Theory and Practice: How Filming "Learning in the Real World" Helps Students Make the Connection

This article describes an assignment, titled “Learning in the Real World,” designed for graduate students in a learning theory course. Students work in small groups to create high quality audiovisual films that present “real learning” through interviews and/or observations of learners. Students select topics relevant to theories we are discussing in class, such as interviewing expert and novice musicians to illustrate the development of procedural knowledge, interviewing a sister and brother regarding salient autobiographical events from their childhood, and filming students talking about strategies they use to comprehend and remember text information. In this article we discuss feedback on the assignment and how useful it can be for not only engaging students with learning theories and research, but also fostering the process of connecting theory to practice. Importantly, the assignment is relevant and adaptable for any classes, graduate or undergraduate, where theories play a large role and successfully helps all students see learning theory and research come alive through film. As educators, we often look for ways to involve students in the learning process. We know intuitively, as well as from classroom experiences and research, that engaging our students will result in several positive