Purposeful Use of Film within

the Classroom:
Encouraging Student
Engagement
Presented by Mandy Latz
27 February 2009
3
rd
Annual Learning College Conference, Ivy Tech Community College
Presentation Agenda
Overview of film use inside classrooms
Items to consider
Examples in a variety disciplines
Think-Pair-Share Activity
Why this topic?
My own in-class film use
Integration of film via Blackboard
discussions
Need to articulate rationale
Student feedback
Better than me
Advocacy for Film Use
Meets students where they are
Is Google Making Us Stupid?
Brings course concepts to life
Variation in messenger
Provides a common experience to draw from
Leads well into various learning activities and
assignments
Quotation
instructors must learn,
and in turn teach their
students, how to make
movie viewing a meaningful
and active educational
experience (Sprau, 2001,
para. 10).
Purposeful Use
Why are you showing the film? What is the
purpose?
What learning outcomes are associated
with the film?
How will you measure the intended
outcomes?
Link film use with activity, assignment,
discussion, etc.
Integrate film with course content
Quotation
film in educational
settings is often relegated to
filler material for
overworked, underprepared,
or absent instructors
(Sprau, 2001, para. 10).
Considerations in Selection
Documentary versus
fiction
Full length versus clips
Length of class
Method of presentation
Documentary versus Fiction
Hollywood movies
Novel and appealing to students
Easy to find
Students may perceive fiction as reality
Documentaries
May be hard to find
Closer to reality but may be historically or
politically bias
Should be viewed critically
Quotation
One of the dangers of using feature film is that
students often confuse what they see in it with
the truth or attribute to a film the factual
characteristics of a documentary. Although most
films are not documentaries, they can carry
great emotional power while delivering truths
that reality obscures, as has been said about
fiction. This emotional power can be a catalyst
for thinking and learning. It is important to
remember, however, that films are a starting
point, not an end in themselves (Harper &
Rogers, 1999, para. 5).
Examples of Learning Activities
Historical fiction
Popular
Is it accurate?
Feature films in the psychology classroom
Diagnosis, identification
Rewriting the documentary from a different
perspective
Specific Examples of Films
Full Length versus Clips
Consider the class time you have
Consider the actual full length of the film
Watching the whole film may be boring
Clips can overcome lack of class time to show
entire film
Clips can be extracted to display particular
character, scene, or concept
Clips can be difficult to manage
Go back to the overarching purpose of showing
the piece
YouTube, Google Video, other websites (PBS)
Crafting Learning Activities
Some questions to consider
What are you trying to achieve (in terms of
student learning) by showing film?
How can you stretch your students?
How can you help them to think critically?
How can you enable them to use a variety of
skills (writing, speaking, building)?
How can you help students enjoy the
process?
Using the New Blooms
Building on remembering and
understanding
Enabling students to create
Using Kolbs Cycle
Moving from concrete experience
(watching) to active experimentation
(creating a new film)
Quotation
an instructor, in selecting
learning activities to correspond
with each of the four poles of the
experiential learning model, must
give greater consideration to the
functional use of the activity than
to the activity itself (Svinicki &
Dixon, 1987, p. 144).
Personal Example from ANTH 154
The Observation Exercise
Think-Pair-Share
How have you used films in your
classrooms in the past?
What types of learning activities have you
linked with film viewing in the past?
Brainstorm a new use of film within a class
you are currently teaching
Create a short list of films to use
Create a learning activity for students that
blends the film and your course content.
Can you describe your activity in terms of the
New Blooms or Kolbs Cycle?
References
Harper, R. E., & Rogers, L. E. (1999). Using
feature films to teach human development
concepts [Electronic version]. Journal of
Humanistic Counseling, Education &
Development, 38(2).
Sprau, R. (2001). I saw it in the movies:
Suggestions for incorporating film and
experiential learning in the college history survey
course [Electronic version]. College Student
Journal, 35(1).
Svinicki, M. D., & Dixon, N. M. (1987). The Kolb
model modified for classroom activities. College
Teaching, 35(4), 141-146.
I appreciate your attendance!