ProQuest and ROCO Films bring award winning documentaries into the classroom

In 2008, inside the vast underground tunnels of the European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN, scientists waited, paced, argued and hoped as the Large Hadron Collider was powered up for the first time, marking the launch of what many called the largest scientific experiment in history.

Built to test the foundations of particle physics, the Large Hadron Collider is a 17 mile ring buried beneath the Swiss French border. It drives beams of particles to near light speed and smashes them together up to 600 million times per second, recreating the moments after the Big Bang. Powering it on for the first time held no small stakes: there was speculation that it might generate a miniature black hole capable of ending the world. CERN scientists rejected that idea, postulating that any such black holes would evaporate instantly, leaving behind an unprecedented glimpse into the structure of the universe.

The documentary film Particle Fever takes viewers inside the moments when physicists waited to see if decades of work and ambition would pay off or end in catastrophe. It’s just one of the documentary films available to educators through an expanded relationship between ROCO Films and Academic Video Online, the popular video streaming service from ProQuest.

Documentaries That Support Discussion, Inquiry and Learning Across Disciplines

ROCO Films has spent more than 25 years identifying and distributing some of the most acclaimed documentary films emerging from festivals around the world. With a track record that includes 18 consecutive years of distributing films that went on to receive Academy Award nominations, ROCO has become a trusted curator of high-quality, impactful storytelling.

ROCO Films brings both editorial expertise and a deep understanding of audience engagement to its educational work. Its films are critically recognized and widely used to spark conversation in classrooms and communities around timely, real-world topics, from social justice and public health to science, history and the environment. ROCO Films actively raises awareness of its titles through robust screening campaigns, bringing them directly to audiences on campuses, in boardrooms and in community centers. This means libraries can provide access to titles that are in demand and on faculty radar.

Through Academic Video Online, more than 200 ROCO Films titles are available alongside thousands of other documentaries and educational videos on a platform purpose built for teaching and research. More titles, including The Librarians, Free for All and The Last Class, will be added later this year, with the catalog growing over the coming years.

A Platform Designed For Educators and Classrooms

With unlimited, campus wide access to a large, multidisciplinary collection, Academic Video Online helps libraries support a wide range of curricular needs through a single subscription. ROCO Films titles can be integrated directly into coursework using the instructional features in Academic Video Online, including clipping, playlists and tools that allow faculty to embed pedagogical elements like discussion prompts and multiple-choice questions. Faculty can easily assign films, embed them into a learning management system and ensure access is easy for students.

Storytelling That Inspires Classroom Discussions

Together, ROCO Films and Academic Video Online extend the reach and impact of documentary storytelling. By combining ROCO’s proven ability to identify award-winning films with ProQuest’s robust educational platform, this partnership brings exceptional, thought-provoking content into the classroom, supporting interdisciplinary learning, informed discussion and meaningful engagement with the issues shaping our world.

Learn more and explore these titles.