This constructivist grounded theory research study explored Master's level counselor education students' perceptions and experiences of being exposed to popular film clips for pedagogic purposes in the classroom. Over an eight month period, students in seven different counselor education courses were exposed to pedagogic film clip experiences in their classrooms. From this group of students drawn from two Midwestern universities, three rounds of face-to-face individual interviews and a focus group were conducted and forty participants described their classroom film experiences. Transcriptions of the interviews and focus group were used to gather data and to develop a constructivist grounded theory.
Participants' descriptions of their experiences and perceptions indicated that students engage in a complex experiential meaning-making process as a result of exposure to and discussion of their film experiences. This experiential meaning-making process involves students making assessments regarding the level at which they will engage with the film experience, and includes personal reactions that surface for students. The experiential meaning-making process is also evident as students interact and discuss their film experiences within the social context of the classroom; as they attempt to connect the film clip material with course content; and as they integrate the film experience into their learning. Students' experiential meaning-making processes, dynamics of engagement, personal reaction experiences, social interaction processes, and involvement with cycling course content as a result of film experiences mutually influence each other.
Students who participated in this study also described the significance of peer interaction and a positive and encouraging classroom environment in their experiential meaning-making processes. Students further endorsed film clips as being a powerful tool for those who are visually-oriented, and emphasized that the clips assisted in bringing course concepts to life. Additionally, students described their film experiences as being most effective when clips are introduced, delivered, and then adequately processed and connected with course content. A discussion of each round of data collection, analysis, and triangulation is provided. The constructivist grounded theory of student engagement with popular film clips used as a pedagogic tool is provided. Professional implications, limitations, and implications for future research are also included.