Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Commons^™

From The Vertical To The Horizontal: Introducing Mikhail Epstein’S Transculture To Perplexed Educators, Sheldon S. Kohn

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

A shift in focus from supporting or opposing vertical, grand narratives to the horizontal, the ordinary and the everyday, can lead educators to transformative developments. Educators find themselves in a false dichotomy of being restricted to supporting or opposing competing vertical utopian visions of education. Mikhail Epstein’s ideas about transculture can help perplexed educators make a shift from the vertical to the horizontal, focusing their praxis and pedagogy on the ordinary and the everyday, including objects and artifacts of popular culture. In a radical move, Epstein argues that commodification represents resistance to totalitarian controls and impulses; he urges educators to …

“High Culture As Entertainment”: Hybrid Reading Practices In A Live Book Club, Magnus Persson

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

The Bushwick Book Club (BBC) is a live book club in which invited pop musicians perform musical interpretations of a predetermined literary work in a nightclub environment. What can a typical BBC show, with its strong emphasis on popular music and performance, teach readers about the uses of literature? This case study will investigate which reading practices are at work and in what ways they challenge traditional ideas of the forms, functions, and values of reading. Another important aspect concerns how the borders between high and popular culture, and between the printed word and other media are renegotiated. Based on …

The Power Of Books: Teachers’ Changing Perspectives About Using Young Adult Books To Teach Social Justice, Janis Harmon, Roxanne L. Henkin

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

This study examined teachers’ knowledge about social justice and their perspectives and understandings about the use of young adult books to teach social justice. The participants were 14 graduate students in a graduate literacy course. The course provided learning experiences about social justice, including the use of young adult books. These learning experiences were designed to deepen students’ understanding of how to address social justice issues with students in the elementary, middle and high school classrooms. Using qualitative measures, the researchers found changes in participants’ understanding of social justice and the use of young adult books as a powerful resource …

Binarisms, Adaptation, And Love: Albuquerque 2016, Laurence Raw

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

I was fortunate enough recently to attend the Southwest Popular Culture Association meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico in February 2016. This was the third time I had attended the conference; I find it rather unique in its capacity to embrace academics and graduate learners in a non-threatening ambiance, where participants genuinely try to help each other rather than to try and score cheap scholarly methodological points for their own personal self-gratification.

Editorial, Lynnea Chapman King, Anna S. Cohenmiller

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

Editorial for Adapting Our Approaches: (In)Formal Learning, Stereotypes, and Traumas, Volume 3, Issue 2 of Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy (Fall 2016).

Popular Culture Pedagogy: Theory And Application In Academia [Dialogue, Volume 3, Issue 1 (Spring 2016)], Lynnea Chapman King, Anna S. Cohenmiller

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

Popular Culture Pedagogy: Theory and Application in Academia [Dialogue, Volume 3, Issue 1 (Spring 2016)]

Editorial, Lynnea Chapman King and A. S. CohenMiller

Articles

(Re)learning about Learning: Using Cases from Popular Media to Extend and Complicate our Understandings of What It Means to Learn and Teach, Kelli Bippert, Dennis Davis, Margaret Rose Hilburn, Jennifer D. Hooper, Deepti Kharod, Cinthia Rodriguez, and Rebecca Stortz

Building a Popular Writing Course, Emily Howson, Chris Massenburg, and Cecilia Shelton

Lady Gaga Meets Ritzer: Using Music to Teach Sociological Theory, Kenneth Culton and José A. Muñoz

A Framework for Using Popular Music Videos to Teach …

Film Review: Joss Whedon’S Much Ado About Nothing: Whedon, Branagh, And The Anxiety Of Influence, Jessica Maerz

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

Review of Joss Whedon’s film Much Ado About Nothing, reflecting on Whedon, Branagh, and the anxiety of influence.

Connecting The Disconnected: Pedagogy Goes Digital Native, Kurt Depner

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

We must redefine online pedagogy as here to stay. Is it any wonder that popular culture pedagogy is moving more from a focus on liberation pedagogy to a commodity based one? While traditional “brick and mortar” course enrollment has flattened or even dropped recently, online courses continue to see increased enrollments. In the case of the university system I’m in, we’ve seen an overall drop in enrollment of 10-15% since 2010 but an increase in online sections of over 30%, and we know the reason, in most cases: as tuition increases and salaries remain flat, more students are forced into …

A Pedagogical Journey: Albuquerque 2015, Laurence Raw

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

The subject of pedagogy and popular culture has assumed increasing significance in academic circles, especially since the publication of Phil Benson’s and Alice Chik’s anthology Popular Culture, Pedagogy and Teacher Education (2014), a series of interventions discussing how popular culture can be implemented in a variety of teaching situations across the globe. The book offers valuable insights into how popular culture can inspire learners through materials drawn from everyday life but tends to avoid essential questions such as what constitutes popular cultural material (and how it differs from other textual forms) and what learning outcomes might be accomplished through its …

Applications In The Classroom: Pop Culture And Ed Psychology: What I Learned From Larry David, Rick Grimes, And Hank Hill, Melissa Vosen Callens

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

In teacher education courses, it is common to teach educational psychology concepts using case studies. Many publishers provide these case studies in textbooks and/or in ancillary materials, and there are many advantages to using them. For example, an instructor does not have to spend extra time finding or writing the case studies, both of which can be very time consuming. In addition, if students have the textbook, they have immediate access. One major disadvantage, however, is that students may find themselves uninterested and disengaged with the cases, depending on the students’ interests and the cases. This paper argues that studying …

Applications In The Classroom: The Potential Of Scholarly Studies In Harry Potter In Higher Education, Anne Collins Smith

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

Of what use is a book about the Harry Potter series that was published before the series was complete? Having taught an upper-division college course on Philosophy in Harry Potter multiple times, I believe that the early publication of Scholarly Studies in Harry Potter actually increases its potential utility in the classroom. Not only does this book include thoughtful and insightful scholarship, but it is also pedagogically valuable. It raises thought-provoking topics that can serve as the basis for research papers and class presentations, as well as providing important resources for students to use while conducting such research.

A Framework For Using Popular Music Videos To Teach Media Literacy, Jordan M. Mcclain

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

This article discusses the use of popular music videos as a tool for teaching media literacy. First, the article addresses the importance of music videos as popular culture, what other music video research has examined, and what features make music videos a good fit for in-class work investigating media and popular culture. Then the article details a single-class activity for introducing and teaching media literacy through the use of music videos. To achieve this objective, the article also proposes a set of original music video-specific discussion questions. Finally, a particular music video is considered to illustrate possible results of this …

Lady Gaga Meets Ritzer: Using Music To Teach Sociological Theory, Kenneth Culton, José A. Muñoz

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

This paper presents methods for instructors to deal with student anxiety over theory courses. The method is an interactive class exercise that provides instructors with direction as to using popular music. The paper accomplishes this through the use of several cases for including music in order to spark discussion and suggestions for helping students to interpret the theory presented. Additionally, suggestions for incorporating writing assignments with the exercise are provided here. A table linking music to a theorist is also provided.

Reflections On Building A Popular Writing Course, Emily Howson, Chris Massenburg, Cecilia Shelton

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

Composition pedagogy has typically employed traditional academic texts in the instruction of first-year writing courses. In this article, three first-year writing instructors reflect on their experiences employing popular culture artifacts in lieu of more traditional academic texts in writing classrooms at a small, private, historically black institution (HBCU). By retrospectively analyzing the intersections between theory and practice, the instructors’ autoethnographic reflections explore the utility of popular culture artifacts as tools for teaching and learning writing, with an emphasis on rhetorical knowledge and transfer. Though preliminary, their conclusions point to the potential of popular culture for integration into traditional best practices …

(Re)Learning About Learning: Using Cases From Popular Media To Extend And Complicate Our Understandings Of What It Means To Learn And Teach, Kelli Bippert, Dennis Davis, Margaret Rose Hilburn, Jennifer D. Hooper, Deepti Kharod, Cinthia Rodriguez, Rebecca Stortz

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

This article utilizes sociocultural and socio-constructivist learning theories to analyze incidents of learning, and by extension teaching, in six different popular media selections. The authors describe their shared theoretical framework and the nature of the original analyses, which were completed as part of a doctoral course assignment. Each of the six excerpts is then described and discussed employing unique theoretical perspectives. The use of popular culture as the context for examining learning and teaching provides a space untethered from traditional notions of schooling through which typically accepted assumptions about pedagogy are revealed, re-examined, and reframed.

Editorial, Lynnea Chapman King, Anna S. Cohenmiller

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

Editorial for Dialogue, Volume 3, Issue 1 (Spring 2016).

With this first special issue on popular culture and pedagogy, we bring together insights into classroom practices in academia, providing a peek into the ways in which learning and teaching can be enhanced. We look forward to the continued expansion and discussion of the multifaceted ways in which education and popular culture interrelate.

Traversing Realities: Genres, Histories, And Politics In Popular Culture [Dialogue, Volume 2, Issue 1 (Spring 2015)], Lynnea Chapman King, Anna Cohenmiller

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

Editorial

Examining Perspectives and Applications, Lynnea Chapman King and A.S. CohenMiller

Articles

A Field Guide to Teaching Agency and Ethics: The West Wing and American Foreign Policy, Kayce Mobley and Sarah Fisher

Survivor Skills: Why I Want to Teach Reality TV, May Friedman

Girls, Guns, and Zombies: Five Dimensions of Teaching and Learning in The Walking Dead, Anthony Neely

“Can you imagine, a real, live Indian right here in Walnut Grove?”: American Indians in Television Adaptations of Little House on the Prairie, Amy S. Fatzinger

The Gentle Tongue: How Language Affected the World of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, …

Book Review: M. J. Trow, A Brief History Of Vampires, Myha Do

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

Review of M. J. Trow's A Brief History of Vampires. Philadelphia: Running Press Book Publishers, 2010. xv, 368 pages, paperback, ISBN 978-0-7624-3988-1.

Music Review: “Indy Classical Innovation: Ymusic” At Usc’S Southern Exposure New Music Series, March 21, 2014, Peter B. Kay

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

Review of “Indy Classical Innovation: yMusic” at the University of South Carolina’s Southern Exposure New Music Series, March 21, 2014.

Applications In The Classroom: Hardly Elementary—Frontiers For Freshman Composition With Conan Doyle’S A Study In Scarlet, Kate M. Donley

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

Three recent television and !lm adaptations testify to the continuing popularity of Arthur Conan Doyle’s consulting detective Sherlock Holmes. The fast-paced novella that introduces detective duo Holmes and Watson, A Study in Scarlet involves some astonishing elements, and not just in the plot. With just a little probing, collegiate readers may wonder whether Conan Doyle plagiarized his most famous character, invented forensic science, despised Mormons, and accidentally wrote a Western.

The novel was adapted as A Study in Pink, the !rst episode of the BBC’s series Sherlock created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss. Their vision of Holmes set …