Author: Emily Barber

Cliff Rouder, Assistant Director of the CAT

Believe it or not, there’s a lot of humorous research–I mean, research on humor–40 year’s worth, give or take.  Everything from theories of humor to the benefits of it in an educational setting has been explored.  Too bad I didn’t know about this when I was choosing my dissertation topic.  “Sorry I missed your final, professor, but I was out until 4:00 a.m. at the comedy club doing my dissertation research.”  Ahh, to dream.

Okay, let’s get serious about humor for a moment.  A review of humor in educational settings published in 2011 and spanning 4 decades revealed that appropriately used humor can do a number of pretty great things in the classroom, including:

• Creating or strengthening a bond between students and professor
• Easing stress or tension
• Enhancing students’ understanding of the material
• Creating a sense of wonder
• Making the content more relatable and helping students remember things better

I’m sure you can think of a time when humor had one or more of these positive effects in your classroom.  But what kind of humor has this power?  Here we can look to Instructional Humor Processing Theory (IHPT).  The theory is two-fold: 1. The mere act of students recognizing the humor will increase students’ attention, and 2. Students need to perceive and then figure out some type of incongruity in the humorous message.  

There are many different ways IHPT can be put into practice.  Google “types of humor” and you’ll see lists ranging from seven to 20 types.  I’m going to pick two that I’ve used in my own classroom that had at least one of the positive effects above (based on comments from my students each semester).  Which benefits do you think my students mentioned?  

Self-deprecating humor: I would tell my students the story of when I began my dietetic internship program.  I was rotating in the pediatric unit and was asked to check out a child’s eyes and nose–or at least that’s what I thought the dietitian had said.  I went up to the child’s bed and tried desperately to think of what nutrition-related issue may be affecting his eyes and nose. After a few minutes of not seeing anything wrong with the child’s eyes and nose, I had to confess.  Bracing for the worst, the dietitian instead burst out laughing.  Know why?  She had actually asked me to check his “I’s and O’s” (fluid intake and fluid output), not his eyes and nose!  

Physical humor:  I was role-playing a less-than-professional hospital dietitian pretending to assess a patient (played by a brave student).  I “plopped” the medical chart and all my notes on her bed, hitting her leg.  I then asked her questions while looking in the mirror combing my hair; I made a ghastly facial expression looking at her pureed dinner, and to add insult to injury, I made sure to trip over her IV lines.

Other types of humor you can try are plays on words (one of my favorites), improvisational, and observational, to name just a few.  

“But what if I’m not especially funny?” you may be asking.  If you are really uncomfortable using humor when it’s not natural to you, no worries, there are other ways to engage students. But if you do want to try your hand at humor but need a little help, without too much effort, you can find online or print humor that can apply to your course content.  You can also harness the humor of your students.  However, before turning your classroom into a Comedy Central TV special, note that there are some types of humor that should be avoided in the classroom.  Here are some handy guidelines:

When in doubt, leave it out.  If there is even the slightest chance that the humor could be perceived as inappropriate or offensive, then leave it out.  Think bodily humor, blue humor, and topical humor like political humor.  Remember, though, if something slips out that evokes a less-than-desirable verbal or non-verbal reaction, address it on the spot.  Sometimes eating a piece of humble pie is just the ticket to show that you are human and can take responsibility for your mistakes.  

Too much, Jerry. Too much.  This line from the sitcom “Seinfeld” highlights two potential problems: overdoing the humor to the point of distraction, and referring to outdated or obscure sources of humor.  Speaking of which, what about the title of this piece?  How many of you knew this was a take-off on the classic line, “Take my wife…please!” from the popular comedian Henny Youngman back in 1950’s and 60’s?  

I know what you’re thinking: So what’s the big deal if they don’t get the reference?”  Well, I’m sure you’ve experienced humor that went over your head.  It made you feel a little alienated or even downright embarrassed, right?  So let’s avoid putting our students in that situation.  You may be asking, “What if I preface or follow the humorous reference with an explanation?  Would that help?”  It may, but having to explain it kind of kills the spontaneity.

Perhaps the best litmus test for whether to use humor (and what kind and how much) is to ask yourself, “Will the humor enhance learning?”  As with many things in life, moderation and thoughtfulness are key, so when you see an opportunity for humor to enhance learning, use it judiciously and respectfully.  Otherwise, your classroom “show” may get cancelled.

For more on the benefits of humor and guidelines for effective use in the classroom, check out a few resources here, here or here.  

What has been your experience as a professor using humor in your classroom?  Humorous minds want to know!

Johanna Inman, Director of Instructional Technology for Teaching and Learning, CAT

I have a confession to make: I used to think nothing of substance could be accomplished on the first day of class. Instead, every semester I engaged in a first-day ritual that included taking attendance, reading the syllabus, and facilitating an icebreaker to help me learn students’ names. But over the years, I’ve come to realize that the first day of class can be an essential part of setting up a successful semester. Implementing an icebreaker on the first day of class is a step in the right direction, but research suggests additional ways to use that time to engage and motivate students through activities and strategies designed to accomplish more than basic introductions. On your next first day of class, consider using these strategies to take advantage of the first-day energy and get your course and semester off to a great start!

1. Use a positive tone in your syllabus.

A common complaint among college instructors is that students don’t read the syllabus. And yet, our syllabi are sometimes more challenging to read than the fine print on credit card applications. Over the years as we experience issues or problems in a course, we tend to add a policy or a note about it in the syllabus. Then the next year we underline it, maybe bold it the following year, then the next year we make it red. We keep stressing various parts of the syllabus until students aren’t quite sure what to do with it. Although there is no denying that the syllabus is a vital tool to communicate information about the course, learning goals, assignments, grading policies, and other university policies, it is definitely underutilized as a tool to build rapport and motivate students.

The good news? Small changes to your syllabus can have a big impact. For example, simply altering terms like “instructor” and “students” to “I” or “me” and “you” or “we” can personalize the writing and help build a connection. Also, adding a few questions the course will explore can pique students’ curiosity, getting them excited about the semester to come. If you’re looking for a more dramatic change to your syllabus, you might consider writing a “Promising Syllabus,” one that revises the goals, assessments, and evaluation language into promises and discusses how the instructor and students will both fulfill the promises throughout the semester.

2. Communicate the value of your course.

In How Learning Works (2013), the authors of explain that one of the factors contributing to student motivation is value for the task at hand. Generating value for a course can be fairly easy or extraordinarily challenging depending on several variables including the course content, and whether the course is a first-year university requirement or an upper-level course within a major. Regardless, the first day of class is a perfect time to begin intentionally aligning your course with students’ personal, professional, and academic goals. To do this, implement an activity that you plan to use throughout the course such as a small group discussion about course expectations or an individual reflective writing activity about students’ hopes for the class–you might even add a few clicker questions about the way the course will be taught. Not only will these activities help students focus on the value of the course, they begin to prepare students for what is to come. In addition, explicitly outlining the relevance of course activities and assignments also helps students answer that ever-present question, “Why are we doing this?”

3. Give students a little autonomy.

Lastly, you might consider allowing students to have some say in the decision-making within the course. This could be as simple as giving students a choice in which assignments they complete or how those assignments are weighted. You might even consider using the first day of class to collaboratively write portions of the syllabus such as late assignment policies or classroom etiquette.

Let’s Exchange EDvice!

What strategies do you use on the first day of class to get the semester off to a running start?

Patricia Moore-Martinez, Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies, Spanish and Portuguese, Temple University

I am rather inclined to silence – Abraham Lincoln

We take it for granted that our students can speak. They have successfully enrolled in an institution of higher learning and presumably have talked to a few people along the way. Some speak more and some less; some dazzle with their rhetoric; others lull you into a soporific daze as you wait for the pause and some need to be cajoled into a one-word answer as reluctant to speak as if they had been asked to turn over a treasure map or their puppy. But regardless of their proclivity, all speak. And so, we, as educators, ask them to speak and answer and we may include oral communication as a goal in our syllabus, or we might expect that students can articulate course concepts – but do we do anything to make that speaking productive? Are we the quintessential diplomat, knowing when to speak, when to listen, how to advance our goals – or are we mere messengers, transmitting, and hoping for reception?

As a language teacher, I am always maneuvering, steering and compelling speech. We know that there is difference between receptive proficiency (reading and listening) and productive proficiency (speaking and writing). I also know that when I speak, my students do not.  And thus, I can’t gauge their understanding, so I’m rather inclined to silence.

So, why try silence?   
Because nothing can be taken for granted. Because employers across industries consistently cite good oral communication skills as one of the primary attributes that their employees need. Because fields are responding to this need by researching the role of communication in learning or designing courses to teach and hone these skills. Because so often intentional instruction in the soft skills that form the foundation of solid oral communication is dismissed: it is assumed that students can speak if they have a degree; there isn’t time in a path with accreditation requirements to add another class; it is believed that this is the domain of another – Gen Ed or that communication class; teaching communication isn’t my field; as long as my students have core knowledge they will be fine. Yet, we know from Nobel winner Daniel Kahneman that how we express ourselves impacts our interlocutors. We also know from Saundra Yancy McGuire that one way for a student to improve learning and retention is by verbalizing the information, reworking it into their own language and teaching it to another.

Okay, but how?

We use silence – for seconds, for minutes, for a class and we decide what and how students speak in that time. The simplicity of our silence and their speech is that it does not require new lesson plans or elaborate preparations. It only requires that you know what you want to elicit from the students and why.

180 seconds of silence in a large class

When to use: You explain, with examples, images and clicker input, a new concept.

Students nod, take notes and the clicker practice indicates some understanding. Use

your silence to help students deepen understanding, moving from passive to productive.

How to use: Use your silence to allow students to articulate, with their words, the

concept. This verbalization teaches the student what they did (and did not) grasp

and helps them more effectively identify the holes in their knowledge.

Instructions:

1. Ask the students to review their notes. After three minutes tell them to close their notebooks.

2. Tell students they have one minute to explain a concept to a classmate who was absent.

3. Provide students with a logical procedure to follow. For example, suggest students organize the explanation into four sentences, each with a specific gist. (Varies depending on concept).
 

Step 1 – Describe the problem/purpose.

Step 2 – Explain starting point for the concept.

Step 3 – Continue with the next important point.

Step 4 – Complete explanation.
 

4. Ask students to avoid imprecision, for example, using words such as “thing”.

5. In groups, students verbalize their explanation.

Follow-up: In a follow-up lecture, repeat the exercise with a slight variation. Ask

half the students to quickly bullet-point a concept. Then, ask the other half of the

class to succinctly explain it. Allow them time to debrief to ensure that the oral and

written versions coincide. Present a problem which uses the concept.

10 minutes of silence in medium-size class of any discipline

When to use: Either through classroom discussions or assessments, you notice that

students have a cursory understanding of a topic and you would like to strengthen

and deepen that understanding as well as instruct students in how to present

additional points so that others take notice.

How to use: Give the students the task of identifying the complexity or mitigating

factors of a topic.

Instructions:

1. Organize the students in groups of three to five.
2. Review the outline of the topic.
3. If feasible, assign each group a different perspective to examine.
4. Instruct the groups to consider how their perspective impacts the topic.
5. After two to three minutes of conversation, tell the groups someone must summarize the discussion succinctly in three sentences. The group should decide the point to be summarized and the speaker should practice.
6. Give dos and don’ts for the summary. (Don’t read. Don’t digress. Do make eye contact with classmates.)
7. Provide the groups with models of a summary or language. For example, When considering XX from XX, the following factors XXXX……
8. To ensure that students not only practice speaking, but also listening, ask another group if their conclusion aligns with the previous group.

Follow-up: Repeat as time permits. Clear oral expectations with defined parameters will result in richer, more precise, more confident language.

15-30 minutes of silence in any class

When to use: Use your silence when the objectives of small student discussion

groups are a) to educate the class and b) to hone the oral presentation of complex

ideas with accessible, comprehensible language.

How to use: Use when an article or topic is multifaceted and you want students to

engage with the ideas. Use to prep students for workplace discourse such as

summarizing a meeting, their research or educating a client or patient.

Instructions:

1. Organize the students in small groups of three to five.
2. If feasible, assign each group an aspect of the topic to discuss and the resources needed (article pages, notes, etc.) to thoroughly analyze it.
3. Establish goals for the activity and assign the students roles: discussion leader, critic, fact-checker, hypothesizer, summarizer.
4. Brainstorm the language each role requires: lead-ins and techniques the leader uses to coax participation; approaches the critic utilizes to disagree; succinct examples of in-discussion sum-ups which signal close listening.
5. Give the students five minutes notice that final summaries of the group’s discussion are coming. Emphasize that the summarizer should practice with their group verifying that a) the content is important b) the order is logical c) superfluous and distracting language are eliminated d) there is a clear beginning and end.
6. Ask “the summarizer” from each group to report. To underscore to the summarizer and their group that their presentation matters and to the class that listening is important, require the class to take notes on the summary, listening for specific kinds of information.

Follow-up: Reassign roles and repeat with different oral communication goals and different student summarizers.

So, why not be inclined to silence?

Emtinan Alqurashi, Ed.D.

Do your students struggle to remember key points from your lectures? Research suggests that learners need to revisit information multiple times and in different ways to move it from short-term to long-term memory. Research on how the brain learns suggests that learners must visit information multiple times and in different ways and repeat practice of learned material or skill to move it from short term to long term memory (Hattie and Yates, 2014). Research also suggests that spaced instruction is better for the memory than massive instruction, and therefore, learning should be spaced out over time. 

Microlearning is a teaching strategy that utilizes small, well-planned units or activities in the form of short segments of content combined with micro activities. It is also known as bite-sized learning. Research on microlearning indicates its various benefits. For instance, a study by Giurgiu (2017) revealed that smaller chunks of content improved students’ retention of information and performance in an end-of-course test. Similarly, Liu, Wei, and Gao (2016)  found that students’ interest in learning and understanding the material significantly improved.

Here are some steps for you to create effective microlearning and consolidate learning in long-term memory:

Break down your content

When creating microlearning, one of the main steps is breaking down the content into small bites. Microlearning is designed to avoid cognitive overload by delivering material in short, focused bursts. It has been shown to be more effective than longer sessions for retaining information and learning new material/skills, as supported by Hattie and Yates’s (2014) research. The goal is to introduce new information, immediately revisit it, and actively use the material to engage students and deepen their understanding, ultimately moving the information into long-term memory. Microlearning is achieved by creating micro activities for students to engage with. These activities can be used to start a class or unit, reinforce difficult concepts, revisit information in different ways, or end a class or unit..

When creating micro activities, it is important to keep them focused, small, and short: 

• Keep it focused: Each micro activity should focus on a single learning goal, with a specific desired result in mind. 
• Keep it small: Content should be broken down into smaller units containing micro activities that can be followed by short comprehension checks or low-stakes quizzes. 
• Keep it short: Micro activities should be kept short, typically taking learners less than 5 minutes to complete on their own and less than 10 minutes for group activities. This approach forces instructors to focus on the most essential must-know information and identify what can be eliminated.

Examples of short micro activities:

When implementing microlearning, it is important to engage students with a variety of short micro activities. Some examples of micro activities include

• Introduction to a new concept (5 minutes)
• Think-Pair-Share (5 minutes for thinking and pairing, and 5 minutes for sharing)
• Jigsaw (5 minutes for individual reading, 5 minutes for group discussion, and 10 minutes for explaining to other groups)
• Mini-lecture or watching a video (5 minutes)
• Rotating stations (5 to 10 minutes at each station)
• Check for understanding quiz (5 minutes for the quiz, 5 minutes for post-quiz discussion)
• Wrap-up: Muddiest Point (5 minutes)

A useful resource for implementing micro activities is the paper titled “Mindful Moments: 50 Micro-Activities for Energizing the College Classroom”. This paper provides 50 techniques for engaging students in classroom learning, categorized into 5 minute papers, visual learning, critical thinking, assessment, encouraging student interaction, discussion and debate, and pop culture. Assessments in microlearning should be “for learning,” providing low-stakes mini-assessments to help students improve their learning. These assessments should be short but challenging and followed by feedback to reinforce knowledge, correct misunderstandings, and influence learning.

Summary 

Microlearning, also known as bite-sized learning, is a teaching approach that involves presenting content in small, focused chunks to engage students. In a live online or onsite class, consider breaking up lecture time every 15 to 20 minutes. For asynchronous classes, divide content into small chunks and follow them with micro activities. Microlearning environments use easily digestible content to help information move from short-term to long-term memory. The aim is not only to engage students in small activities but also to help them retain information in the long run. So, remember to keep it brief, concise, and focused, and those micro steps will eventually lead to macro results!

EDITOR’S NOTE: Temple’s tool for recording and sharing “bite-sized” video content is Panopto.

Johanna Inman, Assistant Director, CAT

Like many instructors, I’ve always included a plagiarism policy on my syllabus. For years, this was my approach to plagiarism prevention. When plagiarism detection software such as SafeAssign came along, I began to incorporate it into my assignments and often shared reports with students as a way to increase their awareness of plagiarism and hopefully further prevent it. However, not long after I began using this tool, an incident occurred that helped me realize this approach was lacking. A student submitted a 15 page final research paper, which SafeAssign identified as over 85% plagiarized. I had never experienced this extreme case of plagiarism. I was livid. After a review of the students’ plagiarism report, it was clear to me that large portions of text were copied from other sources and throughout the paper she had simply gone in and replaced individual words or portions of sentences.

I immediately called the student in for an individual meeting to discuss the paper. Together we looked at the report and I asked, “do you have any explanation for this?” The student did not. I continued to probe her, but it wasn’t until I used the term “plagiarism” that she exclaimed, “I was paraphrasing–that’s okay to do!” After we talked some more, I came to realize that this was her understanding of paraphrasing. She had always been told that paraphrasing was putting someone else’s ideas into her own words and that’s what she thought she had done. At that moment, I realized that I had had been shortsighted. While I had spent almost an entire class session reviewing MLA guidelines for in-text citations, references, and format, I had never explained the differences between paraphrasing, quoting, and plagiarism or provided examples of each. At that point, I helped the student rework a few sentences in her paper. Then, I asked her to rewrite the rest of it on her own and submit it back to me the following week.

Before this incident, I always assumed that plagiarism occurred as a result of laziness or intentional deceit. But as my story illustrates and the research suggests, causes for plagiarism are often more complex. The reasons students plagiarize not only include lack of skill or knowledge–as in my student’s case–but others such as cultural differences around ideas about intellectual property. For other students, plagiarism can be motivated by low self-efficacy or a range of external pressures they face to succeed. More often than not, incidents of plagiarism are ripe for “teachable moments” and can provide a meaningful learning experience.
 

Six Strategies to Help Prevent Plagiarism

1. Educate Students About Intellectual Property

In addition to clearly defining plagiarism and including a plagiarism policy on your syllabus, make sure to discuss intellectual property early on in the semester. Additionally, communicating consequences for plagiarism both in your class, as well as their career can help students develop respect for intellectual property.

Provide students with concrete examples of plagiarism so they better understand the concept. You may also want to give students an opportunity to practice citing, quoting, or paraphrasing (with feedback) before they submit a final paper. Make sure students are aware of important campus resources like reference librarians and the writing center—you might even consider inviting them to your class. There are also many online resources available, including plagiarism quizzes and tutorials.

2. Design More Effective Assignments

Another strategy that prevents plagiarism is intentionally designing assignments that are challenging or nearly impossible to plagiarize. One way to do this is to “scaffold” students’ research and writing process. For example, have students write a proposal in which they articulate a research question, identify some initial sources, and outline a plan for gathering information and writing their paper. Another approach is to have students complete an annotated bibliography, in advance of a rough draft, which eventually leads to the final paper. Scaffolding provides students feedback about their work and empowers them to succeed, while at the same time reduces pressure that could lead to academic dishonesty.

Assignments that are creative and specific to the moment or context are also harder to buy or copy off of the internet. You might ask students to make connections between course material and unique variables such as current events, local phenomena, or personal experience.

3. Empower Students to Succeed

Helping students feel that they can succeed is crucial to plagiarism prevention. Students are much less likely to plagiarize if they feel they have the skills and knowledge to accomplish the task. A few measures like scaffolding assignments, communicating expectations with a rubric, and helping students develop a growth mindset are all best practices that empower students.

4. Create a Positive and Inclusive Classroom Climate
Research shows a significant link between classroom environment and academic dishonesty. Students are less likely to be dishonest in courses where they have a positive rapport with their instructor. For example, courses where they know the teacher and feel the teacher knows them, respects them, and cares about their learning. The less “anonymous” students feel, the less likely they are to intentionally submit someone else’s work as their own.  

5. Use Plagiarism Detection Software
Plagiarism detection software flags most instances of unoriginal text, allowing you to quickly identify missing citations. Although the software helps identify plagiarism, you can also deter plagiarism by making students aware that you use it. Allowing students to see the software’s report can also point out students’ over-reliance on quotes and help them learn how to cite appropriately.

6. Respond Appropriately to Acts of Plagiarism
What should you do if you incorporate all of these strategies, but a student still submits plagiarized work? An appropriate response to plagiarism can also be an effective strategy towards preventing it in the future, while not responding reinforces a lack of academic integrity in students.

If you receive material from a student you suspect is plagiarized, first you should gather evidence and identify the original source. Then, share your evidence with the student to initiate a conversation and try to diagnose the cause. Is this intentional academic dishonesty, or are you dealing with a misunderstanding or lack of research skills? If you believe this is an educational issue you may want to give the student a second chance. Ask yourself if the student would learn by redoing the assignment correctly. Would they learn by analyzing the problem and reflecting on what went wrong? In many cases, this is an opportunity to clarify misconceptions and further educate students. However, in cases that clearly require disciplinary action, you should consult your chair.  Your chair can review the case and advise you on appropriate measures.

Let’s Exchange EDvice!

What strategies do you use in your teaching to help prepare students for scholarly work and prevent plagiarism?