Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2025
Publication Title
College Teaching
Abstract
Some faculty design and teach college courses that incorporate popular culture, presumably to engage and spark interest in students. The purpose of this study is to examine student perceptions of courses that incorporate popular culture. College students (N = 464) were randomly assigned to read a course description and learning objectives that incorporated popular culture in general, the specific popular cultural celebrity Taylor Swift, or no mention of popular culture (control). Incorporating popular culture generally or specific to Taylor Swift had no overall effects on topic interest in the course or likelihood to enroll. However, students with greater interest in popular culture appear to be more interested and more likely to enroll in courses incorporating popular culture. Similar findings were noted with the Taylor Swift course. Students perceived less difficulty in the course incorporating Taylor Swift compared to the other courses. Faculty who teach such courses may use these findings to inform their expectations of students enrolling in them and ensure clear expectations for academic rigor.
DOI
10.1080/87567555.2025.2531340
ISSN
1930-8299
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Recommended Citation
Virginia Clinton-Lisell. "Life Is Just a Classroom: Student Perceptions of Courses Incorporating Popular Culture" (2025). Education, Health & Behavior Studies Faculty Publications. 89.
https://commons.und.edu/ehb-fac/89