How do you structure film viewing as part of class?

[JFlanders]

Anybody have an effective format for including viewing and discussion of relevant films, videotaped performances, or TV episodes as part of non-film-studies coursework?

I've tried viewing whole films in class, across 2-3 days, followed by discussion; instructing students to watch at home, then discussing in class; showing films in class with a simultaneous backchannel discussion on laptops; and instructing students to watch at home, then showing just snippets in class.  None of those does all that well at (a) ensuring that students see, remember and enjoy the whole film, and (b) ensuring the film is sufficiently fresh in their mind to then discuss its connection to the other course material.   

I know some classes try nighttime showings of films the day before discussion, but with a large commuter student population, I worry that participation would be scanty.   Is there a better system I'm missing?

[mamselle]

I can't pull it up now but the CHE forum has a very good discussion on this, generated, I think, in the last year or so.

A search for "films in class" might pull it up...

M.

[Hegemony]

I screen the film in class, and give them a worksheet of things to look for, along with room to jot down notes while watching.  (For instance, "lines that show the personality of the main character," with a space.)  That is, I direct them to things to look for, which ensues that they watch the whole thing more carefully.  Then we discuss it in class, while rewatching a couple of scenes as needed.

I know our administrators frown frown on watching films in class.  But I find that otherwise half the class tries to slide by without watching the film, and the other half come in having paid poor attention while watching it on their phone.

[polly_mer]

The last time a faculty member proposed a film class for a regular humanities class, we suggested having a recitation period (officially part of class, but no additional credit) to have a group viewing during a convenient time of day, much like the science and math classes have an extra afternoon per week for problem solving.  The faculty member rejected that suggestion and the faculty curriculum committee rejected the class as not having enough work for the credit.  Taking up a ton of class time to show movies was deemed by the other faculty to be insufficiently rigorous, unless additional class time was planned.

I used to do a lot of science in the movies with snippets and I have taught a lot of classes with recitations.  The extra recitation period scheduled during normal hours works pretty well in terms of getting people to attend a formal part of class that includes something different than lecture.

[AJ_Katz]

I know our administrators frown frown on watching films in class.  But I find that otherwise half the class tries to slide by without watching the film, and the other half come in having paid poor attention while watching it on their phone.

That was my experience too.  These were graduate students too!  The only reason I wanted them to watch the video is because I think it is absolutely the best video on this topic and is something I recommend to a lot of people and get great feedback on, thanking me for sharing it.  Unfortunately, for my class, none of the students watched the video.  Not only was I frustrated / disappointed, the follow-up class activity totally bombed.  I now have students watch it during class and pause the video at certain portions to get a conversation going.  I might try to use an online system for having students watch the video and answer quiz questions as they go along, but just haven't found the time to do that yet.

[polly_mer]

AJ_Katz, online questions didn't help ensure everyone had watched a video last time I tried it.  It was pretty clear that, for the students who actually attempted the activity, that people did a web search on some of the questions and trusted their friends on some of the other questions.  Other students just decided that going online was too much trouble and told me they'd take a zero on an activity that wasn't worth at least 10% of the grade.

[zuzu_]

On the old fora, I started a thread on this every few years. My variation is that my course is online.

I think your best bet would be to assign films/episodes to be watched as homework. This only works if the films are easily accessible. For example, a required course material could be a subscription to Netflix or Amazon Prime. Encourage them to share subscriptions or make use of free trial periods if they need to. Our library also has an app/database called Hoopla with a lot of films available. You should also have the material available on DVD in the library to be watched on reserve.

The only way to ensure that most of them will actually watch it is to have a quiz. It can be an easy multiple choice quiz in class that just proves that they viewed it. Or, if you prefer take-home quizzes, it should involve more difficult analysis that minimizes the ease of cheating between classmates. 

[mamselle]

One place where I taught had licenses for several sources of films and the instructor ordered the ones they wished the library to have available on the computers in the viewing area of the Media/Learning Center.

When I used dance films as part off my art history courses, I showed a 3-min. snippet or two at the beginning of class, twice each. The first time just to watch, the second time I'd comment over the film just at the points I wanted them to see particular points.

Now, you might be able to do something like that (voice-overs) with Word Thread if you wished.

I used two examples from Ailey's "Revelations" and they liked it so much they requested a noon viewing of the whole film, with people bringing sandwiches, etc. to eat quietly.

So we did that, too.

M.

[Caracal]

I don't think it is really any different than any other assignment. Watching 90-120 minutes of a movie isn't an unreasonable amount of work. Some won't do it, but that's true of any reading. The only problem with the Netflix/Amazon Prime suggestion is that the coverage just isn't good enough. Most of the movies you'll want to show won't be available for free. However, most movies can be rented on Amazon or iTunes for 4 bucks. Just make sure you put a copy on reserve at the library and remind the students about it a couple of weeks in advance so there won't be any room for complaint about not being able to get the reserve copy. Almost nobody will actually watch the movie in the library, but you just don't want to be requiring students to spend extra money for your class/have a credit card/use Amazon etc.

[polly_mer]

Almost nobody will actually watch the movie in the library, but you just don't want to be requiring students to spend extra money for your class/have a credit card/use Amazon etc.

Why can't students be told upfront about the additional costs involved in a class to cover materials or whathaveyou?  In many fields, it's pretty common to have to purchase and install software, pay an additional fee for extra materials or to participate in the field trip, or otherwise invest resources as part of taking a class including perhaps buying a book.

People who can't afford the materials for a class need to go work with the financial aid office so that all the costs of attending are captured and are part of the planning to attend college.

[Caracal]

Almost nobody will actually watch the movie in the library, but you just don't want to be requiring students to spend extra money for your class/have a credit card/use Amazon etc.

Why can't students be told upfront about the additional costs involved in a class to cover materials or whathaveyou?  In many fields, it's pretty common to have to purchase and install software, pay an additional fee for extra materials or to participate in the field trip, or otherwise invest resources as part of taking a class including perhaps buying a book.

People who can't afford the materials for a class need to go work with the financial aid office so that all the costs of attending are captured and are part of the planning to attend college.

Yeah, I agree. It would be great if there was some box you could check when you ordered books that allowed you to say "also another 8 bucks to rent movies," and then if you got financial aid for books, you could get it for that as well.

[apl68]

You should also have the material available on DVD in the library to be watched on reserve.

Are academic libraries still equipped for this?  Showing VHS/DVD videos on reserve was a substantial part of my responsibilities when I managed the media center (A catch-all location for anything that wasn't a book or a computer) at our university library.  We had an elaborate setup that allowed multiple students to watch assorted videos.  End-of-semester cram times were interesting....

But the university tore all of that out of the library years ago.  Physical video formats were just so last-century!  I assume that any video students watch for class today is in streaming format.

[Caracal]

You should also have the material available on DVD in the library to be watched on reserve.

Are academic libraries still equipped for this?  Showing VHS/DVD videos on reserve was a substantial part of my responsibilities when I managed the media center (A catch-all location for anything that wasn't a book or a computer) at our university library.  We had an elaborate setup that allowed multiple students to watch assorted videos.  End-of-semester cram times were interesting....

But the university tore all of that out of the library years ago.  Physical video formats were just so last-century!  I assume that any video students watch for class today is in streaming format.

Yeah, most libraries still have DVD players and little rooms you can watch them in. I'd assume that there's still plenty of things that haven't been digitized.

[Biologist_]

Yeah, most libraries still have DVD players and little rooms you can watch them in. I'd assume that there's still plenty of things that haven't been digitized.

If hasn't been digitized, a DVD player won't help.

[AvidReader]

At one past university, I told students they could watch on their own, borrow a copy on reserve at the library, or attend an optional film screening. I let the class vote on two times that were convenient for me (for the screening), booked a spare classroom, and ran the film for two hours. Three or four (out of about 20) students attended. Since I needed to see it again to prepare for discussion, it didn't really add any extra time to my week.

AR.