TY - CONF

T1 - Engaging in Active, Collaborative Research as a Vehicle for Learning About Researchful Practice in Music Therapy

AU - Pickard, Beth

AU - Coombes, Elizabeth

PY - 2021/1/1

Y1 - 2021/1/1

N2 - BackgroundThis poster reports on the embedding of a pedagogical project into the MA Music Therapy at the University of South Wales following a pilot iteration last academic year. AimsThe pedagogical project recognises the welcome increase of students from non-traditional backgrounds training as music therapists, and the lack of research experience some students have when commencing their final year research projects. To support learning, a live research project was collaboratively embarked upon during the first four weeks of the semester, to enable students to actively experience and learn from the full research cycle before commencing their own individual, assessed research projects.MethodsThe outcomes of the research study are reported in separately, but the impact of this pedagogical approach is reported upon here. Students engaged in focus groups where semi-structured questions were posed to the student cohort. The transcripts of the focus group were analysed using Thematic Analysis. The intention was to understand their experience of actively embodying the role of researcher at a relatively early stage of their academic career. We wanted to find out whether this impacted their engagement with and understanding of subsequent researchful tasks. FindingsThe findings from the project showed positive outcomes and give insight into the lived-experience of early career researchers through this innovative pedagogical approach.ImplicationsThis project has implications for the curriculum development of music therapy courses locally, nationally and internationally. It enables exploration of small scale research questions through collaborative enquiry, contributing to building an evidence base for our profession.

AB - BackgroundThis poster reports on the embedding of a pedagogical project into the MA Music Therapy at the University of South Wales following a pilot iteration last academic year. AimsThe pedagogical project recognises the welcome increase of students from non-traditional backgrounds training as music therapists, and the lack of research experience some students have when commencing their final year research projects. To support learning, a live research project was collaboratively embarked upon during the first four weeks of the semester, to enable students to actively experience and learn from the full research cycle before commencing their own individual, assessed research projects.MethodsThe outcomes of the research study are reported in separately, but the impact of this pedagogical approach is reported upon here. Students engaged in focus groups where semi-structured questions were posed to the student cohort. The transcripts of the focus group were analysed using Thematic Analysis. The intention was to understand their experience of actively embodying the role of researcher at a relatively early stage of their academic career. We wanted to find out whether this impacted their engagement with and understanding of subsequent researchful tasks. FindingsThe findings from the project showed positive outcomes and give insight into the lived-experience of early career researchers through this innovative pedagogical approach.ImplicationsThis project has implications for the curriculum development of music therapy courses locally, nationally and internationally. It enables exploration of small scale research questions through collaborative enquiry, contributing to building an evidence base for our profession.

KW - research

KW - collaboration

KW - diversity

KW - accessibility

KW - pedagogy

KW - music therapy

M3 - Poster

T2 - Music Therapy – Adapting Approaches for Health: 10th Nordic Music Therapy Conference

Y2 - 16 June 2021 through 19 June 2021

ER -