An Intrinsic Case Study of One Music Educator’s Professional Development Through Podcasting

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by nayy☆

Examining one novice music teacher’s experiences, this intrinsic case study analyzes how a self-created, self-produced podcast functioned as professional development. It addresses how podcasting contributed to professional growth and how producing the podcast influenced teaching practice. Three themes—greater motivation to improve, learning through connection with other music educators, and Tenuto as a reflective resource—highlight individualized, sustained learning aligned with professional learning networks.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages19

Reading Time48 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Online PD

Contributions to Music Education

Contributions to Music Education Vol. 46 (2021), pp. 245-263. kristina r. weiMer The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley An Intrinsic Case Study of One Music Educator’s Professional Development Through Podcasting Music teachers should have opportunities to participate in professional development that focuses on their interests, learning style, and is relevant to classroom activities and goals . Online professional development allows teachers to participate in ways they see fit for their circumstances and can promote reflection and growth . Teacher-created online professional development is context-specific, inquiry-based, and includes components of choice and flexibility . Modern technologies, media, and web resources such as podcasts have provided new possibilities for teacher professional development . Podcasts offer multiple ways to support an individual’s learning, and have potential to meet the characteristics of effective teacher-created professional development . The purpose of this intrinsic case study was to examine one novice music teacher’s experiences using a self-created and produced podcast as a professional development tool . Research questions were (1) How did the podcast contribute to this teacher’s professional development?, and (2) How did producing the podcast influence his teaching practice? Three themes emerged: increased motivation and inspiration to improve, connecting with and learning from other music teachers, and Tenuto as a reflective resource . The podcast served as part of this teacher’s Professional Learning Network (Bauer, 2010, 2014), providing individualized, sustained professional development experiences involving informal means of communication and collaboration . Keywords: professional development, novice teacher, podcasting, networking, technology Introduction Teachers often perceive professional development (PD) as “fragmented, disconnected, and irrelevant to the real problems of their classroom” (Lieberman & Pointer Mace, 2010, p. 77) . To become more connected and relevant to the classroom, PD should have several characteristics. Desimone and Garet (2015) Contributions to Music Education created and refined a conceptual framework for effective PD that included five key features: (a) content focus, or activities focused on subject matter; (b) active learning, or opportunities for teachers to engage in PD activities rather than passively listening to lectures; (c) coherence, or content that aligns with school curriculum and goals, teacher knowledge and beliefs, students’ needs, and local and state policies; (d) sustained duration, or ongoing activities throughout the school year; and (e) collective participation, or groups of teachers from the same grade, subject, or school participating in activities to construct an interactive learning community. Music education researchers have noted concerns with one-size-fits-all and generic PD approaches (Conway et al., 2005) and with the applicability and importance of district-sponsored non-music PD (Bush, 2007; Conway, 2008). Music teachers need PD situated within a music education context, and relevant to daily classroom activities, goals, and objectives (Conway, 2007; Conway, 2008; Stanley, 2011). They value and should have opportunities to participate in individually chosen PD activities that are informal; focused on individual interests, needs, and learning style; and allow settings to connect and communicate with other music educators to share teaching ideas and stories (Bush, 2007; Conway, 2007) . Professional Learning Networks (PLNs)—a collection of resources (people and things) that allow PD in a specific area of interest at the time one needs it—are oneway to provide individualized, sustained PD experiences. PLNs involve dialogue and other informal means of communication and collaboration (Bauer, 2010) and make it possible to draw on experiences and expertise of individuals world-wide, which can lead to “ric

FAQs

What was the purpose of this intrinsic case study?

To examine one novice music teacher’s experiences using a self-created and produced podcast as a professional development tool.

How did the study measure the podcast’s contribution to professional development?

Through two research questions focused on how podcasting supported professional development and how producing it affected teaching practice.

What themes emerged from the teacher’s experiences?

Increased motivation and inspiration to improve, connecting with and learning from other music teachers, and Tenuto as a reflective resource.

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by nayy☆