Module 7 - Communicating Research Results

This week in Research in Music Education, the objectives were as follows:  practice communicating about research by creating and narrating an online slideshow presentation, utilize conventions of academic writing, and read and discuss mixed methods research in music education.

Creating the slideshow presentation was a wonderful assignment.  It allowed me to look at and listen to myself making a presentation since it was recorded on a webcam.  I noticed some general things about the ways I perform.  My face is very animated, and I talk very, very fast.  I re-recorded the presentation three times trying to speak slower.  I had little success.  I suppose this is something I should spend time practicing regularly.

Another reason why the slideshow presentation was an excellent assignment is that it was very helpful in organizing the final project that is due later this week.  With the requirement to use minimal text in the slideshow, I was able to summarize the main points of my study very concisely, and, therefore, apply that conciseness to my final project draft.  The ability to summarize the main points proved very beneficial, and I believe it will positively influence my final grade.

The final Research Etude was also due this week.  It allowed me to utilize conventions of academic writing because I had to create a meaningful final draft.  I am thankful for the way the course was structured because it allowed nearly all of the Research Etude to be complete before the day it was due.  Therefore, I was able to spend minimal time editing and thinking objectively through since it had been a week since I had looked at my topic.  I truly enjoyed analyzing the data that I collected and finding such interesting results.

This week, I also read two studies of mixed methods research and discussed them with my classmates.  One study outline the influences of music teachers' choices to become music educators.  It was interesting to discover through the discussion boards that most of my classmates did not fulfill the standard that was found in the study.  The study found that most music teachers choose music education because of the influence of their high school instructors.  Most of the people in my small group, however, chose music education very naturally (as in there was not one specific moment when we chose it; it just sort of happened to us) and we were influenced by our family members and talent encouragement more than our high school music instructors.  We all commented about a sincere passion for music.  It was truly encouraging and meaningful to have those discussions.

Additionally, in preparation for the slideshow presentation, we watched a presentation about presentations by Garr Reynolds, who was a very talented presenter.  Although the video was over an hour long, Mr. Reynolds pointed out many important concepts of presenting well, especially the necessity of images instead of text and the use of interesting supplements instead of just talking.  It was very helpful in preparing my presentation for the class.

As the course comes to a close, I am feeling very comfortable and pleased with my education in research, and I feel prepared to apply the concepts I have learned to "real" research that I will do in the future.  I am finally beginning to see myself as a researcher.