Using Humor In The College Classroom To Enhance Teaching Effectiveness In "Dread Courses"

Humor is a valuable teaching tool for establishing a classroom climate conducive to learning. This article identifies opportunities for incorporating humor in the college classroom, reviews the impact of humor on learning outcomes, and suggests guidelines for the appropriate use of humor. Of particular interest is humor in "dread courses" which students may avoid due to a lack of self-confidence, perceived difficulty of the material or a previous negative experience in a content area. Appropriate and timely humor in the college classroom can foster mutual openness and respect and contribute to overall teaching effectiveness.

As institutions of higher education engage in organizational soul searching, the teaching activities of the faculty are receiving increased attention. Scholars in the field of higher education underscore the importance of effective teaching and facilitating student learning outcomes has become a primary concern of university faculty and administrators. Well respected scholars such as Ernest Boyer, Alexander Astin, and Sylvia Grider have highlighted the need for instructional improvement in higher education in recent years. The focus on the student is a fundamental theme in instructional effectiveness (Kher, 1996).

The role of the teacher in producing student-centered learning has been the subject of considerable discussion. Pollio and Humphreys (1996) found effective teaching revolved around the connection established between the instructor and the student. The behavior of the teacher influences the quality of instruction and the learning environment that is created (Lowman, 1994). It is the faculty members who primarily determine the quality of the experience in the classroom (Cross, 1993). Duffy and Jones (1995) describe the professor, content and student as interactive and interdependent, each shaped by the characteristics and requirements of the other two. Lowman found the most common descriptor of effective college teachers was "enthusiastic," and teachers are considered to be both performers and motivators. As Loomans and Kolberg (1993) remarked, enthusiasm and laughter are often infectious.

Teachers must be creative because of the critical role they play in creating an environment conducive to optimal student learning. Humor is often identified as a teaching technique for developing a positive learning environment (Ferguson & Campinha-Bacote, 1989; Hill, 1988; Schwarz, 1989; Warnock, 1989; Walter, 1990). When an instructor establishes a supportive social climate, students are more likely to be receptive to learning. Humor is a catalyst for classroom "magic," when all the educational elements converge and teacher and student are both positive and excited about learning. Instructors can foster classroom "magic" through improved communication with students by possessing a playful attitude and a willingness to use appropriate humor (Duffy & Jones, 1995).

The purpose of this article is to identify opportunities for humor in the college classroom, discuss how humor affects learning outcomes, and present guidelines for the appropriate use of humor, particularly in "dread courses." A "dread course" is one that students sometimes avoid due to a lack of self-confidence, perceived difficulty of the material, or a previous negative experience in a content area such as mathematics. According to Korobkin, (1988) humor can diminish this anxiety and reduce the threatening nature of the course by changing the tone of the instructional process. Research also suggests humor is helpful in teaching sensitive content areas such as Sexuality Education (Adams, 1974) and high anxiety courses such as Statistics, Research Design, and Tests and Measurements (Berk & Popham, 1995). By reducing anxiety, humor improves student receptiveness to alarming or difficult material, and ultimately has a positive affect on test performance (Bryant, Comisky, Crane, & Zillmann, 1980).

Opportunities to Incorporate Humor

Humor in the classroom can take many forms. In a classic study of humor in the college classroom, Bryant, Comisky, and Zillmann (1979) classified humor in lectures as jokes, riddles, puns, funny stories, humorous comments and other humorous items. Professors have discovered other creative ways to incorporate humor in classes such as cartoons, top ten lists, comic verse, and phony or bogus experiments (for a complete discussion of sources and forms of humor see Wandersee, 1982).

Humor may be interjected in various phases of the instructional process. For example, instructors could include a humorous twist to a syllabus by including a course prerequisite "must have watched 18 hours of Sesame Street" (Berk & Popham, 1995). They could use a top ten list to introduce themselves to the students, "top ten things you should know about your instructor" (Kher & Molstad, 1995). Humorous examples, test items or test instructions could reduce anxiety on intellectually demanding tasks (McMorris, Urbach, & Connor, 1985). Appendices A and B provide examples of how humor might be used by the instructor to help reduce student anxiety related to "dread courses." Starting each class with humor helps students relax and creates a positive atmosphere. Humorous breaks during a lesson promote learning by allowing the brain a "breather" to process and integrate lesson material (Loomans & Kolberg, 1993).