Using the Entertainment Media to Inform Student Affairs Practice: New Directions for Student Services, Number 108

This sourcebook focuses on using films, television shows, music, and popular books to facilitate student learning. The goal is to share creative and effective approaches to reaching students in content areas that are frequently the focus in student affairs undergraduate and graduate course, programming, and staff training. This volume is intended to be a resource for both student affairs practitioners and college student affairs faculty. The chapters discuss the use of entertainment media to facilitate understanding of general student development, multiculturalism, sexual orientation, gender issues, leadership, counseling skills, and career development.

Why both with using entertainment media to facilitate learning? Traditional means of learning, such as lectures, reading assignments, and papers, are valuable, but reaching all students and enhancing their learning may require going beyond the traditional, especially in the out-of-classroom environments that are typical in student affairs. In addition, entertainment media can provide learning opportunities that would be difficult or impossible to create through traditional means. Student characteristics, learning styles and other pedagogical considerations, and possible contributions of the media to learning all warrant attention in considering the value of using entertainment media.

This is the 108th issue of the Jossey-Bass quarterly series New Directions for Student Services.