Making connections: The use of ethnographic fieldwork to facilitate a model of integrative learning

This chapter considers an approach to course design created for students on a music education studies course at the School of Music and Theatre, University College Cork (UCC). In response to students' interest in engaging in a learning environment that facilitated the development of knowledge and understanding of teaching and learning in various formal and informal contexts, a flexible curriculum design was developed, with particular focus on the use of ethnographic fieldwork methodology within the assessment strategy. Students were provided with an opportunity to consider the connections between music and musical learning at all stages of their musical lives and within the context of their future careers. This chapter outlines how the use of ethnographic fieldwork promotes an integrative learning experience for the emergence of connections between music and musical learning. By engaging in ethnographic fieldwork outside of the classroom, students are enabled to engage in an experiential learning environment through real-world experiences. A consideration of how ethnographic fieldwork facilitates connections between learning within the university and the outside world, with specific reference to the disciplines of ethnomusicology, the cultural study of music, and music education, is also explored. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)