TV teacher: how adults learn through tv viewing

Abstract

Adult educators have generally been interested in two aspects of the role of film and television fiction. First, there is a growing literature on using these media within conventional pedagogical situations (Thompson, 2007). This includes examining their potential as tools that teachers use to raise awareness of social and political issues and enable students to imagine a range of experiences and possibilities. It also incorporates the development of critical media literacy, whereby students learn to recognize the way ideas are constructed, reflected and reproduced. Guy, for example, perceives the ‘corrosive and dehumanizing messages of popular culture’ (2007:19) and explores the importance of classroom practices that develop frameworks for critique. Coming, in contrast, from a Jungian perspective, Dirkx examines the significance of the emotions in transformative learning and notes how this ‘may be fostered through the selective use of fiction, poetry and movies’ (2006:23)