A Film Augmented Course on Social Movements Around the World.

This article describes and discusses student evaluation of a college-level sociology course on social movements around the world. The course was designed to cover basic theory on the development of social movements and revolutions and to provide case studies from the United States and other nations through the use of documentary films. The course was developed in accordance with the premise that students would be more motivated to learn about social conflict if they were exposed to it at the theoretical level as well as in the context of actual socio-historical situations and if they were exposed to course material through the combined use of lectures, reading assignments, and documentary films. The course was designed to cover three main topics--the theoretical underpinnings of general processes involved in the development of social movements; the American labor movement; and recent social and revoluntionary movements in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East. Based on student feedback and exam scores, the course developer was able to identify strong points and problems related to the course. For example, students indicated in written evaluative questionnaires and in informal discussions with the teacher that they were interested in the course materials and that they were learning a great deal about social conflict from participating in the course. Criticisms and suggestions for improving the course centered on four main points: (1) lectures were thought to be too rapidly paced; (2) films and lectures were not as coordinated as they might be; (3) students wanted more time for discussion of course topics and reactions to films; and (4) students objected to the biased nature of some of the films. The document concludes with an appendix containing reviews and ordering information for all films used in the course. (DB)