muco

Abstract

The muco project is a proof-of-concept case study in the area of STEAM eduction, which combines STEM and the Arts. The aim of muco is to conceptualize, implement and evaluate an educational music computing web application that features a gamified digital learning environment. The resulting application is intended to be used in non-formal settings for self-directed learning. The goal of the project is to make programming concepts more accessible and comprehensible to a broader public: the developed application is intended to attract more interest and attention to the field of computer science, and furthermore contribute in the process of computational empowerment. By introducing an analytical approach to music and music composition, another goal of the project is to simultaneously spark interest in music and music making.

Outcome Summary

The main results of the muco project were that our approach to implementing a self-directed learning application combining programming and music proved feasible and successful. Two results stand out and form the basis for potential further work in this area:

– Our STEAM education-based interdisciplinary approach, i.e., combining computer science and music, seems likely to spark students’ interest and motivation in one or both disciplines. This has the potential to be further explored in a long-term project on computational thinking and music.

– We obtained mixed results in terms of the structure and perceived difficulty of the learning provided by the application. This could be the subject of further study.

No explicit result, but worth mentioning: the muco project had an unexpected “motivational” effect. Although it was not explicitly advertised, the application and our evaluation activities attracted one student so much that she is enthusiastic about writing her bachelor’s thesis in this area.

Further, the results of Patricia Hu’s paper were presented at the Sound and Music Computing (SMC) Conference ‘22 in Saint-Etienne, France.

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