pedagogical humor – Comedy Writing Secrets

Online Learning

Who’s on the Exam?

From a student’s perspective, there’s nothing fun about taking a test. Yet research and classroom experience suggest that students actually appreciate exams that contain small…

Mark ShatzJune 9, 2026

Online Learning

Why Humor Is the Red Bull of Online Teaching

A professor is one who talks in someone else’s sleep. —W. H. Auden A teacher’s job is to educate, not entertain. And it’s certainly not…

Mark ShatzJune 7, 2026

Online Learning

Educational Tinder

“I will never forget my first day of school. My mom woke me up, got me dressed, made my bed, and fed me. Man, did…

Mark ShatzJune 2, 2026

Online Learning

The Classroom Demands Lame Humor

In comedy, humor is binary. Something is funny—or it isn’t. In most higher education settings, students and instructors self-identify their gender. Humorists don’t have that…

Mark ShatzMay 29, 2026

Online Learning

When Humor Hurts Learning

I wrote a bestselling book on humor writing, Comedy Writing Secrets. I know how to target humor, write one-liners, and even perform stand-up comedy. Which…

Mark ShatzMay 29, 2026

Online Learning

The Safest Target in Classroom Humor

A classic comedy adage says: “If there’s no corpse, there’s usually no joke.” In other words, humor almost always attacks something—people, places, ideas, or institutions.…

Mark ShatzMay 22, 2026