Humor as a teaching strategy
I've found a little humor can put students at ease and provide a shared experience.
I think that's a great point to make, James. It's easy to incorporate humor into a brick and mortar classroom, but I need to think of ways to include it in an online environment.
There are some great cartoons and other things that you can do to incorporate humor in the online classroom, but you need to be careful that you don't offend anyone (which is true of using humor in a residential classroom as well).
I agree. Most people need to make learning fun
I enjoy adding interesting and perhaps unexpected cartoons or pictures right in the middle of the presentation. By doing this I seem to really wake them all up!
I try to use humor doing the discussions. During Live Chats I find this to be essential to wake everyone up.
Great observation Terry. Do you has some suggestions you can share with us in how you use humor in the classroom?
Great technique to add a little humor to the class! Thanks for sharing Kimberly!
Great idea to use humor during the live chats! It is a great way to get students comfortable and ready for the chat.
But as a math instructor, I've had a student complain that my over-the-top examples were distracting (not offensive, but distracting). Has anyone else had that problem?
I find that I use humor to illustrate topics, i.e. examples of experiences I've had in the field. Some students seem to "get it" while it can be distracting to others...or they get off-topic onto other things. I find that I have to be careful about when to add in the humor, if I want to keep on-topic. This is my first time teaching online, so I am sure it will be much different!
Can you tell me a little bit more about what you mean by "over-the-top examples" Colin?
Using humor can be a double edge sword--it can be very helpful but used incorrectly can be very destructive, as you point out. I would encourage you to use it--but use it carefully!
Good luck with teaching your first online class Susan!
I agree completely. Students are more at ease with some humor
Humor can be a tricky thing, but when it works, it is great! Thanks for your comment Jana.
Michele
A very good point, Jennifer. Unless we have live chats it can be challenging to allow our personalities to shine through. Emoticons are a way-but it would be great to have new ideas.
I must agree that I would need to see what "over the top means" but I have found in the math world that some jokes people just don't get. My father-in-law who was a retired MD was often asked what he did in retirement. He said he spend his spare time working on Einsteins Unifield field theory. While I thought it was funny the normal person gave him a blank stare!
However, the advantage is we can't prejudge or make assumptions about someone based on their looks when we can't see them.
I have seen great applications of YouTube in this area. When I teach about creating optimal PPT presentations, I have found some great tools on that website.
Great suggestion Felicia. Thanks for sharing it with the group.
