Deanna C C Peluso

Academic and Professional Work

Peluso is an alumna of Simon Fraser University with bachelor's degrees in both Music and in Psychology from Simon Fraser University. Peluso also holds a Masters of Education in Educational and Organizational Leadership from the University of Victoria (UVIC), where her research on the motivations, benefits and persistence for mature students to pursue their graduate degrees led to her writing a book on her research and findings. She has now returned to Simon Fraser University, and is a PhD Candidate in the Faculty of Education.

Research

Peluso is an active participant at international and local scholarly conferences in media, music and psychology, and her research focuses on various projects and foundations where an importance is placed on artistic and musical learning and expression within technological societies. Peluso's research has also dealt with the fields of Cognitive Psychology and Memory studies. Her most recent research has been focusing on Music Education and Media literacy, as seen in her 2010 talks at the Media Literacy Conference in London, UK, as well as her focus at RYME - Research For Youth, Music and Education.

Peluso's recent research has been featured on the Congress 2011 of Humanities and Social Sciences which is organized by the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences. An article on Peluso's research as a part of RYME discussed how the research group is bringing forth a new outlook on childhood education, the arts and the media. This article also recapped Peluso's and her colleagues' presentations at the Congress, and quoted Peluso as saying that “Teachers facilitate the role of exploring these [technological and artistic] opportunities, learn from kids and offer youth empowerment. Everyone has knowledge of what the next person doesn’t.”

She has been cited as stating that "Digital mediums for communication, expression and multimodality engaging in one's own life, such as social media (e.g., Twitter) and interactive technology like iPads, enter the classroom in the pockets, bags and backpacks of many of the students and educators, yet only until recently have these digital media become a part of the educational environment. Curriculum designers and policy makers seem to be placing a focus on the role of technology within young people's lives"

Arts and Music education

Peluso is current located in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C. working on a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Arts Education. In addition to her research in Music Education and Media literacy, she is the newly appointed (2012) Project Manager for MODAL Research Group in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University, where a focus is placed on research into artistic learning. Peluso also continues as the Project Coordinator and a member of the ongoing research project, RYME - Research For Youth, Music and Education, which is a Simon Fraser University research project that looks at youth participation and engagement in musical activities. Peluso is involved in other arts and music education organizations, such as the Canadian Music Educators Association (CMEA), where she is a blog contributor and web administrator for the CMEA's Research to Practice blog.

Lectures and seminars

Peluso currently conducts educational research seminars and workshops on the Use of Technology within Academia and Educational Settings, Social Networking, Icebreakers and Music within the Classroom. Peluso also lectures on technology within education and using technology and the Arts to engage in multimodal and intuitive forms of expression and communication. Peluso has also been involved in teaching music to adult learners and learners with disabilities, by using various techniques that focus on technology, music and other forms of artistic expression.

Peluso has recently been lecturing on the development of iOS applications for use within educational research, and provides seminars on implementing digital media within research and practice. Her work within the field of iOS App development has progress beyond uses for surveys and questionnaires and have now shown to involve developing complex social media based interactive Apps for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch that can reach an audience that includes young children and adults.

Workshops

Peluso's research into social media has led to her giving workshops on how to use social networks to advance one's career after graduate school. Her background in the positive and negative aspects of online communication allowed her to demonstrate various ways to build social networks in a way that can assist in moving from the life of a grad student to a working professional.

Graduate School and World of Warcraft Video Games

Peluso's focus on how participatory cultures can foster artistic and musical learning are influenced by her involvement in social media and [video] gaming. Through her experiences in graduate school and her involvement in the MMORPG World of Warcraft, she has developed parallels between the process of entering graduate school and the popular online role playing game. Her articles have been featured on the Simon Fraser University Dean of Graduate Studies website, where tips and tricks for graduate students are showcased.

Books

Peluso is a published author of the book "Motivation, Purpose and Persistence: Pursuing a Leadership Degree: A Study Of Graduate Students' Motivations To Pursue A Degree In Educational Psychology and Leadership Studies". The book is published by Dr. Müller Aktiengesellschaft & Co. located in Saarbrücken, Germany, which specializes in publishing books in the research industry. The book is a documentation of a qualitative and quantitative study of the motivations, support systems and reasons for students to persist in their graduate studies in Education. The book looks at the intrinsic and extrinsic motivations to commence and continue graduate studies, such as the external support systems of family or funding, the psychological barriers and the potential personal and financial benefits of completing a Masters or Doctoral degree in Education. Since a majority of the participants within the study in the book were educators, mainly teachers in the K-12 education system, the study was important in its search to discover the motives of the educators to pursue their post-graduate education, and whether the educators were more interested in personal growth or in financial gain by job advancement due to their additional degree and experience.

Scholarly Journals

Peluso's publication record in various peer-reviewed journals and academic publications includes articles on music education and the online environment, participatory cultures and the use of educational technology for artistic learning. In her co-authored article in the Canadian Music Educator, Peluso puts forth a set of standards for scholarly blogging.

Peluso's research on the use of iPads within educational applications was published in the July 2012 edition of the British Journal of Educational Technology. She emphasized the fact that the young people of today are requiring a new system of education to accommodate the technological ways that they are learning and communicating. Peluso is quoted as stating:

Based on Peluso's publications in journals on educational technology, she has presented views on iOS technologies (e.g. iPads) and their role in young people's lives as being concurrent with the paradigms on participatory cultures as defined by Henry Jenkins. Further, Peluso is quoted in various venues in questioning how technology can be implemented in the classroom, in a way that is relevant and beneficial to the learners, rather than as a way to meet a curricular goal.

Music

Peluso has been involved in various musical and performance groups since 2000, though according to her website, due to health problems in late 2008 onward, she does not seem to be active in any particular musical group or organization.

Compositions

Peluso has been composing for over 20 years, but is best known for her performed works that occurred between 2000 and 2007 inclusive. Peluso has an eclectic collection of written compositions written during and after the years she studied music composition at Simon Fraser University. During her Music Composition degree, Peluso collaborated with dancers, filmmakers, actors and with other performing artists to fuel her experience in the field, in music education and to build upon her 14 years of studying and performing Classical period music. Former professors, mentors and teachers included Martin Gotfrit, David McIntyre, and Owen Underhill. Peluso has composed music for not just sole instrumental performance, but has been involved in composing music for dance, theatre and various other performing art installations within the Vancouver area. It seems that her music, artworks and online presence typically are signed under the pseudonym or nickname — dccp.

Selected Works

2003-onward

Performances of compositions

Peluso composed a piece for the Vancouver Symphony orchestra, The Music Box Circus, which was performed in 2006 during the Jean Coulthard Readings at the Orpheum Theatre. The Music Box Circus includes the entire orchestra in its orchestration, and is about 5 minutes 20 seconds in length.

The Sonic Boom Festival is an annual composers festival each spring located at the Western Front in Vancouver, B.C.. Peluso's compositions have had numerous performances at this Performing Arts festival that showcases various composers and musicians from across Canada. Peluso's compositions have varied from a string trio, a saxophone quartet, to eclectic mixes of accordion, cello and percussion.

Artistic performances and shows

Peluso has been a performer in various Performing Arts festivals and shows. She has performed music for independent film, dance accompaniment, theatre performances and numerous collaboration projects involving the fine and performing arts.

Performances

Peluso has been an active participant in the Arts community, both in solo performance and as a part of musical groups or collaborations with theatre, dance or film. During 2003, Peluso performed in the House Performing Arts Festival, as a musician for the theatre group "Un/Stuck", which featured actors from the Greater Vancouver Regional District. In 2003, with the same theatre troupe she performed at Nextfest 2004, the Performing Arts Festival in Edmonton, Alberta.

In 2005, among her schedule of musical performances as a part of dance and performance art shows, she performed with Gamelan Alligator Joy, a performance group that plays a combination of traditional and contemporary Javanese Gamelan. Peluso performed with the same performance group at various other events around Vancouver, B.C. throughout 2005 and 2006.