Thank you ladies for a well put together presentation on humor. I loved the examples of the memes. For me, a few of these suggestions might work, but I must select carefully and not overload my classes with distractions. I wonder if you find the same for yourselves.--Dr. Priscilla Bamba
Thank you for viewing our presentation. I am glad that you enjoyed it and can find some of the suggestions that might work in your classroom. I appreciate the question, and absolutely we must be careful to not overuse humor. The main thing is to do what you feel comfortable with and to ensure it is appropriate for what you are teaching. We are not going to use humor just to use humor, but hopefully to help build relationships with the students and to aid in learning the material. For my classroom, I have a weekly humor post that I use after I have finished grading for the week, but I will also use it when I feel that a situation warrants it. For me, I think the most important thing is for it to not feel forced but rather be an extension of your own personality. At the beginning of the course there is a lot of material to cover since I teach an introductory course. I try to lighten the load by adding a meme to the material to make it a little less dry and to hopefully add to the retention since student tend to remember things that they find more meaningful.
Thank you again for viewing and for the feedback and question!
Very well done! Any presentation with both Willie Wonka and George Castanza is awesome. From the learner perspective it makes you want to check-in, keep watching, and/or participate to see what goofy but attention-getting thing is going to be presented next. A great motivator and interest-keeper.
Great presentation! I loved all the practical applications for using humor in the classroom. Thank you for including specific tools to get us started. I recall a professor of mine using a Far Side cartoon at the beginning of each class. I have to say that I was much more engaged and interested in the course due to his wonderful instructional style and sense of humor. I look forward to using these tools in my own online classroom.
Thank you for watching the presentation and for your feedback! I really like how you shared about your professor showing a Far Side Cartoon at the start of each class. It made me think that each Module week could be introduced using a comic or meme as well. I hope this use this strategy of humor in the classroom soon!
Thank you for watching the presentation! In finding and using humor in the classroom, you have to really know your audience. In many ways, I learn so much from getting to know my students and I find enjoyment in searching for ways to bring their interests in to the classroom through humor. For example, I was teaching a course on ground and the class was split in half, those who had seen Star Wars and those who had not. The students appreciated that I took the time to find ways of bringing Star Wars humor in to the classroom, since I was part of the half that had not seen Star Wars before. This just goes to show how humor can really help to build relationships as well as have some fun while learning. Thank you again for your feedback!
I finally had a few minutes to watch this and really appreciated the recognition of the value of humor in the classroom. I have taught a number of in-person statistics class and often even the brightest students come in with a tremendous amount of anxiety. Fortunately, my dry sense of humor works well in such a format but I would probably struggle online to translate it so I have jotted down some notes for the future!
We appreciate your comments so much. It can certainly be a struggle to show our true personalities in online courses. Student appreciate feeling connected and like we are "humans" and not simply computers grading their work. I love using memes, celebrating student accomplishments, and adding levity to tough topics, to help encourage and elevate the students on their academic journeys.
Gregory- all types of humor are GREAT! You might be surprised at how well students will enjoy seeing your dry sense of humor in the forums.
8 Comments
Dr. Bamba,
Thank you for viewing our presentation. I am glad that you enjoyed it and can find some of the suggestions that might work in your classroom. I appreciate the question, and absolutely we must be careful to not overuse humor. The main thing is to do what you feel comfortable with and to ensure it is appropriate for what you are teaching. We are not going to use humor just to use humor, but hopefully to help build relationships with the students and to aid in learning the material. For my classroom, I have a weekly humor post that I use after I have finished grading for the week, but I will also use it when I feel that a situation warrants it. For me, I think the most important thing is for it to not feel forced but rather be an extension of your own personality. At the beginning of the course there is a lot of material to cover since I teach an introductory course. I try to lighten the load by adding a meme to the material to make it a little less dry and to hopefully add to the retention since student tend to remember things that they find more meaningful.
Thank you again for viewing and for the feedback and question!
Katy,
Thank you for watching the presentation and for your feedback! I really like how you shared about your professor showing a Far Side Cartoon at the start of each class. It made me think that each Module week could be introduced using a comic or meme as well. I hope this use this strategy of humor in the classroom soon!
Randy,
Thank you for watching the presentation! In finding and using humor in the classroom, you have to really know your audience. In many ways, I learn so much from getting to know my students and I find enjoyment in searching for ways to bring their interests in to the classroom through humor. For example, I was teaching a course on ground and the class was split in half, those who had seen Star Wars and those who had not. The students appreciated that I took the time to find ways of bringing Star Wars humor in to the classroom, since I was part of the half that had not seen Star Wars before. This just goes to show how humor can really help to build relationships as well as have some fun while learning. Thank you again for your feedback!
Hello everyone!
We appreciate your comments so much. It can certainly be a struggle to show our true personalities in online courses. Student appreciate feeling connected and like we are "humans" and not simply computers grading their work. I love using memes, celebrating student accomplishments, and adding levity to tough topics, to help encourage and elevate the students on their academic journeys.
Gregory- all types of humor are GREAT! You might be surprised at how well students will enjoy seeing your dry sense of humor in the forums.
Sincerely,
Kimber