The Power of the F-word at University

The dreaded f-word. I know it’s a dirty concept, but we’ve all got to loosen up and embrace it. The word I’m of course talking about is fun.

As educators, we often forget about fun. There are so many other things to think about. Rubrics, enrolments, engagement, assessments, and marking. These are important, but to me, they’re nothing without an element of fun. Fun isn’t just nice, it’s necessary.

Fun and Universities

Universities are places of knowledge, research, and discovery, they’re not famous for being playful. They were created to build knowledge for the next generation, not as a playground.

But even with these noble ambitions, you can’t gather thousands of young, curious people together in one place and tell them to sit down and be quiet. Universities are a wonderful place for young people to build friendships in and outside the classroom.

But recently, universities have started to feel quieter. On-campus engagement isn’t what it used to be, young people are more reluctant to come out of their shells, and this doesn’t just impact fun, it impacts learning too.

The Power of Connecting

Universities are no longer the social hub they used to be, and that’s okay. But we need to embrace different ways to connect students. For most students, the classroom is the time students feel most engaged. It’s one of the few times in life when speaking up and connecting with others is the norm.

In the classroom, students have an opportunity to connect with more than just the core material of a subject—they can connect with each other. This helps them become more engaged. This engagement is going to make a world of difference to you as a teacher, and them as a learner.

F** in the Classroom

When I say fun, I don’t mean delivering a lecture dressed up as Homer Simpson. I mean, that would be fun, but not my point here. Fun to me means something very different. When I say fun, I’m talking about uniting people through something unexpected.

Here are my three favourite fun things to do in the classroom:

1.     Opening with Silly Questions Something I do at the start of every class is ask my students a silly question. One of my recent favourites has been ‘What colour of food would you eat for the rest of your life if you had to pick one?’. I go through the roll and get an answer from every student in the room, and we have a light hearted chat about it. It’s disarming, helps me get to know them a little better, and they get to know each other better too.

2.     Gamify Activities Most sport students have a competitive streak, or at least they like to play games. That’s why I try and turn some of my classroom activities into a competition. Last semester as a warm-up activity I had students build the tallest tower possible which could support the weight of a pen, made only from paper. They loved it and the winning team was super proud.

3.     Learning Differently Time and time again I’ve seen academics design activities where students have to read something and answer a question. While it’s not a bad idea, it shouldn’t be the only learning that happens in a classroom. Get students out of their comfort zone by drawing, acting, or even debating. My students had a blast designing a new sport logo in one of their classes!

Final Thoughts

Everyone’s idea of fun is different, and that’s okay. Figure out what you find fun, and then bring that into your classroom. There’s no point in dressing up as Homer Simpson if that’s not what you’re into.

When you bring fun into your work, students are going to connect on another level which ultimately means they’ll have better learning experiences.

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