Pop Culture In Academics

Pop-cultures Place in Academics

​Pop-culture is the youth’s pastime and is generally consumed by everyone around the world, it’s time to bring pop-culture into the classroom. It is imperative that teachers start using new strategies to keep students engaged and be productive in class. Teachers directing intermediate 200-300 level courses should be able to use the pop-culture technique to push and help their students to comprehend the course material. This technique is carried out by teachers through media education. Media Education is when teachers systematically use pop-culture to relate to course material that students might not be doing well in to then grasp a better comprehension of the material being presented. This in turn creates what is called media literacy in the students because they begin to interpret pop-culture academically and thoughtfully which allows students to recognize the correlation between the media and the course material. This is a great strategy for teachers and a very effective way of educating students, utilizing media education is the future of academics and is an inevitable concept that people must pay attention to. The biggest misinterpretation that people from the outside looking in see, is that pop-culture is seen as a distraction and pastime for consumers as opposed to being thought of as a constructive learning technique. The media is inevitably making its cross into the academic world, teachers must be able to use media education properly, in order to get their students to learn at the highest level possible and attain media literacy.

​Understanding what media education is and its relationship with academics is extremely important to this argument. Media education is a strategic method for teachers to structure a piece of media around their course material in order to enhance engagement and critical skills in their students. This definition is supported from David Buckingham’s book “Media Education: Literacy and Contemporary Culture” where he goes into detail on his theory of Media Education and the purpose it serves in academics. “Media Education therefore aims to develop both critical understanding and active participation. It enables young people to interpret and make informed judgments as consumers of media;” (Buckingham 4). As stated, media education is a method for teachers to use in class to scaffold these skills and obtain better quality work from their students. While understanding the method of media education is important, it is necessary to comprehend media literacy as well. Media literacy is the grape from the vine of media education. In other words, students can then interpret media academically and make informed connections to the course material that helps them to grasp a better understanding of what they are learning. To support this definition further the journal of “How Popular Culture Texts Inform and Shape Students’ Discussions of Social Studies Texts” by Leigh A. Hall. Hall then further explains the results of media literacy. “Critical media literacy moves beyond viewing and reading pop-culture texts for entertainment or to collect facts. Instead, it stresses how these texts inform our beliefs and understandings about ourselves and our world” (Hall). This quote stresses the fact that media literacy is looking beyond a consumer mindset which is someone who uses the media for entertainment as opposed to making true academic connections to the course material that initiates the critical thinking that occurs. Media education is a great way for teachers to approach academics with a new angle in order to get quality work from their students.

​To the naysayers of this topic who believe that this idea of using pop-culture in the classroom is nonsense they are not the only ones who believe this. For instance, teachers like Harold Bloom who thinks pop-culture in academics is lowering academic standards which is discussed in his article “Dumbing down American readers” posted in the Boston Globe. Bloom talks about pop-culture authors like Stephen king and J.K. Rowling and how teachers are using their books to teach their students and how it is dumbing them down and lowering our academic standards. Bloom’s perspective is that the use of pop-culture in academics yields disengagement in students and should be used strictly in free time or as a consumer or not at all. Bloom is quoted saying, “Our society and our literature and our culture are being dumbed down, and the causes are very complex. I'm 73 years old. In a lifetime of teaching English, I've seen the study of literature debased. There's very little authentic study of the humanities remaining” (Bloom). A seasoned teacher like Bloom could never understand the media age we live in today. Bloom represents a category of teachers who are stuck in traditional methods and fail to adapt with a changing society. Teachers like Bloom are being edged out by the changing times because of the failure to accept and change with the new age media education. To clarify “traditional methods” Bloom is a classic lecture and take notes type of teacher, he uses old texts and has no interest in engaging with his students and seeking new ways to approach material. Bloom is considered conservative in his teaching techniques. While media education is incredibly beneficial and logical to use in todays classroom it does bring a debate of is this a distraction or is this a tool. To be frank, it can be either one or the other depending on how the teachers structures the media with the course material. This is a valid argument and concern to have but if teachers were informed on how to structure such a lesson plan through their training it would alleviate the problem.

The “Pedagogy in Action, the SERC portal for Educators” expands further into media education becoming the new way of educating students. This website is made for educators looking for new techniques and ways to teach their students. In their media education section, they talk about the reasoning for using media to teach and the benefits it holds for students. “Many media sources (feature films, music videos, visualizations, news stories) have very high production quality capable of showcasing complex ideas in a short period of time” (Dirk and Ghent). These are examples of media sources that teachers can use to complement their course material by being able to convey complex ideas through media. Dirk and Ghent further explain the advantages students acquire from this method, “This helps develop quantitative reasoning. Media offers both cognitive and affective experiences. It can provoke discussion, an assessment of one's values, and an assessment of self if the scenes have strong emotional content” (Dirk and Ghent). This is important because it shows how this creates growth in skills like critical thinking, communicating ideas and reflecting on their work which are all important academic skills. Dirk and Ghent then further explain how the news also fits into this method, “News stories can be used to connect theories taught in the classroom with real world events and policies” (Dirk and Ghent). This truly shows that media can be connected and bridged with basically any idea or concept available. With a healthy list of critical skills and abundance of possibilities for teachers to mold to their class, media in academics must be embraced and not avoided any longer it’s time to make the transition.

An important reason media education needs to come into effect is because teachers who teach in a traditional style are preparing students for a society that does not exist anymore. Teachers who are not media competent should consider studying media which is how media is released, how to interpret it and the different types of media. This idea is extracted from the article “Media education, media literacy and digital competence”, by Alfonso Gutierrez and Kathleen Tyner, where they further explain what media studies entail. “the study of media has emerged as ‘media studies’ which addresses the reception of media content, distribution and related aesthetic and production processes within historical, economic and cultural contexts, usually from a social science or humanities theory base” (Gutierrez and Tyner). This would help teachers understand media and overall give them new and innovative ways to teach their students and prepare them for the next level of education or life in general. If teachers like Bloom took the extra step and time to learn about media, they might see the value and be persuaded to change their perspective on the use of media in the classroom. Traditional ways of educating students are fading away and pop-culture is making its place clear in the academic world.

As an English undergraduate student currently in 200-300 level courses at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth I have found in my personal academic endeavors great success when teachers use media education methods. I am a firm believer that teachers who use media education get more engagement and quality work from students. For example, in my literary studies English 258 class we covered three different sections poetry, drama and fiction. In the poetry section we strictly covered poems and literary terms and had no outside sources or media, it was extremely hard to stay engaged and retain information. In turn the class average for the quiz grades showed that people were struggling to learn this information. We then moved to the drama section where we covered plays from our class textbook again with no outside media source and again the classes averages were not thriving by any means. Finally, we made it to the fiction section where we covered the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. Our professor decided to show us an informative YouTube video “Halloween Special: Dracula” by YouTube Productions, analyzing important themes, ideas and events throughout the book. Coincidentally this video was suggested by a student and it made the class feel more comfortable with the novel overall. The video also showed important background and societal details of the book that made it easier to comprehend. It sparked great class discussions and became a new reference to use while studying. This was a fine piece of media education and helped immensely with remembering key points and critically thinking about background influences of society that affected the way it was written. The class average for the Dracula quiz the best quiz out of all three sections and it was the only section we used media to compliment the course material. I can honestly say teachers who use media education properly and structure it well will get a positive reaction and quality work from their students.

Teachers who are utilizing media education can be seen in examples like the article “Promoting Academic Literacy with Urban Youth through Engaging Hip-hop Culture” by Ernest Morrell and Jeffrey M. R. Duncan-Andrade. Morrell and Duncan used hip-hop music to bridge different cultured backgrounds in a classroom with 19th century poetry and created three steps that can be used in many other academic settings. “1. to utilize our students’ involvement with Hip-hop culture to scaffold the critical and analytical skills that they already possess 2. to provide students with the awareness and confidence they need to transfer these skills into/onto the literary texts from the canon 3. to enable students to critique the messages sent to them through the popular cultural media that permeate their everyday lives” (Morrel and Duncan). This is a format that can be used in many other instances and is a perfect example of how to use media education properly in order to get a high level of media literacy from their students. Extracting the best work from students while truly developing important and critical skills that they need to progress in their academic careers and life after academics is the goal.

​To further support that teaching with media education is the most effective way to educate students nowadays is Michael Bennet’s article “Teaching with Writing About Media”. Bennet talks about how he structured four different cohesive writing assignments for his students to do, that focus and improve specific skills in different forms. Bennet is quoted explaining this in his article, “I have melded them with my own assignments that correspond to the categories into which the DVDs are grouped, and with each assignment emphasizing a certain form and skill: Essay 1 (Autobiography): Skill: Sentence, Subject: Consumerism

Essay 2 (Review): Skill: Thesis, Subject: Gender & Sexuality

Essay 3 (Editorial): Skill: Structure, Subject: Race & Class

Essay 4 (Research): Skill: Style/Tone, Subject: Media & Politics” (Bennet). These four writing assignments are structured very specifically to use a piece of media to improve upon important skills the students need. This format of constructing a lesson plan around media is very similar to the Morrel and Duncan article “Promoting Academic Literacy with Urban Youth through Engaging Hip-hop Culture” I referenced earlier. Bennet then reflects on his experience on the class, “the DVD has produced some interesting discussions, strong writing, and political awareness. What more could one ask as a radical teacher?” (Bennet). This reinforces that teaching with media education is a very effective way of teaching students and truly getting them to participate and be engaged. Media education is unrefutably the best and most effective way to teach students even if it requires an extra strep by teachers.

​As media education tightens its grip on society its time the academic world embraces it with open arms and an open mind. This method is the gatekeeper to a plethora of new ideas and teaching strategies. Using media education will bring forth numerous benefits for both students and teachers who are willing to take the extra step and incorporate it into their course material. Its time to eradicate old traditional ways of teaching students that we know doesn’t work like they used to. In my own endeavors as a student from in class experience and the research I have conducted here I can confidently say media education is a necessity in the classroom if teachers want students to produce the best work they possibly can. People who do not agree are most likely close minded and in denial that the future of academics is transforming in front of their faces. In a changing society changes need to be made and the sun has set on traditional education, Media education is the bright future of the academic world.

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Work Cited

Bloom, Harold. Boston.com, The Boston Globe, 24 Sept. 2003, archive.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2003/09/24/dumbing_down_american_readers/.

Bennett, Michael. "Teaching with Writing About Media." Radical Teacher, Winter 2011, p. 68+. Educators Reference Complete, http://link.galegroup.com.libproxy.umassd.edu/apps/doc/A278276077/PROF?u=mlin_s_umass&sid=PROF&xid=6803b1ff. Accessed 30 Apr. 2019.

BUCKINGHAM, David. Media Education: Literacy, Learning and Contemporary Culture. Polity, 2003.

Gutierrez, Alfonso, and Kathleen Tyner. "Media education, media literacy and digital competence”, vol. 19, no. 38, 2012, p. 31+. Educators Reference Complete, http://link.galegroup.com.libproxy.umassd.edu/apps/doc/A305370207/PROF?u=mlin_s_umass&sid=PROF&xid=199578c6. Accessed 30 Apr. 2019.

Hall, Leigh A. “How Popular Culture Texts Inform and Shape Students’ Discussions of Social Studies Texts.” Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, vol. 55, no. 4, 2011, pp. 296–305., doi:10.1002/jaal.00036.

Mateer, Dirk, and Linda S. Ghent. Using Media to Enhance Teaching and Learning, 7 May 2018, serc.carleton.edu/sp/library/media/index.html.

Morrell, Ernest, and Jeffrey M. R. Duncan-Andrade. “Promoting Academic Literacy with Urban Youth through Engaging Hip-Hop Culture.” The English Journal, vol. 91, no. 6, 2002, pp. 88–92. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/821822.

Productions, Overly Sarcastic, director. Halloween Special: Dracula. YouTube, YouTube, 31 Oct. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fT0efeSIx4&t=73s.