HI Amanda,

I am excited to participate in this discussion. I avoid using humor in the classroom because I have a dry sense of humor and I am afraid it won't translate well online. I am looking forward to hearing what everyone else is doing and hopefully glean some new ways to use humor!!

~LaVonne

Hi LaVonne,

I can’t wait to get started, too, and thanks for chiming in!  I teach primarily online as well and it definitely can be a bit trickier with purely written communication. I have a colleague who similarly has a great sense of humor but is also much more dry.  He actually started doing his weekly announcements as little videos so that he can insert more humor in his class. It helps him tremendously, because when students can hear his tone of voice and see his body language there is much less room for misunderstanding :)  Plus the added bonus of more students getting the information they need, because they seem to really like the change of pace a video offers!

Amanda

Before we get going too deep I also want to share an amazing article by Banas (2010) titled A Review of Humor in Educational Settings: Four Decades of Research. This is quite a lengthy one, but if you are really intrigued by this topic and feel like to doing some “light” reading this is a great resource.

Why is humor important in the classroom?- the basics

Hi everyone!

I woke up this morning naively thinking it was Saturday for some reason, until my 6-year old literally flew onto my bed like a flying squirrel, singing something off-key about “hump day”. Here is an actual photo of my face after this disappointing realization:

Now that I have you smiling (or at least rolling your eyes), let’s talk about humor and communication.   Applying humor to classroom instruction is certainly different, and more complex, than simply telling jokes.  One of the major functions of humor is its ability to facilitate group cohesion and social relationships.  Humor also is an affinity-seeking behavior, which just means that when people think we are funny they like us better. This can actually act as a form of social influence too in the classroom- when people like you they are more apt to listen to you and do what you ask them to do. This can be very valuable in classroom management! What experiences have you had with humor in your classroom, specifically in terms of classroom culture and relationships with your students?

Did you ever have a teacher who used humor in their classroom? How did it affect the atmosphere of the class (positive or negatively)?

Do you see your own humor, or the humor of your students, playing a role in classroom culture?

What does this look like in the traditional classroom, and what does it look like in the online classroom?

Feel free to post or comment on anything even from the start of our discussion! These will be on-going topics from week to week :)

I love this topic! I tend to use humor, in my traditional class, that is a bit self-deprecating. The main reason for using that style is that I'm hoping that they can see me more as a real person. I also hope that they realize that if I own my short-comings, they can too. Another reason I am comfortable with that style of humor is that if I'm pointing the joke at myself, no one but me could possibly get their feelings hurt. I think that the role it plays in the class culture that I'm trying to create is that the class is a safe place for them to share and grow. I use the attached picture at the start of class, as I'm going over class policy, hoping it lightens the mood and sets the tone.

For me, I think humor is easier to use in a face to face classroom. I think humor in the classroom is important. It helps to build a relationship between teacher and student and help creates a positive learning environment! Amanda, I got a kick out of your post above. I am going to try using a meme in class to bring in a little humor. Do you try to post something humorous once a week or at random intervals? 

Amanda, I do use humor in my power point presentations. These are usually in form of cartoons I have found. Some classes such as Research Methods can be exceedingly dry so I put in cartoons quite regularly. 

As I teach in the mental health field we have to be very careful about the "dark humor" that is common in our profession. Some of my illustrations/stories in the class can be seen as "funny" unfortunately, it is very inappropriate to "make fun" of some of the circumstances a person with a mental illness puts themselves in. I warn my students that it is not appropriate to make light of a person's experience of psychosis. I use the illustrations not for humor but for educational purposes.

Recently I had a class in which we were having a discussion about certain symptoms of mental illness. Some of the students besides myself shared illustrations of some of these symptoms. Several students began laughing and labeled what I was describing as "crazy." I had to stop the class, redirect them and remind them that what we were talking about was not a laughing matter nor was it appropriate to label the behavior as "crazy." Several students struggled to grasp the significance of what I was trying to convey. It became a discussion for several weeks.

Amanda, I find it difficult to put humor in the online class format. Any suggestions?

Ron

Welcome to our discussion, LaVonne!  You and Ron both mentioned that you find it challenging to use humor in the online classroom- I would love to hear more about what the biggest challenges (or concerns) are with this modality in particular from you or anyone reading along with us. I will post some specific strategies shortly that can be applied to the online classroom specifically for everyone, so stay tuned! In answer to your question, I have both weekly memes, jokes, etc. that I post at a consistent basis but then I also will share things as they are relevant or also as things happen in my life that I find humorous.  Sometimes it is content specific, and other time it is unrelated.   The ones that are unrelated to the class content serve as tools to engage students.  I will post something funny and then get into the “meat and potatoes”.

What content do you teach and what are some of the biggest challenges you find with using humor in the online modality?

Hi everyone,

I love that image that Georgette posts for her students the first week of class!  Humor can be a great way to offset otherwise dry material from an instructional standpoint- we all have to go over class policies with our students at the start so that is one really easy way to introduce some humor that can help engage students’ attention :) For those of you who are a little hesitant with humor this could be a great way to start.

Ron mentioned below that he uses cartoons to help lighten up the dryer material he covers in classes like Research Methods.  I am so glad, Ron, that you mentioned being careful about the type of humor used, too. It is really important that humor is appropriate for the content of the class.   Humor should always enrich the class and help students become more engaged, motivated, or help them

Picking and choosing when to use humor

Ron- I have a clinical background (marriage and family therapy) and teach Psychology online right now, so I completely understand how setting a humorous tone in class can also go wrong if the content needs to be taken sensitively and seriously.  Just like with any instructional strategy or classroom engagement strategy, humor isn’t for every class so that one may simply be one that you maintain a serious tone throughout.  Especially online, I have noticed it is more challenging to get students back on track when they go off-task or things get “inappropriate” in the forums.  We don’t have the luxury of standing up in front of a live class and says “time out, everyone!!”

One other thing to maybe try and see how it goes could be to let students know that the class material is of serious nature, and then let them know to help offset the serious tone of the class content you will be posting weekly jokes, memes, etc.?  Just a thought, but maybe try that in one class and see how it goes?  Worse case- it bombs and you know not to do it again. Best case- you have a great new strategy ;)

It’s okay to make fun of ourselves!

Georgette- how interesting to hear that you successfully use some of the more self-deprecating humor to be more “human” to your students!  Do you (or anyone else) feel like you are someone who might be perceived as more serious and strict otherwise in your classrooms without the humor?  I feel like this approach is a good way to even out that balance of power in class and encourage students to not “fear” their faculty. I am always surprised to hear when students are hesitant to ask me questions because of that automatic anxiety/intimidation factor….

Hi Everyone,

I love this topic! I do not use humor too much in my classes, at least not purposefully. If I find that a student in my online class is prone to using humor, I will respond with humor to them as well. I don't do this with everyone however, because I feel it is harder to "read"
people or translate this in an online environment. I do think it would be great to intentionally add humor to the class as laughter is a stress relief and we all can probably agree that our students are often stressed! 

I think the memes could be a "safe" way to add some humor, possibly to an announcement or CAT that everyone could enjoy, so thanks for sharing yours above. I might try that next week!

Beverly

Love the topic!  I teach a variety of COM classes; however, the one I teach most often is public speaking.  I encourage my students to experiment w humor in their presentations so as to recognize that not all public speaking opportunities need to be dire.  There are great TED talks that I have discovered wherein I'm able to show them to my students, ask them to analyze the organization & content according to the standards as taught in the text, while allowing them to see the variety of ways that humor can exist.

I tend to teach during times of day when students are tired, either early in their day or at the end of the day when they've been in classes since 7 am.  Humor is a must!  I tell them early on that it's okay to laugh at my attempts at humor because I AM funny...just ask me. In the initial weeks of the semester, they are still "learning" the culture of the classroom, and some students are somewhat intimidated to laugh.  But, I find ways for them to experiment with using humor in paired and group activities so they become more comfortable with the concept. 

It's an absolute tightrope, and the culture of each class is different even if it's the same curriculum.  Honestly, my secret weapon is my teenage son as there are things that I think are hilarious and he finds not as amusing. :-)  

Humor makes us human!  I think most students want structure yet still desire the opportunity for self expression.

Blessings to the group!  Thank you for the topic!

Hi Beverly,

Nice to “see” you here!   I tend to be a bit more humorous with my students in the private forum of my online classroom and on the phone with them, too, because it is easier to respond with humor when the student seems to have a good sense of humor themselves.

I think knowing your audience is so important, too- more on that to come- in the face to face environment faculty have a good gauge on “day 1” of the general demographic of their students (Milisa shared some great ideas above on this as well).  When we figure out who our students are, then we can more easily relate to them in (hopefully) a humorous manner from time to time.  

Hi Milisa,

I can imagine that COM classes would be very fun to use humor in! Thanks for mentioning TED talks, as well- I use those quite a bit in my own classes. Have you ever used “crash course” on you tube?  I will post something on that shortly for everyone.  How wise of you to use your teenage son for a gauge on humor.  I have a 6 year old who seems to be quite a fan of “body function humor” at this time, so I won’t be using him just yet to help me with my class humor ;)

Using “Crash Course”- for any content!

Hi everyone,

Check out “Crash Course” on YouTube- I use these in my Psychology classes often as they are quick-witted and the students seem to love them.  Not only do they help lighten up the mood of the class, but it is a great way to engage our auditory and visual learners if much of the instruction for a class involves text reading:

"Crash Course in…"

https://www.youtube.com/user/crashcourse/featured

Check it out, and I would LOVE to hear if anyone thinks they want to try one out in their class this next week.  We have until the close of the month for our discussion, so if you try it out you can report back to us!

Happy belated Mother’s Day, too, for all of our mom’s out there in faculty cyberspace

Ready to give humor in your classroom a go?  Try one of these…

There are many ways to use a little bit of humor even in general interactions that are not class content specific. Some of you were wondering about the online environment in particular, and these can be easily used.  For example, perhaps it is a holiday that you can comment on in a humorous manner…. (do you see what I did there above….?) ;)

Using humor to convey constructive feedback:

Humor can soften feedback that might otherwise be received critically- this can help our “A” students who are not used to negative feedback as well as our struggling students.  When there are a lot of red marks on a paper it helps to soften a few of the comments.  Here are some of the ones I use in my feedback:

“Yikes! I noticed a lot of writing errors on last week’s essay…. Make sure you are proofreading please!”

“Ooops!  It looks like you forgot to include an introduction here for your paper- please make sure that each essay does have a solid and clear introduction and thesis statement, or the reader won’t quite know where you are going just yet with your paper”

 Share a story with a stressed out student (when appropriate):

One of my students was really stressed about a late assignment, as her young child had apparently dropped and broken her computer. Her assignment needed to be completely redone and she was worried about getting a zero.  So, I shared a story about my son who had decided to play a game of “football” near my own laptop last year.

The “football” was a 32 ounce water bottle.

The water bottle might have exploded all over my laptop.

I might have been in the middle of a draft of my dissertation and had not saved the recent revisions.

I shared this story, told my student not to worry, and she seemed to be a lot let stressed after that.   

More to come!!! I want to hear more from you all, as well :)

As soon as I read this discussion's topic, I thought of this youtube - 

Hi Lisa,

Thanks for stopping by-I love using videos! They are so much more engaging for students- in the online classroom it is a nice break from reading and then in the face to face classroom it is a nice break from our voices ;)

Have you used much humor in your classes thus far, and if so what types of strategies do you like to use?   I would love to hear about what classes you teach and how humor might fit into the content or modality. Talk to you soon!

Make your own cartoon- no artistic ability required:

I actually had a student share this website with me, where you can create your own cartoons or comic strips.  This is another fun way to incorporate a little bit of humor into the classroom.

I like to also task my students with these types of activities and ask them to make a comic strip/cartoon based off of class topics. I have some excellent ones from students that I then share as examples in future classes :)

If anyone wants to give it a go, please do share!

“MakeBeliefsComix”:

https://www.makebeliefscomix.com/Comix/

It has been a full 48 hours since my last meme post, so I felt the need to give you all a little something today :)

This is a great one to post with study guides for students:

I agree with Georgette's approach that attempts at humor in the classroom (online or face-to-face) are probably best if we direct them at ourselves so it doesn't appear as though we are trying to get a laugh at the expense of others. Also, some students don't find their grades or assignments to be laughing matters. 

Last weekend I was on the campus of my alma mater during their commencement activities. One of the long-time professors was retiring after over forty years of teaching theology. He has multiple doctorate degrees, but he also is known for his humor. Though he is brilliant, he is humble. His brilliance is seen in his quick wit (he's quite a punster) as well as his theology, but he also is humble in his expertise and in often being the target of his own jokes.

Hi, Amanda:  I've noted the links you mentioned above.  There's a few CrashCourse vids that would certainly be relevant for our classes.   Looking forward to checking them out.

edited to add: I forgot to mention that I've been able to have some profitable discussions with GCU's curriculum/instruction folks as we work together for the benefit of GCU students.

Hi Brenda,

It is nice to hear from you!   Indeed, the type of humor needs to fit the content and we also need to “know our audiences”. I enjoy the crash course videos for my Psychology courses, but I too will pick and choose which ones to use.  As you mentioned there is some content when it is helpful to insert some humor, and other areas where it is not appropriate.  For example, I do not use any humor in my section related to mental health disorders and I address stigmas heavily in those weeks. I have found personally that Psychology can be a course that takes careful consideration as far as the integration of Christian Worldview. I advocate in my classes for a complimentary approach between Psychology and Christianity, so I always keep this in mind when implementing both humor as well as any additional course materials.   I am glad to hear you are working with GCU’s curriculum development on the challenges that came up with this in your own classes.  Sometimes (particularly with humor) there are implicit beliefs that come across, and as a non-secular university we absolutely have to keep in mind the doctrinal statement as well as how it might be received by our student population.   Thank you so much for bringing up this important topic!

Hi Milissa,

I am so glad that these links have sparked some of your interest, and I look forward to hearing it you have a chance to implement any of them :)

Discussion Forum Title Strategy= Increased Engagement!

One other strategy I use that not only increases student engagement in the forums, but can bring some humor to the discussion is changing the title of each post and reply I make in class.   I tracked this recently and found the following:

In classes where I changed the title of the thread to match the topic of my post I had more student engagement (more responses from students) than if I had not in other classes.

In classes where I changed the title of the thread to something on topic and slightly humorous I had even more student engagement.

Does anyone else do this already, and if not who wants to give it a try this week???

Here are a couple of examples of what this would look like in the forums (I am so sorry this is tiny, but I wanted to share some examples.  Please zoom in and everything should be visible) :)

For this one, the post I made is as follows:

Did the online students think it was humorous? If so, how could you tell? Did any respond with a LOL, or a smiley, or with a comment about it being funny? It looks like perhaps those screenshots were taken before you read the comments, so I'm asking about the content of their responses (i.e., quality vs. quantity). Just to be clear, I'm not asking to see what students wrote, just asking about the types of responses they gave that indicated if they thought it was humorous or not.

I'll provide an example of a brief light-hearted moment in a class I recently taught.

And my comment was "Don't worry. I didn't take it negatively. I have that 'Oh man' thought every time I teach this."

The student then responded, "Ha! I would too! . . . ." and then the student continued on with the serious nature of the DQ.

Hi Brenda,

My students did seem to appreciate the humor in these :)  I also did indeed receive some great quality responses, too! I actually do not often see the “LOL” which is probably a good thing, since it is considered “text lingo” but I see many smiley faces and students who tell me that the post made them smile.  That “kicking a bad habit” one did not have anything humorous in the actual content of the follow up response, but the title seems to catch my students’ attention. Then, once I have them hooked and reading the post it asks them about some of the more challenging concepts for the week.  It ends up being a bit of a game where I “hide” some of those higher order thinking questions in the disguise of something non-threatening like this title post.  Humor can be a great strategy in this way to even just get students to click on something so they read it.  I do this with announcements sometimes too- I have an announcement titled “You won’t want to miss this!! Read me on Monday!” for example.

While I have the occasional student who posts back a one-liner, most of the time when they respond to these types of threads they do so with good quality responses. I find that when I lighten things up and also share an example that students can relate to, they are more likely to do so in return. The best part about this is that when they apply the concepts from class to their own life examples I can really clearly see their understanding. So, humor can even be a tool to help with assessment now that I think about it :)

The other thing I do in my classes is invite by students to alter the titles of their own posts, and when I see them insert some appropriate humor into their own response titles the classroom culture can be really fun!  I was worried this might not go well when I first tried it, but honestly I have not really had any issues with encouraging students to do this. I noticed that there ends up being much more positive back and forth discussion, and overall just a lot more interaction. When things are fun and not so dry I am also more engaged- I always try to remind myself that if I am bored my students are probably bored too.

I really liked your example and how you used the opportunity to not only build rapport with your student, but also help set him at ease a little bit.  That smiley face itself holds great power in changing the whole tone of a message online.

:)

Does anyone else use “the power of the smiley face”?

I tend to use quite a few of these myself as you might have noticed.  I had a teacher a while back who used the winking face a lot ;) and honestly it made me feel a bit strange.  She would put it with feedback and I perceived it as sarcastic even though I am sure that is not how it was intended.  Anyone else have thoughts on this, or is anyone else a little weirded out by that winking face? Does anyone use the winking face and find it valuable?

Good evening,

Humor in the classroom can be an amazing way to open people to learning things from a different perspective.  I love using clips from known shows, movies, or at times beginning a lecture with a funny picture, a story or fun activity that will promote laughter.  For that brief second, it allows students to identity with the subject matter or even identify humor with themselves.  A professor's ability to perform humor can impact his or her ability to relate with the class and to make the class enjoyable for all. 

Anovia Slaughter, PhD

Did you ever have a teacher who used humor in their classroom? How did it affect the atmosphere of the class (positive or negatively)? I had teachers that used humor and it effected the atmosphere of the class positively. The professors were keenly aware of how their actions positively impacted the students in the class. It made the us more open to express our thoughts in the class and it made the professors relevant as it pertained to the subject matter discussed.

Do you see your own humor, or the humor of your students, playing a role in classroom culture? Yes. As a lecturer, I have to relate to the students by keep up with the latest trends, slang, songs, shows, or Youtube clips. I use them to show my ability to relate without being something I am not. What makes it interesting is that I show clips that the audience can see themselves in the clips, pictures, or identify with the story. I see my humor and the humor of my students, playing a role in the classroom culture. It starts with the professor!

What does this look like in the traditional classroom, and what does it look like in the online classroom? In a traditional classroom, one may begin the class with humor by showing a clip, playing a small portion of a song, telling a story, showing a picture, or telling a joke. The professor can then use nonverbal and verbal communication to relate what was experienced the the lesson for that day. Students can ask questions or comment in real time. 

Online, the professor my attach a clip in the weekly posts with encouraging words as it relates to the subject matter for the week or the assignment given. People can then comment on each other's posts and bring up things to add to the conversation.

It was hard to see the the snap shot; however, please expand on changing the title to relate it to the topic for the week. Humor in the classroom can be changed to Relating through laughter or Laughter and learning?

I like to change the titles for two reasons - one to keep track of my own posts and whether I did them that day and two to instill my own brand of wry humor. I remember changing a title to "Here Comes The Judge" and in the body of the discussion post I wrote it wasn't Sammy Davis, Jr. - fully expecting no one would get that allusion. One of my students did! And outperformd himself thereafter. We just never know who we will touch, but research shows us again and again that we must relate in order to educate.

Emdin, C. (2016). Seven Cs for Effective Teaching. Educational Leadership, 74(1). Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1112152

Hi Dr. Slaughter,

Nice to “meet” you here in our discussion :) You mentioned that having that element of humor and positive atmosphere makes people more open to express their thoughts, which I too have seen in my own classes!  When I was a student, classes with this type of atmosphere always made me feel more like it was okay to ask questions and make mistakes. Georgettte mentioned earlier in our conversation how she likes to poke fun at herself to engage students in humor, and I remember having a teacher like this in my undergraduate program who would not only admit his mistakes but then laugh at himself for it.  As a student in that class, I always felt I could be b it more creative, ask questions, and poke fun at myself if needed!

Hi Lisa,

What a fun example! Sometimes I post on topics or make jokes (mostly pop-culture references) and if I do not get much of a response I always have the option to poke fun at myself and tell my students I must be dating myself ;)

Does humor undermine our credibility?

I work with a beautifully diverse group of faculty and have the opportunity to interact with online, face to face, part time, and full time faculty here at GCU in various capacities.   I have been asking my colleagues whether or not they use humor with their students to any extent, and it seems that most of those who do not (and do not plan to do so) avoid humor because they worry it will undermine their role as an instructor. They also worry that it might damage their credibility or cause students to try to take advantage of them as far as being flexible with policies (late policies or plagiarism policies for example). 

Before I throw some fun facts out there from what the research says on this topic, do you agree or disagree that this is a legitimate concern?  Do you worry that humor could undermine your role as a faculty member or your credibility in the classroom? does this concern prevent anyone reading along with us from using humor in their classrooms?

As always, feel free to comment on any of our topics from earlier weeks!

The first thing went through my brain was what does the research say about that? I have worked with students from PreK to graduate. They all seem to have the capacity to laugh. As the Psalmist says, apart from Christ I am nothing. I disagree that those are concerns - certainly not for me. Now, what does that literature say?

Hi Lisa,

Indeed!  I was happy to find when I looked into the research that humor not only doesn’t harm credibility, but it actually increases perceptions of credibility! This includes what is considered appropriate humor, of course.  There was a very thorough and comprehensive literature review published in 2011 by Banas, Dunbar, Rodriguez and Shri-Jie that had a wonderful break down of all the various types of humor and then their appropriateness in the classroom.   Some were considered always appropriate, others considered context-dependent, and others of course blatantly inappropriate.   The below types of humor where considered (based on the literature) to always be appropriate for classroom usage and credibility:

Affiliative- this is the most common and simple form of humor most people use. An example would be when we tell jokes about things that pretty much everyone finds funny.  This is the type of humor that people often use to help dissolve tension.

Psychological needs/self-enhancing humor- This one was interesting to me, as it describes the type of humor we use to defend ourselves or regulate our own emotions.

Power-based humor- this is any type of humor that helps create or maintain boundaries, status, etc.

Funny stories that relate to a specific event or situation

Humorous comments- brief specific comments that are aimed at relieving tension

Seeking funny others- encouraging others to be humorous

I particularly liked the idea of engaging students by encouraging others to be humorous- in my classes I place a lot of ownership on the students for their class community and I can see how using this type of humor could really help students take ownership and support the class culture/community. :)

Amanda,

You asked does humor undermine our credibility? 

In some cases, humor can undermine our credibility if there are things we joke about that aren't funny or if we make fun of someone intentionally or unintentionally that makes others in the class lose interest in your opinion. We have to recognize that we have build our credibility and trust with each person in the classroom; however, we only have one chance to lose it. Our words, the pictures we choose, the tone in our conversation, and our willingness to be open all play a part in how the class will deem us as professors credible or not. We must appreciate the opportunity given to use humor in the right way. Some people aren't at all humorous. Some have dry humor that all don't understand. We have to use our humor in a way to be relevant and in ways to relate to the audience we speak.  

Good morning,

I think that changing titles can help us to stay organized as professors and changing titles can bring interest in the subject matter before the lesson commences. People will be intrigued with funny titles or intriguing titles and changing the titles can serve double duty.

Hi Dr. Slaughter (and everyone!)

Great points!  I mentioned above a little list of types of humor that are considered “always appropriate” for classroom use, but there are other types that are context dependent or considered inappropriate.  These second two categories of humor need special attention, as I can see how using some of these out of the proper context would diminish credibility and/or be blatantly offensive. The context dependent types can be great when used in the appropriate situation, and then the inappropriate ones obviously should not ever be used.

Some of the “context dependent” types of humor in the research included…

Self-disparaging humor (this is interesting, because in our discussion most of us have actually found that this type of humor has been very beneficial to building rapport and supporting credibility!)

Jokes/riddles/puns

Humor unrelated to classroom material

Use of props, visual illustrations

Designing test items to contact humorous elements (such as using a humorous story as a math word problem)

The inappropriate categories will be of no surprise to any of us, but they include: 

Aggressive humor (Belittling others, ridicule, mocking)

Offensive humor (based on ethnicity, race, gender, etc.)

We have not discussed the use of Jokes/riddles/puns yet at all! Does anyone use these types of humorous elements in class, or had any experience with this (even as a student themselves)? 

What about in assessing our students' knowledge?  Do you think that humor might be a better element in summative assessment or formative assessment, or neither/both? 

We have already discussed how humor in the classroom can support engagement with students, establish rapport, motivate them, and facilitate positive classroom culture!  These are all wonderful ways that humor seems to be mediating other facets to promote learning. The big question, though, is whether or not humor itself actually helps students learn directly....

What are your thoughts, guesses, and experiences with humor in direct connection to student learning? (or your own learning processes)

Have you seen humor or laughter help students remember class content directly? If so, what types of strategies or tricks were used?

Do you think humor supports short term or long term memory any differently?

Let's stew on this a bit, and then I will be back with some fun facts about humor, laughter, and memory specifically :)

Excellent topic Amanda.

I do think humor helps us relate to students (and any audience) and therefore helps with building rapport. Of course, it will help if the audience actually understands the humor! Some people have more of a "dry humor" which may leave students more confused.

Hi Nate,

Thanks for your thoughts on our topic! I know colleagues with a dry sense of humor who do very well translating humor into their class interactions (online and face to face), and then others with dryer styles who have abandoned all hope of using humor with their students.  Either way, we absolutely need to “check in” with our students to make sure that they are both receiving our humor as intended.

Has anyone been unsuccessful with humor in their classrooms?  If so, what “went wrong” and how did you know that it was not received as intended?

When implementing humor successfully, how do you know that students are getting it? How do you know that it is supporting your classroom instruction?

Hello everyone,

Thank you all so much for your thoughtful contributions to this discussion, as well as for all those who may have followed along with us this past month quietly :)  It has been a pleasure, and I hope to “see” you all in future forums here on CIRT! If there is anything I can assist with or other questions you have about this topic feel free to contact me as this thread will be closed shortly.

Warmly,

Amanda Loftus

 [email protected]

Hi Amanda,

I try to use comical and tasteful memes in the classroom to lighten up the tension especially when a big project or assignment is due. I used a meme about a dog eating homework once before and that seemed to lighten up the mood. In addition, I noticed when I used memes, the students also felt comfortable using them as well and sometimes the images supported the discussion, so the example led to a fruitful discussion stream. 

Mirta

Hi Amanda,

Someone mentioned above that humor may undermine our authority. However,  I think as long as it is done in a tactful manner and from an authoritative position with relevancy to the discussion, I believe it can foster engagement in the online classroom. This doesn't mean that you should have humorous memes every week, but at least once during a session can make students feel like they are in a classroom of real individuals instead of out in the void. It can make all the difference. 

Mirta