Incorporating Movie Clips to Validate Learning
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2020-3930-AJE 1 Incorporating Movie Clips to Validate Learning: 2 A Students’ Assessment 3 4 5 The use of movie-based educational interventions has been widely used in the 6 pedagogy of psychology. Wherein most of the researchers have included full- 7 length movies in their teaching followed by students’ comments of its 8 effectiveness; the current research was carried out to examine if or not 9 students will be able to find relevant clips from the list of movies provided and 10 incorporate those in their group workshops after being exposed to the 11 theoretical knowledge in their lecture class. To gauge how the participants 12 received it and what suggestions do they have to offer for the improvement of 13 this innovative exercise an anonymous survey and a semi open-ended interview 14 was used. The research was conducted in three trimesters of academic years 15 2018 and 2019. On analysis of the raw data, it was found that the students 16 rated the assignment favorably and reported that movie clips helped them 17 understand the course material better and enabled them to apply psychological 18 concepts to real-life situations. The findings suggest that movie clips can 19 facilitate the learning process and can prove to be an efficacious tool to 20 validate students’ learning. 21 22 Keywords: education, movie-clips based learning, introduction to psychology, 23 undergraduate elective course, validation of student learning 24 25 26 Introduction 27 28 “A unique property of film is its ability to make one see and grasp things which only 29 the cinema is privileged to communicate” (Kracauer, 1973). 30 31 Beyond the classroom walls, students absorb massive volumes of 32 information from feature films, a lot of which depicts psychological themes 33 and undertones. Research suggests that people in the USA spend 4 hours and 34 46 minutes watching film and TV everyday (Fottrell, 2018), with worldwide 35 cinema box office revenues at the US $41.1 billion (Motion Picture 36 Association of America (MPAA), 2019). Audiences appear to find cinema a 37 compelling experience that effortlessly holds their attention for longer periods 38 (Hinde, Smith and Gilchrist, 2018). Henceforth, using movies in the classroom 39 to build on students’ out-of-school experiences with film is an important 40 research topic. 41 A comprehensive review of film studies literature suggests that the unique 42 features of film make it an uncommonly powerful teaching tool (Champoux, 43 1999). 44 Salomon (1979) found that individuals learn, new, novel and abstract 45 concepts more easily when presented with both verbal and visual form. Movie 46 learning scenarios present valuable opportunities for deeper recognition and 47 understanding of psychological issues through the visual representation and 1 2020-3930-AJE 1 interplay of emotions. Since, movies provide firsthand perspective and 2 encompass complex processes like symbolic representation and individual 3 point of view (Sharma, Sharma and Ghai, 2013) hence, utilizing these in 4 understanding intricate concepts is expected to promote learning. 5 Film has tremendous pedagogical utility, as not only is it the most popular 6 art form, but it also ensures student engagement and motivation. Many 7 theorists argue that films bring vivacity to courses (Wedding, Wongpakaran 8 and Wongpakaran, 2017) and claim that films should be made an essential 9 component of any curriculum. Owing to its usefulness and effectiveness, 10 movies are being used by various researchers in their respective fields from the 11 late 1970s. However, a surge of research publications was noticed in the late 12 1990s and since then, numerous articles containing critiques of films and 13 creative ideas for incorporating films into classrooms have been published, for 14 example, publications exist on educational use of movies in Counselor 15 Education (Higgins and Dermer, 2001; Holloway, Oxford and Wilzeck, 2016), 16 History (Marcus, 2005), Law (Anderson, 1992), English as Second/Foreign 17 Language (Bazilewich, 2009; Ekahitanond, 2011; Xhemaili, 2013), Medicine 18 (Crellin and Briones, 1995), Management education (Champoux, 1999), 19 Sociology (Moskovich and Sharf, 2012), Psychiatry (Sharma, Sharma and 20 Ghai, 2013; Graf, Abler, Weydt, Kammer and Plener, 2014) and Psychology 21 (Bolt, 1976; Dorris and Ducey, 1978; Anderson, 1992; Boyatzis, 1994; 22 Paddock, Terranova and Giles, 2001; Roskos-Ewoldsen and Roskos-Ewoldsen, 23 2001; Badura, 2002; Hauenstein and Riddle, 2003; Lafferty, 2013; Searight 24 and Saunders, 2014; Smithikrai, 2016; Petkari, 2017; Wedding, Wongpakaran 25 and Wongpakaran, 2017). 26 27 28 Literature Review 29 30 Discussions supporting Incorporating Movies in Pedagogy 31 32 All the afore stated, and numerous other researches reiterate and reinforce 33 the benefits of incorporating movies into pedagogy which include, but are not 34 limited to, enhanced learners’ learning experience, stimulated active participation 35 (Ruusunen, 2011), increased student involvement, motivation, engagement and 36 learning (Holloway, Oxford and Wilczek, 2016; Kadivar, Mafinejad, Bazzaz, 37 Mirzazadeh and Jannat, 2018), making course topics immediate, relevant, and 38 concrete (Kinney, 1975; Nissim-Sabat, 1979; Moskovich and Sharf, 2012), 39 enhanced comprehension for refining critical thought and for examining new 40 perspectives (Morze, 2008), improved analytical and perspective-taking skills 41 (Anderson, 1992), aided recall of course content and exposure of students to 42 authentic and realistic scenarios (Green, n.d.). It was also argued that video 43 clips heighten understanding and application of concepts, made concepts seem 44 more realistic and class more enjoyable (Roskos-Ewoldsen and Roskos- 45 Ewoldsen, 2001). Cowen (1984) stated that visual media made concepts more 46 accessible to individuals than text media and helped with later recall. Another 2 2020-3930-AJE 1 significant benefit of blending movies in the teaching-learning process, as 2 professed by Smithikrai (2016), was that they tap both affective and cognitive 3 experiences of learners. The researcher further concluded that teaching with 4 movies promoted positive characteristics and behaviors. Films bring people 5 closer to people, events, and issues that they are studying (Russell and Waters, 6 2010). Sharma, Sharma and Ghai (2013), in their paper, contended that using 7 movies as a teaching tool created emotionally meaningful experiences that 8 made far lasting impressions and were viewed as enjoyable and valuable by the 9 students when compared to any other mode of presentation. Bolt (1976) 10 indicated that movies present behavior with such great intricacy and is so 11 rooted in the social world that it provides unmediated insight into the 12 character’s life; such detailing and elaborateness is not possible with other 13 modes of instruction. Christopher, Walter, Marek and Loenig (2004) suggested 14 that movies offered greater understanding and application of concepts, made 15 understanding easier than a textbook alone could do, and was a good 16 supplement to lecturing. Wedding, Wongpakaran and Wongpakaran (2017) in 17 their research also ingeminated that through the subtleties of editing and 18 juxtaposition of sound and image, a good film could provide firsthand perspective, 19 which was not easily imparted by lectures or textbooks. Additionally, learning 20 through aesthetics, which includes movies, stimulated learner reflection (Blasco, 21 Moreto, Blasco, Levites, and Janaudis, 2015). Lastly, when coupled with 22 deliberations and discussions, movies encouraged students’ direct engagement 23 with psychological concerns, which seemed integral in refining their critical 24 thinking skills (Costin, 1982). 25 26 27 Research Questions 28 29 On a thorough reading of over 60 research papers and articles, following 30 gaps were identified by the researcher – almost all the researches have 31 exclusively focused on students majoring in psychology; the author of the 32 current paper couldn’t spot even a single study that was conducted on students 33 taking psychology as an elective zero-level course. Furthermore, of all the 34 explored researches none but one was carried out in the middle-eastern part of 35 the world. Additionally, most of the researchers and educators have used full- 36 length movies to critique either the authenticity of the movie from a 37 psychological perspective or the exercise of movie viewing in general; 38 effectiveness of using movie clips remains briefly addressed in the literature. 39 Finally, almost every researcher has integrated movies in his/her teaching and 40 has then studied its effect on students' enthusiasm, attitude or interest towards 41 the exercise. In the current research, the students take the front seat and after 42 being exposed to the contents of the chapter in the lecture they are expected to 43 watch the movie from the listed movies and then find, edit and discuss the clips 44 that are relevant to and cohesive with the contents taught in the class. In other 45 words, movie clips were used as an instrument to validate students’ learning 3 2020-3930-AJE 1 and understanding of lecture contents. Based on above gaps, following research 2 questions were formulated. 3 4 1. Will the students be able to critically analyze the movie and bring 5 relevant clips from it to be discussed in their group workshops? 6 2. What do students think about the effectiveness of movie-clips based 7 workshops as a tool to analyze psychological concepts? 8 3. What additional recommendations, comments or feedback do students 9 have for improving the said assignment? 10 11 12 Methodology 13 14 Sample 15 16 The present research study was carried out in the Middle Eastern campus 17 of a Western University, in a zero-level foundation course entitled Introduction 18 to Psychology, in the fall trimester of 2018 and spring and summer trimesters 19 of the year 2019. A normal trimester comprises 13 weeks (13 lectures and 12 20 tutorials) of course instruction with two-hour lecture and two-hour tutorial per 21 week format.