About
Doc Academy is the school program of Doc Society, providing free, easy-to-use resources for secondary school teachers, including:
- Short clips from critically-acclaimed documentary films
- Standards-aligned lesson plans for high school classrooms, including learning pathways for English Language Arts, Social Studies, History, Film Studies, STEM, and other related subjects
- Original content made by and tested with teachers
Doc Academy supports teachers to meet key curriculum targets while using documentary film to engage students in thinking about the world, society and their place in it.
The platform is already being used in a quarter of UK high schools and all the evidence suggests thoughtful and innovative use of non-fiction film in the classroom is unlocking key skills to navigate complex media and teach active listening, critical thinking, civic and media fluency, social and emotional learning.
Doc Society is eager to extend this model globally, and has partnered with Blueshift Education to adapt the platform to United States’ high schools and educational community
Blueshift Education, an education studio based in Colorado, partnered with Doc Society to produce Doc Academy for the U.S. context. Blueshift believes in the power of documentary media to improve education, build empathy and drive positive social change. Blueshift creates educational resources, develops new tools, and crafts strategies to translate nonfiction media for all educational audiences - from classrooms to board rooms, to professional and community based settings of all kinds. With decades of training and expertise in education, environmental sustainability, human rights, public health, and social justice, the Blueshift team brings an interdisciplinary and rigorous approach to the creation of educational strategy, outreach and impact resources to extend the value and reach of great works of art and deepen audience engagement.
Doc Society is a dynamic think tank on a mission to ensure the sustainable future of documentary film in the face of challenges from the changing media, broadcast, funding and social landscape.
Founded in 2005, Doc Society is a nonprofit committed to enabling great documentary films and connecting them to audiences globally. Doc Society is supported by a number of US and European Foundations including Ford Foundation and Bertha Foundation. With offices in in London and New York, Doc Society works with filmmakers and partners all over the world.
For more information about the films Doc Society has funded and other projects please go to docsociety.org.
The US program has received major support from the Perspective Fund and Open Society Foundation.
Doc Academy was conceived by Doc Society in collaboration with the designer Luke Williams-Ellis, whose persistent encouragement was instrumental in the development of the project. The idea came off paper and was made real with the guidance of our good friends and partners at Riley Productions, with seed funding from Grierson Trust, website build by Stu Tily and design by Doc Society's Creative Director, James Franklin.
