Humor as a teaching strategy
I've found a little humor can put students at ease and provide a shared experience.
I agree with you Mark....I teach both online and onground, and find that being entertaining can be much more difficult in the online environment.
I believe that students that are able to realize you have a sense of humor makes you more real, more approachable, and sets the student more at ease in asking questions and asking for clarifications which ultimately will make them much better students!
In our interactive chat sessions, I often bring in little video vignettes which bring humor to the often mundane topics that we are discussing. As word gets out that my chat sessions are more than just text book lectures, the attendance at the chat session increase, grades improve, and retention increases...all positive things in the online learning environment.
Hi Eike, I agree that humor can often be misunderstood, so we try to use it sparingly and include emoticons to make sure learners understand the humor. Tina
I think this are all great points! I like to use humor in my discussion boards, but I also have to watch out because not everyone has the same idea of having fun :)
Hi Martha, I agree. One of my faculty uses an avatar to interact with learners and the avatar has quite a sense of humor, which learners get a kick out of. Tina
I also inject humor in my classroom. I teach medical coding, which is similar to learning a foreign language and I have found through student evaluations that they knew my classes would be anything but boring. It also allows the students to view the instructor as a human being and not someone who is going to stand in front of the classroom and just lecture. I also feel that by injecting humor creates a more relaxed atmosphere for the students to participate. Has anyone had any similar experiences?
In the classroom I am one very funny fellow, but the online environment presents many challenges for a humorist. I believe that the instructor should take advantage of opportunities to inject humor, but that the CMS content itself should be neutral.
Many forms of humor are dependent on one party being the subject or object of the joke. By using a search engine and looking up “Types of Humor,†one can find a variety of articles that describe humorous categories, which include sarcasm, overstatement, understatement, satire, and others. Examining the reason that many of these types are funny will reveal that, in many instances, it is the “trick†or the “turn†that brings about the smile or the laugh.
Consider the following from the “Joke of the day†website for 1/28/11. (http://www.ajokeaday.com/ChisteDelDia.asp)
A Cub Scout troop was half an hour late to its den meeting. The den mother asked them severely, “Why are you so late?â€
“Oh,†said one boy, “we were helping an old man cross the street.â€
“That’s a nice thing for scouts to do,†said the mother. She paused. “But it shouldn’t make you half an hour late.â€
“Well, you see,†said another boy, “he didn’t want to go.â€
Most people would find this to be an innocent enough example. Curiously, just last night I happened to be at a Scout Committee meeting where the phrase “Den Mother†was used and the speaker was immediately corrected by one present; “The term is “Den Leader,†was the reaction. After the apology and correction the speaker continued, but the tone in the room was slightly different for a few moments. I also recall many years ago hearing a similar story being told to my son, and his response was, “Why would they make the man go across the street if he didn’t want to go?†The fact that he didn’t “get it†was cute, but most of us have observed an adult that didn’t “get it,†and the subsequent embarrassment. (Sad to say, but he/she often becomes the source of more humor, at his/her expense.)
The point is not that humor shouldn’t be used, simply that it must be treated with caution, particularly in written form. In a live, synchronous environment, the instructor can gauge reactions and read the expressions to see if the humor took, or if someone was adversely affected by the comment. Apologies, if needed, can be immediate and sincere. It is seldom the humorist’s intention to hurt feelings, so inadvertently doing so needs to be corrected immediately.
I still inject as much humor in my live presentations as I think is reasonable. However, when developing content, particularly for online training, I generally leave the humor out, and let the instructor use his/her skills to keep the students engaged.
I agree that humor is helpful. Often, I like to make funny associations between wildlife and humans. We are animals and share a lot of behaviors. Students pick up on this and tend to remember things that they associate with humor.
Hi James,
You are so right in this area. I typically have never been the type of teacher in my actual classrooms to make alot of jokes. But, with the online environment I have noticed that the humor helps so much.
I try to have my students relax as much as possible and the one thing that really seems to help them, is if I make an error that I laugh at myself and not get upset that I messed up. I let the students know that no matter how much education I might have that I am always learning and can always make mistakes.
And in an online environment this is even more difficult than in a regular type of class.
Great suggestion Felicia. Thanks for sharing it with the group.
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.
However, the advantage is we can't prejudge or make assumptions about someone based on their looks when we can't see them.
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!
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.
Humor can be a tricky thing, but when it works, it is great! Thanks for your comment Jana.
Michele
I agree completely. Students are more at ease with some humor
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!
Can you tell me a little bit more about what you mean by "over-the-top examples" Colin?
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!
