Experienced workload, stress, and coping among professional students in higher music education: An explanatory mixed methods study in Finland and the United Kingdom [Scholarly Article - Psychology of Music, 2022]

Title:

Experienced workload, stress, and coping among professional students in higher music education: An explanatory mixed methods study in Finland and the United Kingdom

 

Authors:

Tuula Jääskeläinen, Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki, Finland

Guadalupe López-Íñiguez, Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki, Finland

& 

Kai Lehikoinen, Center for Educational Research and Academic Development in the Arts, University of the Arts Helsinki, Finland

 

Published:

Psychology of Music, 14 February 2022

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/03057356211070325

 

Abstract:

Proactive coping styles may help students deal with their study workload and stress in healthier ways. In this explanatory mixed methods study, data were gathered among professional students in higher music education in Finland and the United Kingdom about their experiences of workload, stress, and proactive coping. Bivariate analyses were used to explore prevalence of study workload, stress, and seven proactive coping styles among genders, levels of degree, genre groups, and study programs, and investigate whether stress is predicted by study workload and proactive coping styles. Music students’ lived experiences were analyzed to find the determinants of their workload, stress, and coping. Results indicate significant differences between genders and study programs and specific concerns for music students, such as working alongside studying and physical and psychological problems. Higher music education institutions can utilize this evidence to better support music students in their studies and professional careers.

 

Why learning space matters: a script approach to the phenomena of learning in the emergency remote learning scenario [Scholarly Article - Journal of Computers in Education, 21 January 2021]

Title:

Why learning space matters: a script approach to the phenomena of learning in the emergency remote learning scenario 

 

Authors:

Dishari Chattaraj & Arya Parakkate Vijayaraghavan 

Published:

Journal of Computers in Education, 21 January 2021

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40692-021-00182-z

Abstract:

The study focuses on how the notion of learning space is perceived and experienced by learners in the Emergency Remote Learning (ERL) scenario. In doing so, the lived experiences of remote learners who were abruptly shifted to a completely online learning space due to the pandemic COVID-19 in the Indian higher education system are documented. Online interviews were conducted with eight undergraduate and four postgraduate students of English and Cultural Studies, enrolled at a Southern Indian university, and their responses were explicated using the Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach. The interviews revealed that the phenomenon of ERL is shaped by dissonance informed by the absence of a familiar learning space. Often the patterns of this dissonance were marked by (1) the perception of learning and learning space, (2) the lack of intimacy in learning and learning space, (3) the negotiations made for learning and the space of learning in ERL, and (4) the challenges to cope with the responsibilities of the ERL scenario. Further, the script approach was applied to analyse the data and the analysis revealed an expansion of the existing internal scripts that were based on previous learning experiences of the learners. The study thus establishes the centrality of space in the process of learning and points out how the lack of a familiar learning space is linked to the absence of internal scripts that considerably impact learning. The study concludes by discussing the possibilities of application of script approach to effectively incorporate the aspect of learning space in new pedagogies and learning models as Blended Learning (BL) and Online Learning (OL) become the new normal worldwide.