Call for papers - Collective book

Designing Gamification Processes for Music Learning: Formal and Informal Contexts

Gamification is an effective marketing technique that uses game rules in non-game contexts (Zichermann & Cunningham, 2011). Its effectiveness has been demonstrated in many fields (Erenli, 2012). Even though this technique is widely used in video games, it is not strictly connected with technological environments and can be employed in various other contexts (Hamari, 2014), for example in formal or informal music learning contexts. We are issuing this call for papers for theoretical or practical articles on the use of gamification to enhance the motivation, commitment, and autonomous learning of young musicians in training.

Gamification can be an appropriate approach to address several issues related to practice sessions in learning a musical instrument. For example, current teaching practices impose tremendous challenges on young musicians, such as very long, solitary daily practice routines (Custodero, 2003) that have little appeal to the student’s imagination and creativity (Kratus, 2001). The result is that the student often ends up dropping the music classes (McPherson & Zimmerman, 2002). Is it possible to think of different ways to learn music in which pleasure in playing would be part of the process and practice sessions would involve socializing, fun, and fulfilment? What advantages would gamification introduce here? Can we outline the consequences of this approach for the student’s artistic development?

This call for papers is addressed to researchers who have used gamification processes to help young musicians learn how to play a musical instrument. More specifically, the topics and areas of interest of this call include but are not limited to:

Case studies: Presentation of the development of a traditional and/or computer game for music learning based on gamification;
Achieving musical knowledge through gamification;
Critiques of gamification that has been introduced into music learning methods (pros and cons);
Psychological studies on the efficacy of gamification in music learning;
Survey of music learning methods/games/patterns that use gamification;
Comparative study between the way gamification is used as a marketing tool and the way gamification is used as a tool to engage and motivate young instrumentalists;
Game addiction and music learning challenges;
Music/sound effects to enhance gamification processes;
Technology used for gamification to learn music.


Submission Processes

Send a proposal in a Word file (.doc or .docx) with a provisional title, 5 keywords, the objective of the article, and a summary (900 words maximum) explaining the research base, the theoretical context, the methodology, and the significance, implications and/or recommendations for practice.
Your biographical information: organization or institution, position or title within the organization/institution, short statement of interests.
Please note that the proposal must be in English.
Send to jocelyne.kiss@mus.ulaval.ca or francis.dube@mus.ulaval.ca

Important dates
Abstract submission deadline: 15 December 2015
Notification of abstract acceptance: 15 March 2016
Deadline for paper submission: 15 May 2016
Deadline for submission of revision: 30 June 2016
Final version of article due: 15 August 2016
Publication: 15 November 2016

References

Custodero, L. A. (2003). Perspectives on challenge: A longitudinal investigation of children’s music learning. Arts and Learning Research, 23. Retrieved from http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Linda_Furlini/publication/266794920_Insight_and_Voice_in_Artful_Analysis_A_Co-operative_Inquiry/links/54a740ea0cf267bdb90a0bfe.pdf#page=47

Green, L. (2009). Music, informal learning and the school: A new classroom pedagogy. Burlington, VT: Ashgate.

Erenli, K. (2012, September). The impact of gamification: A recommendation of scenarios for education. In Interactive Collaborative Learning (ICL), 2012 15th International Conference on (pp. 1-8). doi: 10.1109/ICL.2012.6402106

Jenkins, P. (2011). Formal and informal music educational practices. Philosophy of Music Education Review, 19(2), 179-197. 

Johnson-Laird, P. N. (1991). Jazz improvisation: A theory at the computational level.. In P. Howell, R. West & I. Cross (Eds.), Representing musical structure, 291–326. New York, NY: Academic Press.

Kratus, J. (2007). Music education at the tipping point. Music Educators Journal, 94(2), 42-48.

McPherson, G. E., & Zimmerman, B. J. (2002). Self-regulation of musical learning. The New Handbook of Research on Music Teaching and Learning, 2, pp. 327-347. New York: Oxford University Press.

Pressing, J. (1988). Improvisation: methods and model. In J. A. Sloboda (Ed.), Generative processes in music, 129–178. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Zichermann, G., & Cunningham, C. (2011). Gamification by Design: Implementing game mechanics in web and mobile apps. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly Media, Inc.