USE OF AN EDUCATIONAL MOVIE AS TRIGGER FOR REFLECTION ON ACADEMIC

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURES

Tiiu Tenno, PhD; Asko Karjalainen, PhD & Blair Stevenson, PhDThe School of Vocational Teacher Education, Oulu University of Applied Sciences, Finland

ISATT - 16th Biennal Conference on Teachers and Teaching, July 1-5, 2013

The Educational Movie• educational movie– has specific educational purpose– has been written and dramatized

• trigger film– short– effective – typically used to activate students

Our production

’THE CLAN’ – FILM IS DESIGNED ESPECIALLY FOR TRAINING AND CONSULTING UNIVERSITY TEACHERS AND STAFF

The Educational Movie ‘The Clan’• a fully dramatized 17 minute long film• demonstrates explicit, real-life contexts by

presenting unstructured problems in an academic environment

• the film script was constructed by applying the theory of subjective and objective layers of meaning

The Clan

…. one working day in the life of an ‘ordinary’ university lecturer - hurry

…. one working day in the life of an ‘ordinary’ university lecturer – meeting students

THE RESEARCH PROJECT

The Research Project• Context: The School of Vocational Teacher Education

at the Oulu University of Applied Sciences in Finland• Course: Higher education institutions – codes of laws,

statutes and practices – Course has been delivered since 2007 as an optional

component of the teacher education program– Key objective was to encourage participants to become

active change agents in their own organizations– Key teaching method was the use of dialogue– Key assignment was writing reflections on the course

topics

Watching the video

1. What impact did the use of the educational movie have on student-teacher interactions in relation to the learning objectives?

2. What meaning structures were reflected upon and shared during the classroom discussions as a result of viewing the educational movie?

Research questions

Data collection• The data consisted of Video recordings of the resulting

conversations between course participants after viewing the video. – Recorded data consisted of two twenty minute sessions of classroom

discussion during which the teacher was an active participant.

• Teacher’s field notes during the workshops concerning his own experiences and interaction with the students.

• A post-survey was conducted with participating students consisting of questions focusing on the students’ perceptions of the impact of the video on their ability to achieve the learning objectives of the course.

Classroom discussion

The strategy of data analysis

Classroom discussion

after viewing the video

Observing the video footage

data and analyzing

discussion, phase 1

Observing the video footage

data and analyzing

discussion, phase 2

A final interpretation

workshop

(R3) =outsider-researcher

(R1) =teacher-researcher

(R2) =recorder-researcher

Post-survey for the participating students

Process of data analysis

• 1. The researchers (R1, R2, R3) observed the video footage data independently;

• 2. An interpretation formula was made by the two researchers (R1 and R2) based on the MeM framework;

• 3. Interpretation workshops were held, during which two researchers selected, transcribed and interpreted the most meaningful expressions and sequences (R1 and R2);

• 4. A preliminary summary of the interpretations including a constructive hypotheses was made by the R1 researcher to summarize the cases;

• 5. R2 and R3 evaluated the interpretation in a critical reflection session which also included an analysis and interpretation of data drawn from the post-course survey; and

• 6. A final interpretation workshop was held with R1, R2, and R3.

Graph

Example of the post-survey for the participating students

The MeM framework gives a two dimensional illustration for the ontological categories of the meaning structures.

FINDINGS

Research question 1: What impact did the use of the educational movie have on teacher-student interaction in relation to the

course learning objectives?

1. The viewing of the movie ‘lightened’ the mood among the students and allowed the participants to immediately enter into an intensive discussion.

2. Immediately after viewing the film, students were keen on articulating their own experiences, which in all cases were even more detailed than the fictional ‘experience’ viewed on the film -> therapeutic function of the film.

3. By hearing students’ personal experiences, the teacher was able to give more personalized guidance and instruction during the course.

4. Viewing the movie promoted learning of the theory. Students during these sessions more easily grasped an understanding of the idea of organizational cultures discussed within the course.

Research question 2: What meaning structures were reflected upon and shared during the classroom discussions as a result of

viewing the educational movie?

• Coporate culture has taken root in academy?

– Academic work has gradually become “business-like” in structure within which

the demands on staff have become ‘results-based’ and administrative

mechanisms created by the organizations have left little room for individual

freedom and academic flexibility.

• By working under this corporate culture, university teachers described themselves as increasingly losing the ability to meet students’ needs as a ‘good teacher’;

• While at the same time, they did not have time to concentrate on the production of high quality research neither.

Tiiu Tennotiiu.tenno@oamk.fiThe School of Vocational Teacher Education OuluUusikatu 290100 OULU FI