Music Therapy Online Documentaries: A Descriptive Analysis

Research suggests that today's students use technology in a variety of ways including social networking, obtaining data for class assignments, conducting research, and seeking information about colleges and universities (Pempek, Yervdokly, & Calvert, 2009; Perkins, 2010; Salas & Alexander, 2008; Van Horn, 2003). In fact, a large majority of students indicate they prefer the internet over traditional academic sources for assignments and research (Mokharti, Reichard, & Gardner, 2009; Van Horn, 2003). An earlier Pew Internet and American Life survey (Minkel, 2002) found that 42% of respondents used the Internet significantly when searching for an educational institution. Research also suggests that colleges and universities are investing billions of dollars each year on technology designed to facilitate student learning, enhance access to educational opportunities, and support interaction and collaboration (Selwyn, 2007).Even though "technology is pervasive in education, it has not been heavily infused in the activities of teaching and learning" (Keengwe, Kidd, & Kyei-Blankson, 2009, p. 23). However, the use of technology, particularly online multimedia resources such as video/audio clips, can markedly augment learning and promote a number of pedagogical objectives (Miller, 2009; Smith, 201 1). In an extensive article, Miller (2009) attempted to provide guidance for educators on the use of online multimedia. The author provided an overview of pedagogical rationales, types of media, location strategies, content retrieval and delivery, copyright issues, typical problems, specific sites, and selected samples for use of online video and audio content in the social sciences. In particular, Miller suggested the use of search engines, usergenerated sharing sites like YouTube and quality documentary films found on reliable sites like National Geographic and PBS. However, the author cautioned that finding quality video content can take considerable initiative and effort.In the field of music therapy, information about online multimedia options is still very limited. To date, there is no comprehensive source that provides up-to-date guidance about available online music therapy-related content. Several older sources examined the use of the internet to search for information on music therapy (Bonde, 1999; Johnson, Geringer, & Stewart, 2003). However, much of the information provided by these sources does not promote use of current technologies for education and outreach. More recently, Gooding and Gregory (2011) examined the use of YouTube as a resource for music therapy clinical session videos. While this analysis was more current, it did not address the use of other types of online multimedia outside of clinical videos.In order to broaden the available knowledge about online multimedia related to music therapy, the current project investigated the use of music therapy documentaries in two primary areas - videos found on the user-generated site, YouTube, and videos found on college and university music therapy program websites. Data was collected from each area and then cross-referenced to determine similarities and trends related to professional advocacy, current viewers' discrimination of content, and the future development of online resources.MethodYouTube AnalysisThe first 60 titles of a search using the term "music therapy" conducted on July 23, 201 0, were selected for analysis. Of the 60 videos, 35 were verified to be music therapy documentary clips. However, it was determined that there were only 27 distinct documentaries among the 35 clips because the remaining 8 clips were actually additional segments of previously counted documentaries. In order to prevent skewed data, only the 27 distinct documentaries were selected for analysis.The sample of 27 videos was divided between the authors and each video was reviewed by one author using a researcher-created rubric almost identical to the one developed for the earlier investigation of YouTube music therapy session videos (Gooding & Gregory, 2011). …