Perusall is a social annotation tool that engages students in digital course materials. The system facilitates student interaction via posts of questions, responses, and comments on the video, written materials, and audio sources. The platform was created to increase student interaction with course readings and course-specific materials. This paper considers the benefits and challenges of Perusall as reported by 28 students enrolled in a synchronous, online, upper-level social science course at a medium-sized Canadian university. Students described Perusall as “fun” and "engaging” because they enjoyed positive communication with classmates, and the system was easy to use. Challenges of using the tool reflect the need for students to learn a new interface and technology glitches such as disappearing comments. We include suggestions for instructors wishing to use Perusall in this paper.

Building community and connection in online courses can be challenging. Discord, a mobile and desktop app popular with gamers, is explicitly designed to stimulate discussion, conversations, and community. This paper explored student perceptions of the benefits and challenges of using Discord in two upper-year, undergraduate, online social science courses (n = 45). Key benefits of using Discord included connecting to students or the professor, building community, disseminating course information, increasing engagement, and establishing a casual, informal learning environment. Challenges were reported less often than benefits and included wanting a tutorial to use Discord, needing to check for notifications, and occasional technical issues. Future directions, including studies specific to the engagement capability of Discord, are described. Students suggested a more structured use of Discord might further benefit their learning.

This paper explores how Ludic Pedagogy – incorporating fun, play, playfulness, and positivity into learning – can address challenges to student disengagement and academic integrity. We use the case of the AI predictive text tool ChatGPT to illustrate how intrinsic motivation can come from students' enjoyment and satisfaction with learning. We make two proposals: first, by using Ludic Pedagogy principles and approaching ChatGPT with curiosity and experimentation, students can engage more actively with their learning and may be less likely to “cheat” on academic assignments. Second, designing authentic assessments that are completed with a sense of positivity may negate the usefulness of ChatGPT as a tool for academic dishonesty. Adopting a Ludic Pedagogy has implications for learning environments and assessment whereby educators may turn a technological “threat” into a learning opportunity, and students may experience heightened engagement.

In October 2017, author and activist Kate Harding posted a satirical tweet “apologizing” for her history of stabbing men at her previous workplace. The tweet drew attention to the “apologies” offered by men accused of sexual assault, many of which have been issued via social media. This paper is an analysis of a sample (N=489) of tweets made in reply to Harding. Results indicate that the subversive humour in Harding’s tweet and replies made in the thread affirm rather than denigrate women and offer both men and women the opportunity to understand more clearly the injustice experienced by women who are victims of sexual assault. Overarching themes in rape culture are reflected in the data, together with more nuanced and specific rape myths. Tweets made in reply to Harding highlight injustices associated with the hierarchy inherent in the gender binary, and the absence of transgender and nonbinary people in the tweets is noted.

The COVID-19 pandemic shifted almost all of undergraduate student life online:  students learned, studied, communicated, and participated in university activities via online channels (or, at least they tried to).  As classes went virtual and labs held online, campus pub nights dried up and were replaced by attempts at online game nights or meetups.  This chapter outlines how students identified their needs and experiences during the pandemic via TikTok.  Although mental health has always been an important element of the student experience, the pandemic magnified mental health issues due to struggles with emotional, social and physical distance from others, online teaching and learning, health challenges, and financial hardship.  This examination of TikTok posts shows that while stress, overwhelm, confusion, anxiety, and depression were part of the student identify before the pandemic, the pandemic heightened and pronounced these most challenging parts of student life.  

University is not for the weak: Student communication of mental health on Twitter. Journal of Digital Life and Learning, 2(2), 27-51. https://ojs.scholarsportal.info/ontariotechu/index.php/dll/article/view/204/132

Well before the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated postsecondary students' mental health challenges, students were already struggling with issues that were pervasive in higher education, including anxiety, depression, overwhelm, burnout, and difficulty accessing mental health supports. This paper examines 1007 Twitter posts pertaining to higher education students' mental health between February 2019 and March 2021. Students expressed feelings that their institutions did not care about sound mental health and that higher education is an environment primed for anxiety and depression. Students also expressed a desire for timely, online counselling and closer contact and communication with their instructors. Online/virtual therapy/counsellingwas particularly valuable for students, and they appreciated accommodations that faculty made for them during the pandemic. Students also used Twitter to offer support and encouragement to one another. This study has implications for pedagogical developments and revisions to mental health supports available to college and university students in both online and face-to-face environments.

Ludic Pedagogy: Taking a serious look at fun in the COVID-19 classroom and beyond. Educational Considerations, 48(1). https://newprairiepress.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2324&context=edconsiderations

​The COVID-19 pandemic has affected deep reflection in higher education classrooms: how do we attract and retain students to (temporary but nevertheless increasing) online learning experiences, how do we keep them at our universities and colleges, and how do we give students a learning experience from which they will remember meaningful information? In this paper, we introduce a new pedagogical framework that we call Ludic Pedagogy. We address the four elements of this model: fun, positivity, play, and playfulness. Each of the elements is described in turn, together with literature outlining how each contributes to a positive classroom environment that helps students engage with and learn course content. Examples of how the authors have used this pedagogical model are included and described. We suggest that instructors consider using the Ludic Pedagogy model so as to improve engagement, learning outcomes, and retention in their classes and broader university/college contexts.

Ludic pedagogy online: Fun, play, playfulness, and positivity. In, R. H. Kay, & W. J. Hunter (Eds.), Thriving online: A guide for busy educators (pp. 205-216). Ontario Tech University. https://doi.org/10.51357/HGJK8068

Online teaching and learning provides a unique environment for fun and play -- and it is indeed possible to have some fun in virtual environments. This chapter gives readers specific suggestions for how to make your online classes more fun, embrace more play, engage with a spirit of playfulness, and how to approach the online teaching and learning environment with a sense of positivity.

Fair and formative feedback in online learning. In, R. H. Kay, & W. J. Hunter (Eds.), Thriving online: A guide for busy educators (pp. 236-247). Ontario Tech University. https://doi.org/10.51357/DLSC5521

​Undergraduate assessment can mean a lot more than exams, quizzes and boring essays. This chapter provides clear and accessible opportunities for providing feedback to students with an aim toward encouragement and improvement -- and even some enjoyment!

Equitable assessment in online environments. In, R. H. Kay, & W. J. Hunter (Eds.), Thriving online: A guide for busy educators (pp. 248-256). Ontario Tech University. https://doi.org/10.51357/CEFD2689

This chapter addresses assessment in online environments, with creative strategies to ensure equity, particularly in online teaching and learning.

Alternative grading in online learning. In, R. H. Kay, & W. J. Hunter (Eds.), Thriving online: A guide for busy educators (pp. 257-265). Ontario Tech University. https://doi.org/10.51357/VBAS3039

This chapter provides practical guidance on how to reconsider, restructure, and reassess how students can demonstrate learning in online environments.

The not-interview: Social media’s role in student suitability for work. In L. Forbes & D. Thomas (Eds.), Professors at Play Playbook (pp. 145-147). ETC Press.

This invited pedagogical contribution outlines a fun activity that instructors can use to teach the impact of social media and job preparedness.

Interactive online lectures. In, R. H. Kay, & W. J. Hunter (Eds.), Thriving online: A guide for busy educators (pp. 193-204). Ontario Tech University. https://doi.org/10.51357/PCPH7148

This chapter outlines how instructors can approach online "lectures" with creativity and enthusiasm. Practical strategies and advice are provided.

Using media to teach media: How the scholarship of teaching and learning slayed the online scene. Flow TV. https://www.flowjournal.org/2021/03/using-media-to-teach-media/

This lively piece outlines how social media came to the rescue for communication scholars teaching in “emergency online” context in 2020.

Ancient text, modern context: Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras and the twenty-first century veg(etari)an. In C. Haganu-Bresch and K. Kondrlik (Eds.), Rhetorics of Vegetarianism. The Palgrave Macmillan Animal Ethics Series. 119- 139. doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53280-2_5

An increase in the popularity of yoga in the west runs concurrent with an increase in self-declared vegans and vegetarians. The conviction for and adherence to an animal-free diet can be identified as following the core principles of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. An ancient text which provides an instruction to yoga practitioners regarding their personal and moral conduct, the Yoga Sutras are laid out in a series of “chapters” known as the yama and niyamas. These prescribed behaviors and practices serve as a guide for yoga practitioners seeking a fulfilling life. This chapter outlines the precepts of each of the yamas and niyamas, together with how their interpretation in modern western yoga culture points to a clear prescription toward vegetarianism and veganism in the yoga community. Interpretations of the yamas and niyamas are applied to contemporary issues, and give modern relevance to an ancient text, together with an explanation for how and why many in the yoga community have a conviction to a vegetarian/vegan diet.

Taking a student-centred approach to alternative digital credentials: Multiple pathways toward the acquisition of microcredentials. In D. Piedra (Ed.), Handbook of research on innovations in the use of alternative digital credentials. IGI Global.

This bold chapter describes how microcredentials outght not be a cash grab for universities but should rather serve students in their objectives to learn, grow, and explore.

A feminist autoethography of academic performance on Twitter: Community, creativity, and comedy. Critical Reflections and Politics on Advancing Women in the Academy. Edited by S. Cote-Meek, T. Moeke-Pickering, & A. Pegoraro. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.

​The online arena is rife with mansplaining, harassment, and intimidation of women. Similarly, women in academia operate in a traditionally patriarchal, misogynistic environment. What happens when a female academic creates a vibrant online presence? This chapter is an autoethnographic account of my experiences managing the public, online performance of a female scholar (@AcademicBatgirl) with the objective to create and cultivate community. I argue that in the online landscape, prosocial behaviour is essential in creating community and sustaining cohesion. I address the prosocial effects of humour, including examples of memes that I created and posted on Twitter. I also address pitfalls relative to student shaming that I recommend academics avoid in any online or offline forum.

Dirty John [Television series]. Cunningham, A. & Goffard, C. (Writers). Women’s Studies in Communication, 43(3), 320-322, doi: 10.1080/07491409.2020.1803653

This comprehensive review of true docuseries Dirty John outlines the feminist issues addressed in this series, and in particular the inability of many contemporary structures to acknowledge abuse that is not physical.

The practice of nonviolence: Teaching an undergraduate course in nonviolent communication. Journal of Communication Pedagogy, 2, 103-110. doi: 10.31446/JCP.2019.19

This Best Practices article outlines 10 tips relative to teaching a course in Nonviolent Communication (NVC). It outlines suggestions for readings, activities, and projects throughout a semester-long undergraduate course. The article addresses how students can learn both the theory and practice of nonviolence by means of readings and activities that address social problems such as sexism, racism, bias, and violence against oneself

and the earth. Specific suggestions are provided for creative ways in which students can be engaged with readings so that they have ownership of their in-class experience. Details regarding an independent long-term project providing freedom of creativity in out-of-class work are included, as well as suggestions for interactive,face-to-face activities in class.

Darkness as the frenemy: Social media, student shaming, and building academic culture. Communication Education, 68(3), 396-393. doi: 10.1080/03634523.2019.1609055

This is a meme-filled, fun, visually-rich piece on why faculty should stop shaming students online.