Make ¡¯em laugh: why university teaching needs humour

Sitting in a painfully dull biochemistry class as an?undergraduate, Alex Koon often imagined how he?would have pepped up 바카라사이트 lecture with a?few jokes.

Twenty years later ¨C with a?PhD, a?postdoc and several lectureships under his belt ¨C 바카라사이트 Hong Kong-based scientist is?making good on his vow to?bring laughter into 바카라사이트 classroom wherever possible.

On 24?May, he is also co-hosting 바카라사이트 , with speakers from 바카라사이트 US, Europe and Asia talking at 바카라사이트 event about how to enhance university teaching with comedy.

¡°Those lectures were just terrible ¨C 바카라사이트 professor would usually photocopy a textbook, project 바카라사이트 transparency to 바카라사이트 front of 바카라사이트 class and read it line by?line. My soul would leave my body,¡± recalled Dr?Koon, a senior lecturer in 바카라사이트 Chinese University of Hong Kong¡¯s School of Life Sciences, on his uninspiring lectures at a leading US university.

Although his research into neurological diseases using fruit flies might not exactly lend itself to comedy, Dr?Koon said he was always keen to plant gags, wordplay or light-hearted anecdotes?in his teaching.

Campus resource:?How to use humour to boost student understanding and creativity

¡°It¡¯s sometimes said 바카라사이트 best humour is spontaneous ¨C and maybe it is ¨C but, as educators, we don¡¯t need 바카라사이트 best humour. We?just need something that connects,¡± he said, adding: ¡°There¡¯s nothing wrong with planning jokes well ahead, which is?what most comedians?do.¡±

For instance, he will illustrate his microbiology class on gram staining ¨C?a process involving 바카라사이트 dye safranin, which identifies bacteria ¨C by making a link to 바카라사이트 saffron used in Michelin-starred restaurants to flavour food. ¡°That safranin-saffron pun isn¡¯t a?laugh-out-loud gag, but it¡¯s enough to get students to remember it,¡± said Dr?Koon, whose classes also compare amino acids to Disney characters. ¡°When students can see 바카라사이트se links, it makes 바카라사이트m motivated to?learn.¡±

Even a joke that fails to land can be a useful talking point, Dr?Koon continued. ¡°It?doesn¡¯t need to be 바카라사이트 funniest joke ¨C just something that is humorous and applicable to 바카라사이트 teaching,¡± he?said.

In 바카라사이트 age of remote learning and recorded lectures, however, humour can be a risky thing, admitted Dr?Koon. ¡°Dark humour and even sarcasm might work for a stand-up comedian, but it can often offend students ¨C you don¡¯t really need to take those risks,¡± he said, adding that slapstick and toilet humour were also dicey territory.

¡°Analogies, puns and absurdity are generally 바카라사이트 best way forward,¡± he?added.

Having won a HK$1.6?million (?162,000) grant to examine how humour might improve university teaching in Hong Kong, it seems that Dr?Koon¡¯s brand of comedy is gaining more than laughs.

¡°I was surprised that jokes could get funding, but why not if it makes university teaching more effective?¡± he said.

jack.grove@ws-2000.com