9 minute read
On-Demand Goes to School
Pandemic pasttime adds new viewpoints to engage students
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us have turned to streaming channels for entertainment, enrichment and escape, making the most of a difficult and complicated moment in history. According to HUB, an entertainment research organization, 28 percent of us have signed up for a new streaming service since February.
Many North Central College faculty are also fans of streaming channels and are finding content that engages students. “Having students connect popular culture to class content almost always increases engagement,” said Shelley Birdsong, associate professor of religious studies. “I like shows that tell a story and allow students to connect to a character. I am also a fan of documentaries that can sum up data in digestible and beautiful ways.”
We asked North Central faculty about the shows that they connect to their courses and add academic dimensions, in hopes that our readers find new ways to explore important topics and the world outside their homes.
Illustrations by Katie McGraw ’22
SHELLEY BIRDSONG
associate professor of religious studies
“I enjoy exposing students to people and cultures with which they may not be familiar. They learn a great deal about Orthodox traditions while also seeing how others may struggle with reconciling their gender and/or sexuality with their family traditions.”
“The Story of God with Morgan Freeman”
“This documentary will be one of my core teaching tools in Introduction to World Religions. It engages multiple traditions from all over the globe and does justice to how religions ask many of the same big questions—like what happens to you when you die. Students get to see how similar yet distinct the various traditions are, which is important in a global climate where we are drawing lines in the sand.”
“Sex, Explained” and “Miss Representation”
“These documentaries address the issues in gender and sexuality studies and are great conversation-starters to challenge students’ pre-conceived notions about gender and sexuality.”
“Our Planet with David Attenborough”
“This show is aesthetically pleasing while also giving students a wealth of knowledge about plants, animals, and how we are all inter-connected—one of the main things I want students to know when they leave my classroom.”
JASON RICE
assistant professor of sport management
“Lance” and “Long Gone Summer” (ESPN 30 for 30)
“Some overlapping themes relate to topics we explore in Contemporary Sport Studies. Both professional cycling and baseball have experienced a period where performance enhancing drug use became the norm—illegal drug use was not only accepted but expected. Sport officials turned a blind eye because athletes like Lance Armstrong and Mark McGuire directly contributed to growing the popularity of each sport. As a result, deviant behavior (illegal drug use) was being normalized and continued until outsiders (media) intervened.”
ESEN ANDIC-MORTON
assistant professor of management
“In my Management Information Systems classes, we’ve discussed the show ‘Black Mirror’ quite often. It relates to the ‘rise of the machines’ and how society might be shaped in the future. We make a point to discuss how the seemingly good nature of these technologies creates a not-sogreat and usually inhumane future, and what falls onto businesses and individuals today to avoid a dystopian future.”
Using a movie club to talk about differences and promote understanding
North Central College was selected as one of six institutions to receive the Working Across Differences Fund grant from Ashoka U. The $10,000 grant supported the College’s “Reclaiming Civility Project,” which aims to foster a cohesive understanding and collective approach to address polarizing topics or events. A portion of the grant funded Movie Club Dialogue Events to help students, faculty and staff discuss hot button issues introduced by movies.
During Anti-Hate Week in fall 2019, more than 50 members of the campus community watched and discussed the documentary “13th,” an in-depth look at the U.S. prison system and how it reflects the nation’s history of racial inequality. A second event featured a screening of “Stories Beyond Borders,” which focuses on immigration and undocumented student experiences. (A third event planned with the Muslim Student Association was cancelled due to the pandemic.)
Jennifer Shah, assistant professor of education, helped lead the Movie Club Dialogue program with thoughtful planning and by establishing design, implementation and research teams. “Students from Black Student Association, Latinx Student Association and Project LEAD participated in the implantation team, which met with me to come up with the discussion questions. I remember having really raw dialogue around topics they were so passionate about,” explained Shah, whose area of scholarship is diversity and inclusion in pre-service education. “I believe strongly that students should be taught to be advocates for themselves and for others and I was witnessing that happen.” María González ’22, who’s majoring in Spanish and secondary education, was an event organizer. “The movie club was a place where I could share my thoughts on topics that most people are afraid to talk about,” she said. “I knew we would have a safe conversation where no one would go off on something I would say. We all respected what each person had to say.”
Among the takeaways: campus job titles and last names should be left at the door. “It helped everyone feel like they were present in the space at the same level when having conversation,” said Jeremy Gudauskas, assistant vice president and codirector of the Center for Social Impact. “This program helped us toward our goal of cultivating meaningful and productive dialogue, especially in difficult times and through challenging topics. A new ‘Chirp Toolkit,’ for example, is a comprehensive dialogue training resource that can be used across campus by students, staff or faculty.”
The student research team gathered qualitative and quantitative data, assessing participants’ comfort level and their overall experiences. A report on the results of the full grant and outcomes was submitted to Ashoka U in July.
“The team found that 100 percent of students, faculty, and staff reported gaining new insights,” Shah said. “When asked what the biggest takeaway was, one participant responded, ‘Learn more. Hear others.’ I see this level of awareness and openness to learn as success.”
Dialogue events continued virtually over the summer and more are planned under the new program title Project Re-Connect: NCC Movie and Dialogue Club.
STEPHEN MAYNARD CALIENDO
dean of the College of Arts and Sciences
“Alumni responded on my Facebook page after watching ‘Waco’ because they remember taking my Seminar in Leadership Theory. We examined theories of both leadership and followership to understand why people continue to follow leaders who are acting in ways that are inconsistent with the followers’ values. Rooted in the work of behavioral scientists like Stanley Milgram and Philip Zimbardo, we examined the tragedies at Waco (Branch Dividians) and Jonestown (Peoples Temple). This material is now part of the general education capstone course Liberal Arts and the Problems of Today. I taught it last fall and hope to teach it every other year.”
CARLY DRAKE
assistant professor of marketing
“My students watch several episodes of this docuseries because design is all around us and important to us as marketers. Good design needs good marketing, and good marketing needs good design. Each episode profiles a designer from fields like architecture, graphic design or interior design. It’s important to think about the relationship between consumer life and the design elements of the places we live, work and play.”
“The art of storytelling is an important component of marketing. An owner of a street market stall needs to tell their story through their food, the stall’s design, and communication with customers. I ask my students to watch the ‘Bangkok, Thailand’ episode and create a product, along with its marketing, for one of the profiled chefs. Seeing their interpretations of the chef’s story is always entertaining and inspiring.”
STEVE MACEK
professor of communication
“The series I’ve watched that most directly relates to my teaching is ‘Trial by Media’ on Netflix, a true crime series about the possible impact of the media on the outcome of famous trials (including the trial of Rod Blagojevich). It connects to topics I discuss in my Freedom of Expression class.”
JENNIFER SHAH
assistant professor of education
“I use episodes of ABC’s ‘Mixed-ish’ (about a mixed race family in the 1980s) in my first-year class, Foundations of Teaching and Learning, and the 400-level course Equity and Access in Educational Systems, to discuss issues related to culture and identity. I also show many films and documentaries in the courses I teach such as ‘Pushout,’ ‘East LA Interchange’ and ‘Freedom Writers,’ viewed through a critical lens.”
KENDALL SELSKY
associate professor of athletic training
“We will recommend our athletic training students view the Netflix documentary ‘Athlete A’ about Dr. Larry Nassar and the failure of USA Gymnastics to protect their athletes. In Management and Administration in Athletic Training, we discuss issues such as risk management, mandated reporting, negligence, sexual abuse and harassment. Having an athletic trainer in club sports is rare, but this person can be an important advocate for patient safety and a trusted individual for reporting concerns.”
BRUCE JANECEK
professor of history
“Wolf Hall” (on PBS)
“I taught a Leadership Ethics and Values course on the Tudor dynasty and we watched episodes of ‘Wolf Hall,’ a six-part series based on the historical novels ‘Wolf Hall’ and ‘Bring Up The Bodies’ by Hillary Mantel. Even though they are novels, they provide an accurate historic portrayal of Thomas Cromwell, one of Henry VIII’s most significant advisors. A topic we struggled with in class was the lengths King Henry VIII went to have a male heir while his daughter, Elizabeth I, chose to end the dynasty by never marrying. The series made serious attempts to capture the historical moment such as using natural lighting like candles and fireplaces to illuminate night scenes.”
DIANE ANSTINE
dean of the School of Business and Entrepreneurship
“If I was in the classroom more, I would certainly use a lot of media. I did use examples from ‘The Wire’ in my Industrial Organization and Public Policy class when talking about game theory. In microeconomics, ‘Shark Tank’ demonstrates topics like fixed costs, variable costs, revenue and profits. It’s easy to see from the sharks’ questions what they are considering when determining the true costs of the operation. In Sports Economics, Ken Burns’ documentary ‘Baseball’ shows the impact of labor unions. The portion on Marvin Miller, the most influential man in baseball, is fantastic.”
LEILA AZARBAD
professor of psychology, Ruge Fellow
“Heal”
“I use this fascinating documentary in my Health Psychology class. It follows patients that have healed chronic illness using holistic and mind-body techniques (like visualization, meditation, nutrition, etc.). It can be a controversial documentary, but it does a great job illustrating the power of the mindbody connection, and pointing out that pharmaceutical drugs aren’t always the solution to every problem.”
“Shameless”
“In this popular show that depicts mental illness, characters struggle with alcohol addiction, bipolar disorder, and agoraphobia, among other things. It follows a dysfunctional low-income family and also highlights how mental illness is maintained by systemic poverty. It also demonstrates the stigma associated with treatment and acknowledges the problems.”
SUZANNE CHOD
associate professor of political science
“I show episodes of ‘The West Wing’ in class. And I mean every class, every term, without fail. There is an episode for everything! I usually accompany the episode with a discussion question worksheet and then we talk through it. We also live Tweet as we watch together. Students still post things on Facebook and Twitter about watching episodes in class. They reference episodes, they say that they ended up watching the whole series, and they use it now to explain politics.”
