, self assessment, group work, negotiation, debate and writing reports. Students involved in peer learning derive various benefits, including useful skills in group learning and are more directly involved in the teaching/learning environment. The teaching method encourages personal research, independent thinking and articulate presentation of views and ideas. The skills acquired will ultimately benefit the students in their future studies and careers.
Dissemination
Dissemination and sharing of good practice with other universities is an important part of the work. Throughout the project we shall deliver presentations to colleagues across a wide spectrum of tertiary-level institutions, demonstrating the potential of peer learning and peer assessment to improve the student experience in music courses. We also hope to learn of other approaches from colleagues engaged in innovative teaching. We are eager to collect, document, evaluate and disseminate examples of good practice involving peer learning.
A resource pack will be designed for those intending to develop peer learning in their own programmes. The pack will document a wide range of approaches and will be available in 1999. We would welcome any ideas or documentation which might be included in the resource pack.
Conference
Initiatives in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: Music and Cognate Disciplines,
10 - 12 September 1998 at the University of Ulster.
Additional information
Further information on the PLIM project is available on the Web at: http://www2.ulst.ac.uk/faculty/humanities/media/plim/plm.html
Newsletters will be circulated twice a year throughout the Higher Education music sector.
Contacts
Project Officer
Dr John Reidy, Tel/Fax: +44 (0) 1232 368461, e-mail: j.reidy@ulst.ac.uk
(Replacing Dr Cliona Doris)
Project Directors
Dr Desmond Hunter, e-mail: d.hunter1@ulst.ac.uk
Dr Michael Russ, e-mail: m.russ@ulst.ac.uk
Project Address
Peer Learning in Music (PLIM)
Music Division
School of Media and Performing Arts
University of Ulster
Shore Road
Newtownabbey
Co. Antrim
BT37 0QB
CTImusic News is © 1998 CTImusic, Jennifer Barnes, Simon Baines, Cliona Doris, Marianne Hall, Michael Pengelly, Harriet Richmond, Claire Taylor-Jay, Lisa Whistlecroft. All rights reserved
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