1. What’s fun got to do with it?
Joni Dunlap
CFD & SEHD at UCD
http://thoughtsonteaching-jdunlap.blogspot.com/
Superhero powers: work avoidance,
mass email deleting, stirring two bowls
of hot soup at the same time,
knowledge of every pop song from the
1970s, squirrel-chatter translation, and
x-ray vision. My favorite color is purple.

2. Grab the popcorn…

3. Why care about fun?
• How can I get students’ attention, and get them
excited about the content?
• How can I show students a lighter, more playful
side?
• How do I help students connect, and keep
coming back for more?
• How do I help students explore their
creative side?

4. Fun = pluff???
• First-day/week of class = FUN!
• Lecture = FUN!
• Class discussions = FUN!
• Representation of understanding = FUN!
• Assessment = FUN!

5. Fun strategies…
• …to spice up the first day/week of class
• …to get to know each other: past, present, future
• …to get oriented to the course, delivery, structure

6. Truth-or-Lie bios
• I lived in Saudi Arabia as a youth
• My first car was a 1966 Barracuda with red leather interior
• I have been a vegetarian for 25 years
• I was a member of the road crew for the Grateful Dead
from 1989-1991
• I used to produce and direct on-air pledge drives
for public television
• I was held up at gun point and had my car stolen
as the get-away vehicle

7. Scavenger hunt
• In your own words, state the learning objectives for this
course.
• What is the purpose of the Weekly Survey?
• What is the best way to reach Joni outside of the course?
How quickly will Joni respond to email? And, when is it best
to contact Joni with questions, concerns, challenges, etc.?
• What learning objectives are addressed by the
individual project due on March 9th?
• What is meant by academic freedom?

8. Caption the photo!

9. Mr. Picassohead portraits
http://www.mrpicassohead.com

10. Fun strategies…
• …to get to know each other: past, present, future
• …to get to know a topic
• …to represent conceptual understanding

11. Soundtrack of your life
http://finetune.com
http://songza.com
http://blip.fm

12. Cloudbusting
http://www.wordle.net/

13. Virtual paper bag
http://flickr.com

14. Storytelling, soap operas, &
“Naked Came the Manatee”
http://voicethread.com
http://www.jingproject.com/

15. Story galleries
http://flickr.com

16. Roleplaying
http://www.xtranormal.com

17. Fun strategies…
• …for staying in touch with each other
• … for sharing resources, ideas, our lives
• …for quick-and-dirty assessments

18. Daily Mobile Photo Challenge

19. Tweeting the night away
http://twitter.com/

20. Fun strategies…
• …for assessing new learning

21. Test…oops, I mean game
• Stump the professor
• Phone a friend
• Name that answer
• Voting a question off the island
• What’s my line?
• Truth or lie?
• Are you smarter than a 5th grader?

22. Creative representations
• Story, comic strip, song, movie poster, sandwich
board, music video
• Puppets, action figures, super heroes, role-playing
• Virtual field trips

23. Final thoughts…
I ain’t making this stuff up…
I loved all of your “fun” activities. At
first I thought I would hate them,
that they’d be a big waste of time.
But I get it now, and see how they
not only helped me get to know you
and the others in the class, but
actually helped me learn too!!!
Thanks for a great class!