A University of Nottingham team has been recognised at the Learning on Screen Awards 2016, the UK’s only celebration of film and media production in education.

The Libraries, Research and Learning Resources (LRLR) team took home an award in the ‘Courseware and Curriculum Non-Broadcast’ category for their film From the “Just War” to the “Unjust Peace”. The film, directed by Alec Millward, features in the second week of the ‘Propaganda and Ideology in Everyday Life’ Massively Open Online Course (MOOC), a free online course starting Monday 16 May which explores the building blocks of our political views – community, place, justice and choice.

Can violent methods play a part in justice?

The film, produced by the LRLR team in collaboration with the British Library, is presented by Professor Maiken Umbach, Department of History, and addresses issues related to justice and protest. Learners on the MOOC are asked to consider the problem of violence and justice, reflecting on an exhibition of photographs made by Lee Miller. The photographs document the liberation of Nazi concentration camps, including images of violence against the Nazi perpetrators of atrocities. The course asks the question whether violent methods play a part in justice, and the role of war as a means of restoring justice.

As with other learning steps on the course, the aim is to generate an informed and diverse debate on politically significant topics that have relevance to our everyday life. When the course first ran in 2015, it attracted thousands of learners from over 20 countries around the world. Across the five weeks of the course, participants learned from each others’ experience and opinions, and drew on the leading-edge research presented in the learning steps.

Recognising outstanding film and media in education

The twelfth annual Learning on Screen Awards took place on Thursday 28 April, and selected winners across twelves categories from 44 nominations. The Chair of the Jury, Ian Wall, Director of Education at The Film Space, said: ‘Every year we see outstanding submissions and we always wonder if the high standard can be repeated. This year certainly did not let us down, with submissions making it very difficult to settle on our eventual list of category winners. I’d like to personally congratulate all our winners and nominees, and thank them, once again, for a thoroughly enjoyable evening.’

To view the winning film and find out more about the Propaganda and Ideology in Everyday Life MOOC, visit the Future Learn website.