College classroom humor: even the pundits can benefit

Student engagement continues to be one of the biggest challenges facing academia today. Educators often possess the knowledge needed to teach a class but lack the technique or approach with which to make the content engaging. In addition, students face myriad distractions as part of their everyday lives, complicating our ability to better connect with them. One way to cut through the distraction and reach the student is the use of humor, which has an empirical positive effect on the student learning experience. That being said, not all educators feel comfortable integrating humor into their classes. Often times they feel they either lack the ability to be funny or believe it is inappropriate to their classes. This paper discusses the positive impact humor can have on student learning and recommends ways all educators can apply it. Beyond simple joke telling, faculty can employ funny videos, assignments, and assessments which can be used to enhance the student learning experience. Through anecdotes and personal examples, this article provides techniques that all teachers can use to liven up their classroom and improve their evaluations.
Class begins at 7:30 in the morning and the mood is bleak. The students trickle into the barren classroom looking as if they had just wrestled themselves out of bed. [...]