When Your Doctoral Dissertation Becomes a Successful Product
On a rainy day in March of 2002 in New York City, I did what so many graduate students hope to do as the final step of their educational journey. I defended my doctoral dissertation. Two months later, after some suggested minor revisions, my dissertation was published and I graduated with my Doctor of Education degree from Teachers College, Columbia University, along with some other incredible music educators. For the majority of dissertations, they then end up sitting on a shelf in the institutions’ library to hopefully get quoted in other research or serve as the foundation for further study. But for many, after years of diligent research, thinking and writing, the fate of the research that defines doctoral students often simply gathers dust - a necessary step to get the doctoral hood. For me, I have had the incredible fortune of turning all of that work - now 22 years old - into a product that is now used by millions of teachers and students around the world. It’s called the MusicFirst Classroom.
In January of 2012, I was attending the Florida Music Educators Association Conference in Tampa, presenting sessions and exhibiting for the company I was leading at the time, SoundTree. After one of my sessions, my good friend Joe Berkovitz - Founder of Noteflight - walked up to me to introduce me to Bob Wise - Founder of Music Sales Group (now Wise Music Group). That meeting was the most pivotal moment of my career. Bob told me that I was going to work for him - he didn’t know exactly what I was going to do - but I was going to work for him. That simple. After a few minutes of conversation, I agreed to fly to London two months later to pitch my idea for a new company in the music education technology space. If they liked my idea, they would fund a new venture and I would lead it. I will admit that at first, I thought it would never happen - but a free trip to the UK would be worth the effort. I then spent the next two months trying to come up with a business plan that would change music education for the better, and improve the access, affordability and assessment technology options for music teachers and their students. I had a number of conversations with my network of mentors and friends and it became very clear to me what I should do: turn my doctoral dissertation into a product. So what was my dissertation about?
The title of my dissertation was An Evaluation of a Web-Based Model of Assessment for the New Jersey State Core Curriculum Content Standards in Music. Here is the abstract:
Drawing from a convenience sampling of music educators in the State of New Jersey (N = 12) and the students they teach (N = 174), this study investigated the viability of a web-based assessment model for the New Jersey State Core Curriculum Content Standards for the Visual and Performing Arts, specifically music. This assessment model was primarily focused on facilitating performance-based assessment using e-mail as a means of transmitting student work. Teachers administered two assessment activities to their students using the Internet and associated technologies. For this study, viability was defined as: a) practical viability from a technical perspective, b) pedagogical viability from an educational perspective, and c) overall viability. Data included e-mail correspondence, teacher and student online surveys, teacher phone interviews, teacher online focus group, and student work; these were analyzed using a hybrid evaluation model. Results, presented using both descriptive statistics and illustrative narrative, indicated that the web-based model of assessment was viable from a practical and pedagogical perspective. While the overall viability of the website was evident, the teacher-participants’ agreed that complete participation at the statewide level was unrealistic due to the lack of comprehensive training and experience using technology in the music classroom. The results support the viability of the Internet as a facilitator of large-scale performance-based and traditional assessment
In non-academic speak, I created a website - MusicAssessment.com - and created an authentic assessment model that tried to gather a 360 degree picture of a students musical learning in a non-standardized testing environment. It afforded students the ability to perform, improvise, compose, respond, and demonstrate their understanding of ALL facets of a well-rounded music education. When I built the website back in 2001, it was VERY difficult to accomplish this from a technical standpoint, but somehow, it worked. 174 students from around the State of New Jersey submitted all sorts of data to be assessed - delivered at the time via email. Sound recordings, notation files, images, open-ended questions were all submitted. The final conclusions of my research supported the viability of the Internet as a facilitator of large-scale performance-based and traditional assessment, but that the technology at the time was clunky and made large-scale assessment difficult due to a lack in training and experience. I wrote that instead of using software that was expensive and locally installed, it would be optimal if the software was accessible to the students online - but that was something that wasn’t possible in 2001. I hoped that someday it would be. We just needed the technology to catch up to the possibilities.
Ten years after the publication of my dissertation, I stood in front of a Board of Directors in London and pitched them on the idea of what I was trying to do in 2002 - create a website custom tailored to the specific needs of music educators to provide affordable access to world class cloud-based software, content that integrated that software, and state-of-the-art assessment tools. I drew a hub with spokes pointing to every type of software (above). This diagram was the core concept behind my research. I was turning my doctoral dissertation into a product. After my 20-minute pitch, I heard the following from Bob: “OK. Let’s do it. When can you start?” Two weeks later in March of 2012, I left my job at SoundTree, and MusicFirst was born. One year later, we launched MusicFirst at the Texas Music Educators Conference and the at the Music Education Expo in London. Here is a video from 2013 where I explained what we were doing:
Twelve years later, my original concept for an online space custom built for music educators that provided EVERYTHING they needed to teach music in a connected world is now used by millions of teachers and students, and it is the most rewarding aspect of my career. I have 25 employees working in 3 different countries. I realize how fortunate I am to have met Bob in Florida, and for him to have allowed me to build my idea into a product. I am eternally grateful for that opportunity. I also know how rare it is to turn doctoral research into something that people can buy - it doesn’t happen very often. Whenever prospective customers ask us “Is there any research that shows the benefits of using MusicFirst?” I always want to hand them my dissertation.
If you haven’t yet had the opportunity to see what the MusicFirst Classroom can do for a music program (and see what my research in 2002 informed), please sign up for a 30-day FREE trial. I would be honored if you did. It’s not every day that something you spent YEARS thinking about is on display for all to see, and hopefully use with their students.