For more than a century, moving images have played a key role in popular entertainment, while also serving as a crucial educational tool. For many, seeing is believing, and throughout my teaching career, I experienced this firsthand, as students often absorbed the material best with the aid of a film clip. This stems from film’s inherent ability to capture a moment in time and then present that moment to audiences, even those on the other side of the world or years, even decades removed from the event(s) shown onscreen. With film, viewers can witness historical milestones, how-to instruction, breaking news, or just explore the art of cinema. And with a growing consumption of video material by younger generations, where and when to use these assets is a topic educators need to consider as they enter their classrooms every day.
The Challenge of Presenting Video in the Classroom
Once teachers are in the classroom and ready to use video materials, they face the challenge of figuring out how to present content in a way that's both effective and efficient. I’m old enough to remember the days of carrying a suitcase of VHS tapes into a classroom. This was a labor-intensive effort that paid dividends as I was able to show examples to reinforce my lecture. I was also able to juggle the order of clips or skip clips based on time or student questions. The introduction of DVDs complicated this process, as I needed to load each film, select chapter advance, and fast forward to specific timecodes.
This took up valuable class time that would have been better spent discussing relevant topics, so during the DVD era, I scaled back on the number of clips I showed to students. I loved presenting these scenes, but the technology made that impractical.
The Digital Revolution: New Opportunities and Challenges
The advent of digital technologies, namely streaming services, alleviated some of these concerns, as I no longer had to carry hard copies to class or worry about the degradation of those physical materials (I wore out many VHS tapes and DVDs back then), but there are still challenges. The digital era promised access to more materials but has not lived up to that goal. Simply put, we were promised that everything would be available, but many titles remain inaccessible for various reasons including licenses, copyrights, music rights, etc. Additionally, there are a multitude of streamers, requiring multiple logins. Subscription prices for those streamers are on a continual upward trend, and title removals on the major streamers may mean a title is not available when needed. This is where educational services like Kanopy prove invaluable in the classroom, as intuitional access avoids some of the pitfalls of consumer accounts.
The Advantage of Educational Streaming Services
The breadth and depth of an educational streaming service far exceeds what is available in the consumer realm. The most popular streaming service in the United States, Netflix, offers a catalog of roughly 7,000 titles, while educational streamers can offer more than four times that. With an expansive library, educational streamers can represent more than a century of world cinema, from the silent period to current day, as well as documentaries covering an array of disciplines. These large libraries provide windows into history and cultures beyond what a lecture or reading assignment can do alone. With proper curation by an educator, students witness firsthand perspectives that deepen their understanding of a subject, gaining necessary context as they watch and learn. Used in this supplementary fashion, I found film clips enhanced the educational experience for my students, and feedback reflected that positive experience within their evaluations.
Modern students also appreciate the flexibility offered by streaming video. As a film studies professor, I still advocate for communal viewing, especially in a theater, but that isn’t always possible. The alternative is to assign film viewing as homework, just as I would with a reading or a paper. The student, even those taking the class online or remotely, can view based on their schedule using their institutional account and see the title on devices ranging from their phone to their TV to their laptop. This on-demand access through the university makes learning more inclusive and flexible, while also saving students money by eliminating the need for personal streaming accounts.
As a modest collector of physical media, I still value owning certain hard-to-find films, but I was often hesitant to use them in class. VHS tapes had tracking issues with repeated use, and DVDs/Blu-rays could get scratched easily. Plus, buying quality prints, like those from Criterion, was expensive. Relying on my institution to purchase these prints meant ad ditional time checking them out and ensuring they were in good condition. As a result, students often watched films on different formats, leading to inconsistent quality—some saw standard-def VHS, others Blu-ray. Streaming solves this by providing consistent, high-quality prints, including restorations from archives like the UCLA Film Archive, ensuring all students see the same cinematography and lighting details that older formats missed.
How Streaming has Improved Education
In reflecting on the challenges of the past, streaming provides a more unified and inclusive learning experience for students, while also aligning with modern viewing practices. But most streaming platforms don’t completely fulfill the needs of educators. The lack of classics on streamers like Netflix, Apple TV, Hulu, Paramount+, etc. means educators are left to seek alternatives. Additionally, if a major streamer does offer a title, there is no guarantee that it will be there when needed thanks to limited licensing windows. There is nothing more frustrating than logging on to a service prior to or during class, only to find the title has been removed. Today, educators are left to the mercy of the film business, which does not always align with our needs. Educational licenses through streamers like Kanopy can extend access to a title for years, meaning educators can rely on the title being available when they need it. Educational streamers also offer helpful tools, including the ability to save specific clips in a directory that can be referenced in class. The benefits of an educational streamer make our jobs easier as educators, meaning they become practical partners for instructors and students alike.
As an educator, I have had to adapt my teaching methods and practices around technology since I first stood in front of a classroom. Whether that be the transition from chalkboards, to wipe boards, to projected computer screens, staying current is key to classroom engagement. Today, that means the adoption of streaming platforms for film viewing, notably the stable, educationally focused platforms that are accessible through the university. The range of their catalog means I can show clips and scenes not available elsewhere, and I can continue to explore related or suggested films that may further demonstrate my point(s) in class. I’m constantly on the search for more materials, as I always enjoy showing students scenes they have not seen elsewhere. This personal desire to continue learning, while adapting to current conditions energizes a classroom and keeps the material current for students.
The Future of Film in Education: Embrace Streaming
The most effective way to relay information to students will continue to transform, and as educators we need to stay abreast of those changes and utilize the best tools at our disposal. Streaming is the wave of the future, if not the wave of the present, so continue to explore and experiment with these digital resources and see if they work for your classroom. We’ve come a long way from the days of 16- and 35-mm projectors and prints (and in my case a suitcase of VHS tapes), and to be honest, my back and brain welcome the transition to streaming. To learn more, speak with your institution’s media librarians and tech support teams today.
Christian Pierce has worked in the film and television industry for over twenty years, in roles ranging from photo editor to content marketing manager. In addition, he has taught undergraduate and continuing education courses in the field of film studies. He has earned an MS in History, Technology, and Society from Georgia Tech, an MA in Film Studies from Emory University, and a BA in Film, Television, and Theatre from the University of Notre Dame. In addition to his family, he is passionate about two things in life, motorcycles and movies.