摘要：Leadership educators are encouraged to identify and apply new ways to teach leadership. This paper provides the qualitative results of post-secondary students' reflections of learning leadership concepts after watching several episodes of the television show, The Office. Students used reflective journaling to record their reactions and evaluation of the episodes. Analysis of the journals indicated that students were able to connect the leadership scenarios shown in the episodes to those they may experience in their real life. var currentpos,timer; function initialize() { timer=setInterval("scrollwindow()",10);} function sc(){clearInterval(timer); }function scrollwindow() { currentpos=document.body.scrollTop; window.scroll(0,++currentpos); if (currentpos != document.body.scrollTop) sc();} document.onmousedown=scdocument.ondblclick=initializeJournal of Leadership Education Volume 11, Issue 2 ¨C Summer 2012 53 Introduction Teaching leadership theories and concepts is challenging in a traditional classroom (Halpern, 2000). Leadership educators have the difficult job of "explaining abstract concepts and ideas to students" (Williams & McClure, 2010, p. 86). Williams (2006) said leadership educators want to find and utilize new and creative ways to teach leadership theory. One teaching technique employed to illustrate leadership concepts is the use of popular culture items, such as television shows and movies. The use of popular culture items in the classroom is an accepted pedagogical tool for leadership educators. Utilizing such teaching resources has been done in "an effort to assist students in learning complex concepts such as leadership theory" (Williams & McClure, 2010, p. 86). Integrating technology such as videos in the classroom can "enrich and enhance teaching and learning activities" (Duhaney, 2000, p. 69). Incorporating popular culture items in the classroom has been recognized as a valid teaching strategy because the popular culture provides settings in which to learn (Callahan, Whitener, & Sandlin, 2007). "Whether we like it or not, cinema assumes a pedagogical role in the lives of many people. It may not be the intent of the filmmaker to teach audiences anything, but that does not mean that lessons are not learned" (Hooks, 1996, p. 2). Because movies and television shows are being used in the classroom, it is important leadership educators better understand what students are actually learning from watching popular culture items. Brungardt and Crawford (1996) advocated additional efforts should be made to assess and evaluate leadership curriculum to further the discipline. This research paper provides the qualitative results of students' reflections of learning leadership concepts after watching several episodes of the television show, The Office. Literature Review and Theoretical Framework Today's students are different from previous generations of students (such as Baby Boomers or Generation-X) because Millennials have grown up with media and technology (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2005) and are naturally technology savvy. In a learning environment, members of this generation appreciate teamwork, experiential activities, structure, entertainment, and technology (Raines, 2002). They believe that "education is supposed to be entertaining, easy, and fun" (Taylor, 2006, p. 50).
