INVITING MUSIC STUDENTS TO IDENTIFY AS CONTENT CREATORS TO ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION AND LEARNING

A variety of instructional strategies can be used to facilitate effective learning environments. This article reports on a particular instructional strategy, i.e., inviting music students to take on the identity of a content creator. Over a period of 20 weeks, 18 piano students ages 10 to 15 used a mobile app designed as a self-contained social media platform which allowed them to create and share audio recordings of their piano practice with one another. At first, the student participants used the app in limited ways, due to their sense of individualism, as well as their performance-based mindset. After week 10, participants were encouraged to take on the identity of content creator as a means of using the mobile technology to engage in meaningful learning. To support students' envisioning of themselves as content creators, activities were designed to help them celebrate process over product, and to set content-creation goals. Introducing the content creator identity, as a strategy, was effective for increasing and expanding the use of the mobile app for musical thinking and learning. Instructors who are considering ways to engage learners in relevant and participatory ways may benefit from this discussion of the content creator identity strategy.