"Lost" in the University [Confessions of a Liberal Puritan]

I know that, as someone committed to the academic study of BtVS, I shouldn't snigger at this, but something about the way this article was summarized (using the TV show "Lost" to acclimate students to university life -- because, you know, being a freshman at a major research university is very much like being cast away on a frightfully un-deserted island where your worst fears take on solid form, etc., so I can sort of see where the prof might be coming from) just struck me as wild and weird:

"'Lost' to ease freshmen into academic rigors of college:

"The Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning television series 'Lost' will be used as a
springboard for learning concepts about cultural studies in a new communications
studies course at Vanderbilt."

(full article, including interview with the prof, is at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/register/articles?id=27794)

Of course, when you actually read the article (and not just the title and blurb), it turns out to be much less weird and inventive than I'd thought. Ah, well.

October

Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17 1	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30	31

Sun

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Sat

I need to show this to the elder kid. I think she saw some of the first season. I'll ask her if that's what she's expecting at college.

Or maybe not. She's a bit freaked out at the moment by the whole prospect. Of school, that is, not islands.

[link] [reply]

The average student body must be a lot more gorgeous these days. Or maybe I just went to the wrong schools.

Hmm. Lost as a springboard for cultural studies. Well, the marooned cast are somewhat culturally diverse. Sounds kinda interesting.

If you read the full article by following the link, it sounds like they're sort of using "Lost" as a springboard to get students to read a lot of heavy communications theory books and such -- not so much time watching the show as discussing the readings, would be my guess. But yes, I hadn't even considered the cultural diversity of the castaways, but you're right: even in the few episodes I've seen, we've had to deal with Korean culture, and African cultures, and Middle Eastern cultures, etc..

Might be a good course, after all, if they don't suck all the fun and adventure out of the learning process (which sometimes professors feel the need to do, especially if they're dealing with something that sounds overly "coddling" or "soft" like popular culture).

[link] [parent] [reply]

But keeping a student's interest is key to actual learning. That's what makes using something like Lost as an actual springboard (rather than a tease which is immediately abandoned after the first class) such an interesting idea.

You're preaching to the choir, here! I totally agree that keeping students interested and actively engaged (as well as allowing them to use something that's already familiar to them as the "lens" or "sounding board" for learning something that may be totally unfamiliar and a little scary) is key to education.

However, there are always a few who think that education is all about exclusivity, drawing the line between those who have it and those who don't, as well as between "high culture" and "low culture", etc.. Just like there were women ministers when I was working toward ordination who felt that anything which made the process easier for me would somehow "cheapen" their own achievements, which had been accomplished against so much opposition and harassment. So, they were even meaner to me than the worst misogynistic old man. Go figure! (Good thing God loves people, isn't it, because sometimes they sure don't act very lovable!)

A few years ago BtVS was the foundation for a similar first-year college seminar at Birmingham Southern U. IIRC, the course centered on season 4--of course!

Pop culture studies books on Lost are starting to appear now.

I guess that makes sense (the cultural studies books on "Lost", I mean -- although the focus on season 4 of BtVS for a college course makes a LOT of sense to me, as well), but I haven't seen any of the series since about last Christmas (for a while this Spring, it was up against "Bones," and since I was teaching Wednesday nights and could only tape one, I taped the one I thought I might get fewer opportunities to see again), so I'm not up to date at all on recent events on "Lost".

Thanks for the tip, though, about that BtVS course. I must look that up!

Confessions of a Liberal Puritan

"Lost" in the University

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

October