Using improv to teach teaching

[Mark Salisbury]

What a very very cool site this is! Ok folks, I need your suggestions and intelligent musings. It seems like improv is being used successfully in a lot of contexts - business, med schools, K-12, public speaking, personal development, etc. But I am wondering about the ways it might apply to help teach first time college instructors how to teach - especially new graduate students who are assigned to teach classes and haven't the faintest notion how to facilitate a learning environment. Any thoughts???

[Marlon H D Emil]

my five cents

in terms of lecturing, the improv skills directly related to public speaking are relevant.

in terms of seminars and tutorials, improv facilitates a learning environment by encouraging collaboration and participation from all students

essentially the tutor plays the role of a mediator in a mass-debate. the most important skills would be advancing the agenda (i.e. what the class is actually supposed to be discussing) and encouraging contributions from quieter members without 'shutting down' the more active or noisy/opinionated participants. depending on the size of the class, they could be grouped into even smaller discussion groups and given their separate agendas, although this runs the risk that the teacher cannot effectively concentrate on all groups at the same time.

hope this helps!