Design principles for music technology education support: Just-in-time learning in the recording studio using mobile technologies

Popular music education involves engaging students with using a range of music technologies found in recording studios, through utilization of multiple hardware and software devices to enable the recording process. Student users can struggle to keep up with the volume of knowledge required to operate these environments to their full potential. Providing just-in-time learning resources to support these students could improve student learning through augmenting gaps in their knowledge. Just-in-time learning is the provision of active learning opportunities that engage learners with skill development as part of the working process. This approach to supporting music technology education was trialled within a programme teaching popular music. The research found that students welcomed the provision of just-in-time learning opportunities delivered through a mobile phone application and that this suited their learning approach in the recording studio. This article suggests that mobile learning resources can benefit the curriculum of programmes working with music technology. The study was conducted using a design-based research methodology with students within a conservatorium teaching popular music. This popular music programme heavily utilized the recording studio as a learning and teaching tool, requiring students to engage with music technology routinely. Thirty students from all year levels of the undergraduate programme participated in the research project through surveys and focus groups. The research involved iterative cycles of mobile application design and testing over an eighteen-month period. Previously, a pilot study identified that students felt that on-demand learning opportunities delivered through mobile devices would be beneficial to their learning. The research from the design and testing of the mobile application evolved a series of design principles, which could be used as a guide for developing just-in-time resources to support music technology education.