STLHE 2016 SAPES

The traditional university lecture bears a striking resemblance to traditional scripted theatre. The instructor (i.e., actor) uses PowerPoint® (a script) to deliver content (narrative). An invisible fourth wall separates instructors from students, just as it separates actors from the audience. Both students and audiences are typically passive. This workshop will explore how improv – a form of theatre in which actors spontaneously co-create the narrative with the audience, and for which there is neither script nor fourth wall – can inform university teaching. You will be introduced to improv-based classroom activities designed to promote structured spontaneity and student engagement with content. These can be adapted to classes of any size, from small upper-year seminars to large introductory courses, and to any discipline, from accounting to zoology. If you have ever had an out-of-body experience while teaching, and during which you floated up, looked down on yourself and thought, “Wow, this lecture is boring even me,” or are interested in learning some engaging, in-the-moment activities you can do with students, then this workshop is for you! By the end of the workshop, you will be able to: (1)Describe the relevance of structured spontaneity to teaching and learning in higher education; (2) Implement a minimum of two improv-based learning activities in your own classroom, regardless of discipline or size.