Enhancing Learning Sessions with Movie Clips
by Kevin Eikenberry

Human behavior is complex. Acquiring new abilities, difficult. As helpful as models and tips can be, when it comes to actually putting new knowledge, skills and attitudes into practice, we realize that what we need to learn is, as Mr. Holland says in Mr. Holland’s Opus,“ more than just notes on a page.”

Movies, with their complicated visual imagery, their emotion-laden stories, and their specific, complex characters, can help the learner not only understand and retain skills, but also recognize the intangible qualities that can turn the “notes on a page” into beautiful music, the tips and techniques into effective, integrated behaviors. Movies provide stories to connect what we are learning to something tangible and memorable. They provide a common language and experience for workshop participants. And they can offer, better than mere words, robust examples of both positive and negative models of performance.

This handout will outline several tools that you can use, as a facilitator of learning, to successfully integrate video clips into your sessions. These tools will aid you in choosing clips, and determining how best to use them. Just as Mr. Holland’s students moved beyond the “notes on the page”, to become true musicians, the ideas presented here are meant to help your learners move beyond rote repetition of workshop skills and to comprehend a bigger, more complete portrait of successful performance.

Selecting Clips

• Make a list of the session’s key learning points. To start with, list them all, even if you aren’t sure you could or would want to use a movie clip to illustrate or reinforce a given point.
• Review this list of key points, and note any movies that you have seen that might highlight these points. If you can’t think of a scene, don’t worry! You can identify a scene later.
• Ask friends and colleagues. Tell or email them the learning you’re trying to reinforce, ask them if they have any ideas - and again, don’t make them give you scene if they don’t have it, be happy to get a movie idea!
• Ask professional groups for their ideas. Some movies have been used often to describe specific points. Capitalize on other’s ideas and experience.
• Read/scan movie summary books looking for ideas.
• Watch the suggested scenes. Note how long the scene is; determine the learning points, document questions you might use in debriefing, etc. If you have a movie suggestion instead of a specific scene, watch the movie! Take the same notes mentioned above.
• Note the counter time, or remaining time shown on your VCR or DVD at the start and conclusion of the clip, to make it easier to find it in the future.

Before the Session

• Once you have selected your clips, do some instructional design. Ask yourself:
  • How much time do I have? Will the clip(s) I’ve found fit my timing? (Note: plan for a minimum of twice as long as the clip’s length for reflection and debrief).
  • How do I want to get the group to discuss their observations? Consider individual reflection, pair discussion, small groups and/or full group (or some combination of these).
  • Do I want to show all the clips (if I have more than one) in a row, group them in some way or show and debrief each one separately?
• Prepare a debriefing strategy and list of possible questions to use in small group or full group debriefing.
• Consider the copyright issues of showing the clip in your situation.

Note: There are restrictions on the use of copyrighted materials, (movies included) in public forums like training sessions. Make sure that you have permission to use any clips that you include. One way to avoid breaking copyright laws is to give a copy of the movies that you draw your clips from to each of the participants in the session. Another is to get a license from the Motion Picture Licensing Corporation (http://www.mplc.com).

During the Session

• Have the tape(s) cued to the correct spot, or be ready to find the spot on the DVD quickly and easily. If using two clips at different points in the same movie, have two copies of the tape, cued appropriately.
• Make sure everyone can see and hear.
• Provide context and background to the group so that they can focus on the learning, not trying to figure out the what is going on during the clip. (As a guideline, provide enough information so that the scene makes sense to those who have not seen the film).
• Assign a task or focus for the participants as they watch the clip(s). (e.g. take notes on the characters’ non-verbal behaviors; pay attention to your reactions; think about our discussion about leadership and see which types of power are being employed, etc.)

  Important Note - Assigning a task or focus will enable the learners to remain actively engaged while viewing the clip, and help them tie the scene back to the specific learning objectives. However, you may not always wish to do this. There can be value in letting the learner just get what she gets.

• Consider assigning different participants different perspectives, or filters, to watch the clip from.
• Debrief tips
  • Consider debriefing in at least two ways, either in small groups or pairs, then as a full group, or use both written and verbal debriefing. A variety of methods will help everyone in the group gain the most value from what might be a somewhat abstract exercise.
  • Games/Activities to consider for debrief
    • Have participant’s roleplay characters from the movie.
    • Ask the participants to rewrite the scene, so that the behaviors are more effective.
    • Hand out bingo cards with concepts and behaviors from the workshop. Participants mark squares by finding moments that illustrate those behaviors.
    • Stop the clip before the climax of the scene, and have people or teams speculate as to what they think will happen.
    • Design/adapt your own ideas.
  • Some general questions:
    • What behaviors did you see?
    • How did they make you feel?
    • How did the other characters react?
    • Who did you identify with?
    • How does this clip illustrate what we have been discussing during this workshop?
    • Any new insights into our topic?

Using Movies as Followup and Reflection

• Watch the clips again to see if participants see different things in subsequent viewings. This may particularly effective on the following day or at the next class session as a review.
• Suggest different, supporting clips that you do not use in class that enforce the message.
• Provide a list of filters or points of view from which to watch a movie or clip.
• Provide questions to ponder in relation to a movie or clip for participants to view on their own.
• For a longer or “live-in” session, have study teams watch movies and come back with thoughts, observations, connections, etc.
• Ask students to email you and each other suggested clip or movies that relate to the topic on an ongoing basis as they discover them.

If you are looking for movies that have appropriate clips for your training needs, here are some places to start. If you have other suggestions or successful experiences using movie clips, please send the title of the movie, the scene if possible, and the theme you used it to illustrate to kevin@KevinEikenberry.com.

©Kevin Eikenberry 2004. Kevin is Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group (http://KevinEikenberry.com), a learning consulting company that helps Clients reach their potential through a variety of training, consulting and speaking services. To receive your free special report on Unleashing Your Potential go to http://www.kevineikenberry.com/uypw/index.asp or call us at (317) 387-1424 or 888.LEARNER.

©Kat Koppett 2004. Kat Koppett (Kat@thestorynet.com) is the co-founder and President of StoryNet, LLC (http://thestorynet.com), a consulting and training practice focusing on the use of stories in learning, and the author of Training to Imagine, a book on the use of improvisational theatre techniques for trainers and managers.

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