Instructors who teach courses on religion at the college level can show or assign educational documentaries to their students. By showing segments in class, instructors can illustrate tenets of faith. They can assign students to watch documentaries on their own time and write reviews or other written work.
These types of documentaries could also be used in other courses, such as anthropology, regional studies, history, and others. High school social studies teachers could also show segments of these to their students.
It's recommended that instructors view the documentaries they show in class in advance, so as to ascertain whether they are an appropriate fit for their students. In many cases, showing a short segment is preferable to show a lengthy video.
The focus here is on documentaries and short videos about a particular religion’s prayers, holidays, religious customs, religious figureheads, and about prayer services in specific houses of worship: Judaism, Christianity, Islam: Monotheistic Religions, Abrahamic Faiths
For courses covering these three belief systems, there are many documentaries to choose from. However, instructors should pre-screen with a critical eye, and find media that is well made. Devise a well-prepared set of questions to accompany the videos. Also encourage students in these courses to make their own non-professional videos in which they interview believers and when they visit houses of worship. This type of assignment can come after screenings of a few videos in class or as homework.
Judaism
Be aware that Judaism has various levels of observance, ranging from Traditional Orthodox (and within Orthodox Judaism, there are Hasidic groups, Modern Orthodoxy, and more) to Conservative/Masorti and Reform, as well as Humanistic Judaism. In addition, religious practices can vary depending upon someone’s ethnic group, such as for Ethiopian Jews, and Sephardic Jews (which can also include North African, Middle Eastern, and Iberian groups).
However, there are certain basic religious tenets that the majority of Jews share (or debate).
About the Series | The Story of the Jews | PBS
DVD Documentaries - Judaism - Research guides at University of Toronto (utoronto.ca)
Heritage, civilization and the Jews | Library of Congress (loc.gov)
Christian religions
Christianity has many denominations, and they have somewhat different practices. Catholicism, Orthodoxy (Russian, Greek, Romanian, etc.), and various Protestant groups (Lutheran, Presbyterian, Evangelical, Baptist, Unitarian, etc.) as well as Mormon, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and others.
Roman Catholic
"What is Catholicism?" from I Am Your Target Demographic
"How Did Catholicism Start?" from Captivating History
Protestantism
"Basic Protestant Christian Beliefs" from Ready to Harvest
"Explaining Protestant Denominations" from I Am Your Target Demographic
"What Do Mormons Believe About God?" from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
"Everything You Need to Know About Jehovah's Witnesses in 5 Minutes" by Lloyd Evans
"Theology of Christian Science" from HealingScience Today
"What is Christianity and What Do Christians Believe?" from www.gotquestions.org
Islam
History of Islam - Top Documentary Films
Islam: Empire of Faith (2000) - IMDb
"Six Main Beliefs in Islam" from whyislam.org
"10 Basic Beliefs in Islam" from FTD Fact, a YouTube channel
At times it may seem easy to find videos on religion and monotheism, but an instructor needs to view them and determine whether or not the videos are scholarly (even if casual in tone) or if they are either uncritical or hypercritical. As we all know, religion can be a touchy subject to discuss, but in a classroom setting it can be very fascinating and eye-opening.