Watch this clip: using film as an augmentation to lecture and class discussion.

Parker, Richard D.

INTRODUCTION AND REVIEW

As technology continues to enhance the development of business education in institutions of higher learning (e.g. the abundance of Microsoft PowerPoint presentations being used across all business disciplines; increased online course offerings; et cetera) and professors continue to deal with students who have grown up with the Internet, video games, television and movies as central parts of their lives and therefore expect the utilization of technology in the classroom, it becomes increasingly important to note there will be challenges for effectively teaching basic and advanced business concepts in the 21st century. Professors increasingly must deal with students who are easily distracted in class and who may be more technologically savvy overall. By employing clips from popular films and television shows business professors may be able to enhance their connections with students in the classroom and illustrate concepts that may be difficult for some students to appreciate such as customer service, professionalism in meetings or leadership techniques.

The notion of using film as an effective teaching tool has been recognized for many years by scholars in numerous disciplines. Professors and instructors in history, political science, human development, psychology, family counseling, social work, physics, astronomy, advertising, marketing and management have successfully used film in their classes to enhance their pedagogies. The practice of using film to enhance university level education reaches beyond the shores of North America; universities in Great Britain are also using film to augment teaching techniques (Johnston 2001).

The idea of using film in business education dates back to the mid-20th century, when Ohio State University professor W.J. Fleig (1950) argued that "movies make it possible to bring to students types of industrial activities which are foreign to their locality. The films may be presented during regular class hours and can be tied in with a class discussion. All or part of a film may be repeated if desired." Although Fleig was arguing for the use of films produced by corporations not motion picture studios, his points are salient in the 21st century when considering the use of popular cinematic productions. The use of film as a teaching tool has been implemented in a variety of disciplines for many years. The consideration of how other disciplines outside of commerce and business may provide valuable insights as to the benefits of using film to those who teach in traditional business areas.

Several studies detail the advantages of using film in the classroom. The use of popular film as a "framing tool" is noted in scholarly articles (Higgins and Dermer 2001; Harper and Rogers 1999). The alternative to additional reading assignments is also noted by several researchers (Weinstein 2001; Higgins and Dermer 2001; Huczynski and Buchanan 2004). The most praised advantage is the ability of film to stimulate discussion and thinking on the part of the students (Huczynski and Buchanan 2004; Boyer 2002; Higgins and Dermer 2001; Weinstein 2001; Harper and Rogers 1999; McPherson 2001; Witze 2004).

In psychology and counseling literature, the use of film as an effective teaching tool is noted. Higgins and Dermer (2001) point out that "films can demonstrate difficult-to-teach concepts." Harper and Rogers (1999) reported that "films can dramatize and enlarge theoretical issues in ways that clarify and promote discussion." Christopher, Walter, Marek and Koenig (2004) effectively teach students about stereotype formation and prejudice using the 1985 John Hughes film The Breakfast Club.

The University of Central Florida offers a course to non-science majors entitled "Physics in Films" (Witze 2004). "More than four-fifths of one class surveyed said it was more interesting than the standard physical science course" (Witze 2004). Other colleges have instituted similar courses for non-science majors that are interdisciplinary (Borgwald and Schreiner 1994). It may be an important factor to take note of, given the background of traditional undergraduate students in the early 21st century. Even more advanced scientific disciplines, such as pharmacology, are beginning to use film as instructional tools. Farre, Bosch, Roset and Banos (2004) considered the use of popular film to introduce topics to their students including clinical research, bioethics and social and psychological aspects of drug therapy.

It is only fair to consider that business education might benefit from popular film as well. Baccarani and Brunetti (2002) argue that movies have "particularly good potential" in preparing students in teaching management subjects and because of the "content and method" of film presentation provide professors "a useful aid in reaching certain educational goals." Lynch and Shank (1991) argue for more extensive use of film in marketing education. They suggest that films such as the aforementioned The Breakfast Club could be used in developing courses in consumer behavior. Huczynski and Buchanan (2004) suggest that films are useful in "illustrating management and organizational concepts and the application of theory in practice" thereby allowing movies to be "a useful medium for exploring the dynamic complexities of organizational processes."

Using movies as a classroom teaching tool has a number of advantages for business educators. First popular movies are useful in illustrating concepts such as ethics, product placement, team leadership and human resource management. Second the use of film in the classroom is legal in the United States. Under terms set forth in the 1976 Copyright Act, as long as films are shown in class for teaching purposes at not-for-profit educational institutions, instructors and professors have access to a wealth of material to supplement their texts, lectures, class discussions and in-class presentations.

INITIAL SURVEY RESEARCH

In order to determine if showing films and clips in class would help students better understand course material the author used an 11-item survey instrument utilizing a 5-point Likert scale, and surveyed 53 business students in two sections of a third-year management course at a major post-secondary institution in the Mid-South section of the United States. The responses for the survey instrument ranged in the following order: strongly agree, agree, neither agree nor disagree, disagree, strongly disagree. The instrument was designed to gather feedback from students regarding the effectiveness of popular film in the course used to highlight concepts.

The films shown in class were 12 Angry Men, Wall Street, Glengarry Glen Ross, Gettysburg, The Bounty, Apollo 13, Crimson Tide, Clerks, The Big Lebowski and Michael Collins. The films 12 Angry Men and Wall Street were shown in their entirety to illustrate critical thinking skills and ethics. The clip from Clerks was shown to illustrate the difference between critical and creative thinking. The Big Lebowski clip was used to discuss negative image with a commercial product. Clips from the other six films were used to support issues relating to ethics and leadership.

FINDINGS

The results of student responses to the in-class survey and selected voluntary comments by the respondents are detailed below. (A copy of the survey items is appended to the end of this article.)

Survey items 1, 3, 4, 8, 10, and 11 dealt with the relationship between the films shown in class and the course material.

Item 1: The films shown in class were helpful in illustrating topics covered in course material. Fifty eight point five percent of students surveyed strongly agreed while 41.5% of students surveyed agreed.

Iem 3: After watching the movies in class I was better able to understand the concepts discussed in the texts. Forty-five point three percent of students surveyed strongly agreed; 49.1% agreed; 3.1% neither agreed nor disagreed; 1.9% disagreed.

Item 4: Movies make the material more enjoyable to study. Sixty-seven point nine percent of students surveyed strongly agreed; 30.2% agreed and 1.9% neither agreed nor disagreed.

Item 8: The movies shown in class reflected the material discussed. Fifty point nine percent of students surveyed strongly agreed; 45.3% agreed; 1.9% neither agreed nor disagreed; 1.9% strongly disagreed.

Item 10: Showing movies in class was a complete waste of time. One point nine percent of students surveyed neither agreed nor disagreed; 41.5% disagreed and 54.7% strongly disagreed.

Item 11: The movies shown had little or nothing to do with the course material. One point nine percent of students surveyed neither agreed nor disagreed; 35.8% disagreed and 62.3% strongly disagreed.

Items 2 & 9: Itemsdealt with student enjoyment of watching films in general.

Item 2: I like watching movies. Eighty-one point one percent of students surveyed strongly agreed and 18.9% agreed.

Item 9: I don't watch many films. (N=51 for this item). One point ninety-six percent of students surveyed strongly agreed; 3.92% agreed; 7.84% neither agreed nor disagreed; 49.02% disagreed and 37.25% strongly disagreed.

Items 5, 6, 7 Items related to student opinion of the professor and the course.

Iitem 5: I recommended this class to a friend in part because we watched movies during the course. Twenty point eight percent of students surveyed strongly agreed; 37.7% agreed; 37.7% neither agreed nor disagreed and 3.7% disagreed.

Item 6: I would be likely to take this instructor again if there were movies shown in other classes. Twenty-two point six percent of students surveyed strongly agreed; 45.3% agreed; 22.6% neither agreed nor disagreed; 5.6% disagreed and 3.7% strongly disagreed.

Item 7: I would be likely to take this instructor again if there were NO movies shown in other classes. Twenty-two point six percent of students surveyed strongly agreed; 43.4% agreed; 20.8% neither agreed nor disagreed; 9.4% disagreed and 3.7% strongly disagreed.

Student comments regarding the usefulness of film in enhancing business education are worth considering as well.

"Everyone enjoys watching movies & it is easier to learn something if you are enjoying what you are doing. "--A.D., Senior

"By watching the movies and reading the cases, the points are more interesting."--R.O., Senior

"The videos did a really good job of pointing out situations involved with the topics we covered in class."--R.P., Senior

"I enjoyed watching Twelve Angry Men because that was probably the first time I ever paid attention to everyone's different perspective on issues."--H.S., Junior

"I found that watching the videos and then reflecting on [them] to write a paper was very beneficial to my gaining knowledge on [course subject matter]."--J.H., Junior

LIMITATIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

An important point of consideration in this particular research is that there exists much room for developing future pedagogical studies into the effectiveness of using movies as a teaching tool by business professors. It would be interesting to see the results of an experimental design whereby students enrolled in different sections of the same course are tested on the same material where one groups serves as a control group and a second group as an experimental group. How much of a difference would exposure to movies make in illustrating concepts to students? Would there be a significant notable difference in learning for the group who watched clips or full-length feature films as an addition to course materials versus the group who did not watch clips or movies? These questions were not addressed by the author of this paper as the opportunity to conduct such an experiment was not practical given that the number of students enrolled in each course would have made any significant statistical analysis difficult to perform. It is important to consider going beyond the simple rationale that students enjoy watching films because of the popularity of the medium in the current culture. Scholars wishing to assess useful and inventive methods of teaching should consider conducting studies in this area to determine whether or not using films in class is effective and efficient for teaching in business areas. It is worth considering whether or not the research performed for this paper would be supported or refuted in future research efforts by other business professors.

CONCLUDING POINTS

As has been shown in the literature and in the brief survey instrument administered for this paper, it appears that films can make materials, concepts and subjects easier for students to understand. Films often are useful to illustrate points that may be vague or confusing in course materials. It is obvious that students enjoy watching films in class rather than being subjected to long lectures over potentially dry material. There are a wide array of resources are available to instructors from textbook publishers to articles to film institutes that instructors can utilize in enriching their courses. Contrary to some popular perceptions films can cover a wide variety of topics in business education. While management and marketing are the obvious beneficiaries of Hollywood features, other films do exist to illustrate concepts in accounting, finance, economics and information systems.

This area of pedagogy is rich in potential for conducting future research, enhancing business education and bringing value to the learning experience of 21st century business students. With the changing environment of higher education, utilizing all means to include students in the learning process must be considered and taken advantage of to provide students with the best possible learning experience.

APPENDIX: SURVEY ITEMS

1) The films shown in class were helpful in illustrating topics covered in course material.

2) I like watching movies.

3) After watching the movies in class I was better able to understand the concepts discussed in the texts.

4) Movies make the material more enjoyable to study.

5) I recommended this class to a friend in part because we watched movies during the course.

6) I would be likely to take this instructor again if there were movies shown in other classes.

7) I would be likely to take this instructor again if there were NO movies shown in other classes.

8) The movies shown in class reflected the material discussed.

9) I don't watch many films.

10) Showing movies in class was a complete waste of time.

11) The movies shown had little or nothing to do with the course material.

REFERENCES

Baccarani, C. and Brunetti, F. (2002). The use of movies in management education since "life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get," Selected papers from the 13th International Conference on College Teaching and Learning. pp. 7-26

Borgwald, J. M. & Schreiner, S. (1994). Science and the movies: The good, the bad, and the ugly. Journal of College Science Teaching, 23 (6), 367-371.

Boyer, M. A. (2002). At the Movies: A continuing dialogue on the challenges of teaching with film. International Studies Perspectives, 3, 89-94.

Christopher, A. N., Walter, J. L., Marek, P., & Koenig, Cynthia S. (2004). Using a "new classic" film to teach about stereotypes and prejudice. Teaching of Psychology, 31 (3), 199-202.

Farre, M., Bosch, F., Roset, P. N., & Banos, Josep-E. (2004). Putting clinical pharmacology in context: the use of popular movies. Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 44 (1), 30-36.

Fleig, W.J. (1950). The use of films in accounting instruction. Accounting Review, 25 (1), 94-96.

Harper, R. E. & Rogers, L. E. (1999). Using feature films to teach human development concepts. Journal of Humanistic Counseling, Education & Development, 38 (2), 89-97.

Higgins, J. A. & Dermer, S. (2001). The use of film in marriage and family counselor education. Counselor Education & Supervision 40, 182-192.

Huczynski, A. & Buchanan, D. (2004) Theory from fiction: A narrative process perspective on the pedagogical use of feature film. Journal of Management Education, 28 (6), 707-726

Johnston, C. (2001). Movies are the key to lively lectures. Times Higher Education Supplement, 1945, 13.

Lynch, J. & Shank, M. (1991). Extending the use of art, literature, and popular entertainment in the marketing curriculum. Journal of Marketing Education, 13 (1), 73-81.

Mallinger, M. & Rossy, G. (2003). Film as a lens for teaching culture: Balancing concepts, ambiguity, and paradox. Journal of Management Education, 27 (5), 608-624.

McPherson, D. (2001). Journal review: Families, systems & health," The American Journal of Family Therapy, 29, 255-256.

Trudeau, G. (1997). Amistad is important. Discuss. Time Canada, 150 (25), 116.

Weinstein, P. B. (2001). Movies as the gateway to history: The history and film project. The History Teacher, 35 (1), 27-48.

Witze, A. (2004, May 10). Using movies to teach concepts reduces fear factor, professors find. Dallas Morning News.

Richard D. Parker, High Point University