We are excited to welcome Hartley Jafine as a Keynote Speaker!
Hartley Jafine is an improviser, clown nose enthusiast and Survivor superfan (he even teaches a course on it at McMaster). He is an instructor at McMaster University in the Honours Health Science (BHSc), Arts & Science and Integrated Rehab and Health Humanities programs and a lecturer in the Department of Family Medicine. His areas of teaching and research are in health humanities, applied theatre, and arts-based research. Hartley also collaborates with the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto and facilitates applied drama and medical improv workshops nationally and internationally. He doesn’t know how to ride a bike and believes pears make an excellent pizza topping.
Reality TV as Pedagogy: Survivor in Teaching and Learning.
39 days, 20 people, 1 Survivor.
For over two decades, Survivor has captivated millions of viewers not just because it’s escapist entertainment, but because it’s a reflection of us and how the choices, actions, and decisions in Survivor mirror those that we make in our everyday lives. So why is it often thought of as a “guilty pleasure”?
Hosted by Jeff Probst, Survivor has been described as a microcosm of real life, an amplified social and psychological human experiment, where players are placed in a remote location, challenged with the task to simultaneously collaborate and compete against each other until one is crowned the title of Sole Survivor.
This keynote will illustrate that Survivor is not just something worth watching, it’s something worth teaching. Survivor offers incredible pedagogical potential as a text for teaching and learning. Through alliances, strategy, and competition, Survivor offers a framework for exploring a diversity of academic disciplines including psychology, leadership, representation, collaboration, ethics, and persuasion. We will explore the pedagogical potential of reality TV and how it can serve as an engaging and valuable tool for educational inquiry.
Survivors ready? Go!