Re Film Viewing Policy for Film Studies Courses:

Our practice here has been to show films during classes, at least one per 
week.   
That way, the students can see the film with the professor...and 
interrupt the film when necessary to discuss sections as the film proceeds.   
(This is a course, 
not a theater screening.)   For this purpose, we schedule the film class in a 
back-to-back classtime
arrangemnt:   2 back-to-back classes will add to 2 and a half hours, with a 
breaktime in the middle.   And then we meet the class two times during a 
week...for a total of five hours, with two breaks.

The students read materials to prepare for the screening.   There is some 
lecture time, 
and there is some discussion time.   And they write research papers or 
interpretive
two-page essays on occasion outside of class.   In this way, the total time 
per week
works out to about nine hours (which is about right for a usual 3 credit 
course--which is
normally a ratio of one hour in class for two hours out of class for nine 
hours work, on
average for a student).

Absenteeism is the same--even less, most likely--as for other classes.   It's 
a real class,
involving serious lecture, discussion, and testing in class for the entire 
time... and reading,
research papers, and interpretive papers outside class.   Of course, we 
encourage students
to watch the film if they can before the in-class showing and discussion; but 
in class, they
will begin to SEE the film in more penetrating ways.

Gary Harmon
University of North Florida
Jacksonville, Florida
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