What Do You Meme?

What's in a meme? Memes are relatable to a broad spectrum of students, so they provide a great way to make a connection across a variety of student demographics. Instructors use memes for ice breakers, concept intros, small group discussions, projects, and more!

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The CTLA has offered 15 Base Camp sessions over the last 15 months, so we start to notice when certain ideas for student engagement come up repeatedly. Here are just a few of the slides contributed by Base Camp participants that show the variety of teaching strategies that involve the use of memes: ​

What is a meme?
Merriam-Webster defines a meme as "an amusing or interesting item (such as a captioned picture or video) or genre of items that is spread widely online especially through social media."

Why use memes?
Memes are full of potential - for engagement, for thinking, for presenting, for learning. Here are a few quotes on the purpose of meme-based activities from our faculty who use them:

• "To assess students’ understanding of and ability to apply sociological concepts/theories in a fun and relatable way."
• "Provide students with a fun opportunity to engage with an element of the course content and communicate their understanding through a non-traditional and visual means."
• "To give students regular--nearly daily--check-ins."
• "...informal writing activity with the aim of low investment/high engagement that will begin the process of thinking critically and brainstorming..."

This PDF contains a series of six articles that cover ideas for teaching with memes, as well as reviews of free meme generator tools:​

Many instructors make use of animated GIFs, as well - try this link to see the live ebook version of the "What Do You Meme?" collection. In particular, the very first article (from Faculty Focus) includes some ideas for animated GIFs, which are better viewed in the live ebook than in the static PDF!

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DON'T FORGET - if you have other questions about Teaching, Learning, and/or Assessment, contact the CTLA! To submit a request for assistance: https://ctla.cgc.edu/help.html

HAPPY TUESDAY, EVERYONE!
Mary

BONUS CHALLENGE: Send me your meme! You can see my idea below on the right, but I want to see YOUR ideas!

Download the blank skeleton photo below, and use the meme generator of your choice to submit YOUR meme (email the image to me at [email protected]) no later than 5PM Monday, October 25th!! No tricks for the winner, just treats...