Walking into an introduction to theory course ““ always a dreaded requisite of any major for its monotonous material ““ students would hardly expect to watch a film about hip-hop music narrated by one Snoop Dogg.
But in Professor William Kelly’s communications theory class, showing a clip of a recent hit documentary, “Letter to the President,” is a necessary component to lecture.
“Students these days tend to relate to issues with visual materials,” Kelly said. “You can find clever ways of making deeper analysis of something through mediums that engage students. Just the fact that you’re using film means they’re going to be more interested in the lecture material, even if the content is no easier to digest.”
Kelly uses film at least every two weeks in all of his classes in order to provide students with concrete examples of each lesson, despite some criticism.
“There are academics who believe that the more pop culture used in a class, the more watering down of the content because it panders to the student, and professors should uphold higher standards,” Kelly said. “But if students don’t like what you’re doing and they just tune it out, you’re not doing your job either.”
Linguistics professor Nina Hyams rejects the idea that the increasing use of film in the classroom is a product of a less-disciplined, entertainment-oriented generation of students.
“I’ve been teaching for 25 years and I’ve always used videos in Linguistics 1, so I don’t think students are any less focused than they were before,” Hyams said. “Films provide a nice break from the normal class structure.”
While films in UCLA classrooms serve as a supplement to the curriculum, on the international scale, film and television have become formidable as educational tools in a movement called “edutainment.”
Organizations seeking to address pressing social issues utilize many forms of media ““ radio, movies, television, the Internet ““ to spread their messages under the guise of entertainment.
According to Kelly, in South Africa ““where AIDS is a serious health concern ““ the Soul City Institute has created a soap opera about being infected with HIV, with the characters who practice safe sex ultimately leading happier lives.
The show, “Soul City” reaches 30 million people in nine African nations, and viewers who are enraptured with the show’s drama and appeal learn the benefits of using protection during intercourse, fulfilling the project’s purpose of educating people about proper health care and social responsibility.
More locally, on-campus groups use films to achieve such goals as bringing awareness to overlooked issues and demonstrating proper eco-friendly behavior. Tonight, the Asian Pacific Coalition will screen “Seoul Train,” about the North Korean underground railroad, at 6 p.m. in Moore 100. And on Thursday, the UCLA Institute of the Environment will screen an episode of the PBS documentary, “Edens Lost and Found,” about ways to ecologically revive industrious cities.
And films like these inevitably make their way into the classroom. Al Gore’s documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” helped bring more attention to the emerging threat of global warming by creating a film with mass appeal and significant marketing power. Its theatrical release and success brought the issue to the forefront of society’s consciousness.
For this reason, Professor Keith Stolzenbach, who teaches a General Education Cluster on the global environment, screened the film in the Northwest Campus Auditorium for his students.
“We didn’t show it just because it was Al Gore who was narrating or because it had a lot of press surrounding it,” Stolzenbach said. “The movie is just so effective at covering everything about climate change that we thought it was worth the time and effort to make it available to our students.”
However, unlike Kelly and Hyams, it is one of the few movies Stolzenbach has shown for his class.
“We just have so much to cover that we can’t afford to show many films because, frankly, the movies for (civil and environmental engineering) are not at the level that is essential for these classes since they don’t cover enough material,” he said. “But obviously if you have a class that’s dealing with cultural issues, it’s much easier to incorporate film.”
Regardless, Kelly sees film as a valuable teaching resource, no matter what the academic discipline.
“I would tend to think in the natural sciences and in mathematics showing video clips would be rare, but for students who are somewhat reluctant to explore the material, visual aid can help get the student interested in the subject,” Kelly said. “It’s just a matter of attempting to balance the factors rather than taking the extremes.”