Elegant, Aesthetic, and Intuitive User Interface
Yousician is an LMS that facilitates music education on its platform. It is currently available on Android, IOS, and Windows. The app uses cognitive and neuroscience research to inform its optimal learning interface (OLI). Yousician also applies gamification and achievement theory to engage its learners and make the instrument learning experience interactive and fun. Understanding how the brain works and what motivates students can increase learning and retention (Osler & Wright, 2015, p. 44). According to Ansari & Coch, we must draw upon the research of neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and other learned sciences (2006). Furthermore, LMS creators like Yousician have succeeded by applying industry best practices of design, gamification, and achievement theory principles to their software. By doing so, they have made their LMS more appealing, engaging, and functional (Osler & Wright, 2015, p. 45).
More research is needed to understand how cognitive and neuroscience research can inform instructional design and user interfaces, and online learning. Many applications are testing new design principles, and the OLI model is a promising start in helping LMS creators identify the critical areas for improving their learning systems. What makes Yousician engaging, interactive, and enjoyable as a platform is its organization, respect for modern design principles, and how its user interface transforms visual while using the application and moving from page to page. When interfacing with Yousician, much thought and feedback have changed the user experience to be more fluid and straightforward.
Engaging, Interactive, and Haptic Technology
It is impossible to gain feedback from objects or things. Paraphrasing Lambros Malafouris, we must evaluate and understand human-computer interaction (HCI) through Material Engagement, the mutual relation between objects and humans (2008). Don Tapscott, 2009 as cited in Sprenger, 2010, mentioned how “Net Geners” today take in knowledge differently. Nowadays, their approach is more visual (Sprenger, 2010). Yousician has made their experience visually engaging. Students can quickly access everything right from the start. Yousician teaches guitar, bass, ukulele, singing, and piano. Upon downloading the app and opening the application, you see the logo followed by “unleash your inner musician.”
Behind the text is a beautiful custom stock video showing the application in use with various instruments. You must press one of two buttons to proceed, I’m new here, or I have a profile. After, you select your instrument of choice. You can then quickly sign up with your phone’s ID, Facebook, or email. Once signed up, they get you pumped with a video showing you an expert guitar player jamming out on the guitar using the app. They ask you to select your skill level, then ensure you have proper posture. It is essential to have your instrument in tune to guide you in using the built-in apps tuner. Now that you are all ready to go, the payment options come up; you can start with a seven-day free trial.
As you can see, the whole introduction to learning on Yousician is engaging, exciting, and interactive. When I pressed a button, I would hear a sound, and I would feel a small vibration. Once you are a paid subscriber, the application is fully accessible, and you see the interface is divided into three main subsections, home, learn, and challenges. Home has a list of popular, recommended, and top songs so you can play along with fun and current music. Learn walks you through a gradual and progressive curriculum that teaches you and lets you play along visually and audibly. It provides you instant feedback on how you are doing.
Gamification Paired with Achievement Theory
One of the most effective methodologies used by Yousician is its implementation of gamification and achievement theory. In Reflection: Benefits of Gamification in Online Higher Education, Kaufmann cites McGonigal (2011), Cowley, Charles, Black, & Hickey (2008), and Przybylski, Rigby, & Ryan (2010) by highlighting why we game. In short, we game for enjoyment. We play a game over doing another activity or responsibility; maybe we are escaping the task’s pressure or monotony. Gaming can reduce stress. The process of alternating between duties and games can improve life satisfaction, taking a break, and feeling a sense of accomplishment. Looking at Yousician, it is clear they have applied many aspects of gamification to the platform. After you have learned a skill, you can test out your metal, pun intended, using the challenges tab. They split missions into three separate and distinct learning paths: lead, knowledge, and rhythm.
As you complete missions, you will unlock new missions. They start easy, and future missions become progressively more difficult. When you play, you will receive a score and a rating on how well you performed. The three paths of missions support each other. As you learn from each path, you will become a more well-rounded guitarist. The learner is motivated by leveling up their account through continued practice and competition with friends and the community. Your current musician level determines the weekly challenges and work out exercises. The development team is always adding new content, meaning even the most active diligent musicians are always excited and motivated to play and learn new songs. You can discover music by genre and even use their robust search and filtering system to customize your search to find the perfect composition.
When playing any song, you can go into two different modes. Practice mode does not grade you or score you but lets you stop and practice any arrangement section. Then there is play mode, which plays non-stop, tracks your accuracy and exactness, and provides a score with feedback on how you played. These two modes offer a clear picture of musician accuracy and skill to know where improvement is needed and what lessons or challenges might need improving. The visual feedback in the form of stars and accuracy rating motivates musicians to work hard, play better, and obtain higher scores on missions. The instant feedback means immediate motivation and reason to replay missions and improve. With leaderboards, you can seek to master a song and claim a spot as one of the most accurate and talented musicians within your skill level. This push to be the best within your skill range and not be the best in the world prevents discouragement among students and makes milestones be within reach, leading to the user’s incremental progression.
References
Ansari, D. & Coch, D. (2006). “Bridges over troubled waters: Education and cognitive neuroscience”. Trends in Cognitive Sciences (Elsevier Science), Vol. 10(4), pp.146- 151. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2006.02.007. PMID 16530462.
Cowley, B., Charles, D., Black, M., & Hickey, R. (2008). Toward an understanding of flow in video games. Computers in Entertainment, 6(2), 20:21–20:27.
Kaufmann, D. A. (2018). Reflection: Benefits of Gamification in Online Higher Education. Journal of Instructional Research, 7, 125–132.
Malafouris, Lambros (2008), ‘At the potter’s wheel: An argument for material agency’, in Lambros Malafouris and Carl Knappett (eds), Material Agency, Towards a Non-Anthropocentric Approach, New York: Springer, pp. 19–36.
McGonigal, J. (2011). Reality is broken: Why games make us better and how they can change the world. New York, NY: Penguin Group.
Osler, J. E., II., & Wright, M. A. (2015). Dynamic Neuroscientific Systemology: Using Tri-Squared Meta-Analysis and Innovative Instructional Design to Develop a Novel Distance Education Model for the Systemic Creation of Engaging Online Learning Environments. Journal of Educational Technology, 12(2), 42–55.
Przybylski, A. K., Rigby, C. S., & Ryan, R. M. (2010). A motivational model of video game engagement. Review of General Psychology, 14(2), 154–166.
Sprenger, Marilee (2010). Brain-Based Teaching in the Digital Age. : Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development (ASCD), pp.16 http://site.ebrary.com/id/ 10379929?ppg=16
Blog: YOUSICIAN An Intuitive, Interactive, Gamified Instrument Learning Application
By SA Harmon, Oct. 16, 2020
Link: https://drdeason.wixsite.com/201911-blog-idt520/post/yousician-an-intuitive-interactive-gamified-instrument-learning-application
Curiosity and Motivation
According to Keller (2010), curiosity helps in the motivational aspect of what is being learned. The learner’s interest is peaked when there is a “perceived gap in current knowledge” (Reiser & Dempsey, 2018). In the blog Yousician, S.A. Harmon delves into the LMS (Learning Management System) that Yousician uses to engage the learner in learning a musical instrument and making it accessible to all. This platform piques learners' curiosity with enticing music, sound, lights, and an easy-to-use platform. According to Nur Hanis Amin Husni, “…the LMS is a valuable learning environment for students when they learn online (2023). This LM…
Learning with curiosity
Curiosity is a powerhouse when learning new skills and ideas. It keeps us engaged to keep going to the next step along the way. Reiser and Dempsey (2018) put it as curiosity is aroused by uncertainty or a desire to close a perceived gap in one’s knowledge due to such things as unanswered questions or unresolved conflicts. Yousician uses their platform to ignite curiosity among musicians from beginners to someone who may have some skills already in music. Learners during their time can learn something new within each course it being techniques or strategies to help them during their learning.
Learners experience satisfying outcomes to a learning task.
Accomplishing tasks motivates learners to push forward and continue…
Yousician's motivation is based on their goals.
Yousician is an app that specializes in teaching users how to play an instrument of their choice through video lessons. It accomplishes this through the use of three distinct motivational tactics. The first method that Yousician employs is to distribute tasks over three different learning routes of play. Lead, knowledge, and rhythm are the three roads to choose from (Harmon et al., 2020). As students move through these tasks, it becomes their aim to accomplish a task to unlock more tasks at the end of the section (Harmon et al., 2020). This lays the groundwork for the student to achieve an essentially limitless number of objectives. Introducing a leveling system for the game…
According to Reiser and Dempsey the 5 learner engagement principles consist of the following:
Curiosity of a subject where there is a knowledge gap.
Learning that is related to one’s personal goal.
Belief that the subject can be mastered.
Satisfying outcomes after learning a particular topic.
The will to complete the task.
(Reiser & Dempsey, 2002, 83)
Goal Related Motivation in Yousician
Yousician is an app that specializes in teaching its students how to play an instrument of their own choosing. It uses goal-related motivation through 3 specific strategies. The first strategy Yousician uses is by setting missions across 3 learning paths of play. Those paths are lead, knowledge, and rhythm. (Harmon, 2020) As students begin to progress through these…
Yousician: An Intuitive, Interactive, Gamified Instrument Learning Application
Motivation in Mastering A Task: Learners who play Yousician are able to master as task. Yousican uses Gamification to achieve mastering a task. According to Reiser & Dempsey (2018) central concept related to building confidence is in mastering learning task of that control. Yousician As the student learns a new skill the student can test it out using the different levels of challenges. There are missions that are split into three different learning paths. They are the following home, learn and challenges. As you progress and complete each mission you are able to unlock a variety of missions. Also as you master each task you receive a score and a rating on…