It’s easy to predict the premature demise of an educator’s career. A teacher can start cleaning out their desk if they need to tell an administrator, “I was just joking.”
When using potentially “risky” humor in the traditional classroom, a teacher’s delivery can signal an impending joke and potentially minimize any adverse reactions. Students also provide immediate feedback that indicates whether the humor was appropriate.
I’m comfortable pushing the comedic envelope during in-person instruction because I can read a room and avoid going too far. Also, I work very hard at establishing a solid teacher-student relationship that allows me the freedom to stray from the subject.
In the virtual classroom, it’s impossible to embellish humor with nonverbal cues or quickly retract humor that doesn’t work. Also, there is often a paper trail for the PC police.
Even with a high humor IQ, an instructor rolls the dice when using humor during remote learning. I take a zero-risk approach to instructional humor in the virtual classroom by paying close attention to my humor targets. The online classroom’s safest targets are the same as the traditional classroom—the teacher and course material. Also, before I make fun of something other than myself, I carefully deliberate whether humor is needed.
For example, when covering animal intelligence in the traditional classroom, I open with students debating whether cats or dogs are more intelligent. The ensuing discussion illustrates the challenge of defining the concept of intelligence. Plus, the set-up allows me to make fun of either pet or their owners.
Sadly, I avoid the same activity in online instruction because I’m afraid that the humor might backfire in a virtual setting. Also, I’m confident that PETA will file a cease-and-desist order even though “I was just joking.”
