Troubadour is an online open-source web platform for ear training. The platform includes various exercises for ear training, where the platform automatically generates the exercises and gives instant feedback to the user. To make the overall exercises more engaging for students, the platform includes gaming features such as badges and a scoreboard that allows students to see where they rank against their peers.
In our two latest study, we evaluated the effectiveness of Troubadour as a study tool for students enrolled in a music theory course at the Conservatory of Music and Ballet Ljubljana. We measured the students' exam performance and surveyed the students about their user experience with the platform.
First study with a presentation of the platform (open access)
Troubadour platform is an open-source personalized and adaptive web platform for ear training. The platform was developed to support music theory classes with automated music-theory-related exercises. In this paper, we present our three-stage development methodology, which incorporated the needs and feedback from both teachers and students to build an engaging music-theory e-learning platform with gamification elements. We developed and evaluated the platform with students of the Conservatory of Music and Ballet Ljubljana. The students of the 1st and 2nd year of the programme were split into two groups-the control group used the traditional way of learning, while the test group augmented their learning with the Troubadour platform. The evaluation results show an increase in exam performance and corroborate the platform's user experience as one of the key reasons for the students' engagement.
Second study evaluating the rhythmic dictation application of the Troubadour platform (open access)
We present the development and evaluation of a gamified rhythmic dictation application for music theory learning. The application was developed as a web application in the existing Troubadour platform for music ear training. The focus of the developed application was on user experience and engagement. With regards to the former, we developed a responsive and intuitive user interface; for the latter, we included several gamification elements and assessed the impact on the students’ engagement. We report on students’ experience analysis done through questionnaires and background data collected through the platform. We evaluated the rhythmic dictation application with the conservatory-level music theory students through A/B testing in order to independently evaluate the application’s impact. The results show a significant impact of the application on the students’ exam scores.
Publications:
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M. Pesek, P. Šavli, and M. Marolt, "Razvoj platforme trubadur in novi izzivi v prihajajočih letih," Muzikološki zbornik = musicological annual, vol. 58, iss. 2, pp. 51-79, 2022.
[Bibtex]@article{141614083, author={Matevž Pesek and Peter Šavli and Matija Marolt}, year={2022}, pages={51-79}, volume={58}, title={Razvoj platforme Trubadur in novi izzivi v prihajajočih letih}, journal={Muzikološki zbornik = Musicological annual}, number={2}, } - M. Pesek, L. Suhadolnik, P. Šavli, and M. Marolt, "Motivating students for ear-training with a rhythmic dictation application," Applied sciences, vol. 10, iss. 19, pp. 1-19, 2020.
[Bibtex]@article{29971715, author={Matevž Pesek and Lovro Suhadolnik and Peter Šavli and Matija Marolt}, year={2020}, pages={1-19}, volume={10}, title={Motivating students for ear-training with a rhythmic dictation application}, journal={Applied sciences}, number={19}, } - M. Pesek, Ž. Vučko, P. Šavli, A. Kavčič, and M. Marolt, "Troubadour : a gamified e-learning platform for ear training," Ieee access, iss. 8, pp. 97090-97102, 2020.
[Bibtex]@article{18059267, author={Matevž Pesek and Žiga Vučko and Peter Šavli and Alenka Kavčič and Matija Marolt}, year={2020}, pages={97090-97102}, title={Troubadour : a gamified e-learning platform for ear training}, journal={IEEE access}, number={8}, }