ABSTRACT
Student affairs professionals in a wide variety of instructional roles draw on many resources to enhance student learning. This chapter highlights the effective use of popular culture as a way of engaging student interest, building critical thinking skills, increasing diverse perspectives, and approaching difficult, controversial topics in 'relatable' ways. An example that provides context for college students' extensive engagement with popular culture is their use of the online media streaming provider Netflix. Transformative learning is a concept introduced by Mezirow, and has to do with encountering ideas that present what he calls disorienting dilemmas. The chapter draws on elements of cultural media in which students are already immersed can bring new and diverse perspectives to complicated issues; it can even be fun. In updating and refining Abes and Jones's Model of Multiple Dimensions of Identity (MMDI) developed the concept of a meaning-making filter.
