Humor as an Instructional Defibrillator: Evidence-Based Techniques in Teaching and Assessment

Grab those paddles. Charge 300. Clear! "Ouch!" Now how do you feel? "Great!" Humor can be used as a systematic teaching or assessment tool in your classroom and course Web site. It can shock students to attention and bring deadly, boring course content to life. Since some students have the attention span of goat cheese, we need to find creative online and offline techniques to hook them, engage their emotions, and focus their minds and eyeballs on learning. This book offers numerous techniques on how to effectively use humor in lectures and in-class activities, printed materials, course Web sites and course tests and exams.These techniques can convert any course into an adult version of Sesame Street. "If Dr. Hannibal Lecter ate books, this one would make a tasty hors d' oeuvre." -- Clarice Starling"A non-page-turning marvel...I could stop reading at any point and know I 'm not missing anything." -- Forrest Gump"Not as much fun as Quidditch, but would be required reading for faculty at the Hogwarts School." -- Harry Potter"How did you get this book published? Read my letters: YOUR KNOT FUNY!" -- Bart Simpson

Ronald A. Berk is Professor Emeritus of Biostatistics and Measurement and former Assistant Dean for Teaching, The Johns Hopkins University. He received the University’s Alumni Association Excellence in Teaching Award in 1993 and Caroline Pennington Award for Teaching Excellence in 1997 and was inducted as a Fellow in the Oxford Society of Scholars in 1998. He has published 11 books and 130 journal articles / chapters. These publications reflect his unwavering commitment to mediocrity and his motto: “Go for the Bronze!” He is a popular speaker on teaching and assessment throughout the U.S. and Europe.