Dear colleagues

This message is particularly directed to those of you who are involved in
teaching film modules or courses within British Higher Education.  I am
writing to ask if you would be willing to help with a small research
project for which I have just received a little bit of funding from the
Art, Design & Communication Learning and Teaching Subject Network.  The aim
of the project is to explore ways of handling the old problem of the clash
which is so often experienced between students' private experiences of and
involvements with films, and the kinds of academic questioning and analysis
which we seek to involve them in, at University. With this message you will
find a short questionnaire, which I would greatly appreciate you or
appropriate colleague(s) completing for us.

This is a problem which we have regularly experienced over many years, as
(we know) have many others, and we are looking for ways in which it can be
effectively managed and the two kinds of knowledge set into a productive
relationship with each other.  It is obviously important that, for the sake
of contrast, the way we do this experimentally here is different from any
attention you give to it  so that we can investigate what differences, if
any, are introduced by the 'experimental condition'.   For that reason, I
can't here lay out how exactly we will be attempting this.  However, once
the research is completed, we have committed ourselves in our application
to the LTSN both to publish the methods we have tried out, and to share all
the results in detail with the collaborating institutions.

We are in fact looking for three institutions in all whose first year
intake is large enough to generate statistics which could be compared with
our own (we expect to have over 200 students on our first year Film course,
but are not necessarily assuming numbers as large as this, on yours).  The
project, which will last one year, would involve a small amount of
cooperation on your part in encouraging students on your first year Film
course, to fill in a pretty simple web-based questionnaire, whose web
address we would supply to you.  We would need them to complete two
questionnaires, one at the beginning of the year, the other at the
end.  And obviously it matters to us to get as high a rate of returns as
possible, for the sake of maximum validity.

This is honestly all we would ask of you, other than asking if we could
swap copies of the details of our respective first year Film courses, so
that we could look at the ways in which your first year curriculum
addresses, if at all, this issue of what we have called 'vernacular
involvements' in film.   No costs will fall to you, except the (hopefully
small) time-cost of explaining to your students what this is all about (we
would send a few briefing notes to help with this), and encouraging them to
complete the questionnaires.

I am obviously keen to get arrangements set up as soon as possible, and I
would very much appreciate an early reply to this message.  I will be happy
to discuss the idea further with you, if you want more information, my
email and phone numbers are as below.

Many thanks in anticipation.

Martin Barker
Professor of Film & Television Studies

email@: [log in to unmask]
phone: 01970-622369 (work)
         01970-625694 (home)