JoAnn Agnitti has had a research paper accepted for presentation at the American Educational Research Association convention in San Diego this spring.
Her research is entitled, "A Framework for Assessing Educational Resources Created to Accompany Films/Video in the Social Studies Curriculum."
The purpose of this study was to review what educational materials (e.g. lesson plans, viewing guides, etc.) are available for feature films and documentaries and how effective these resources are in increasing student understanding of the concepts within the video and, ultimately, the curriculum.
She will compile a list of educational resources and materials made for feature films and documentaries and subsequently analyze them based on their characteristics. The end result will essentially be a rubric that specifies effective characteristics of educational materials and resources accompanying feature films and documentaries.
In her activities, JoAnn and a team of coworkers, are currently working with HBO on developing supplemental resources to accompany certain HBO films. She is also researching adaptive learning systems. She will be conducting phone interviews with educators who have used the curriculum developed at Columbia Teachers' College that corresponds to Spike Lee's HBO documentary, When the Levees Broke.
JoAnn is currently a graduate student in the Counseling program at Columbia Teachers College. As a psychology major at Ithaca College, JoAnn made three conference presentations and coauthored three others.
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/20090108082041201