Abstract:

The traditional monologue of the lecturer and the close (or not) attention of the learners for following the lecture is one of the most common situations that one could find when reviewing the higher education. This way of teaching has being challenged with the arrival of innovative techniques that include a more dynamic concept of the classroom and a more active participation from the students. Several researchers (Burbules, 1993; Gibbs, 1992; Joyce, Weil, & Calhoun, 1986; Luginbühl, 2011) when looking for the most favourable teaching methodology in order to increase the performance of the students and the acquisition of knowledge have consider positively this kind of educative strategies.

Among them and related with the field of psychology, the superlearning techniques - built on the premises that We need to learn how to learn” (Ostrander & Schroeder, 2012, p. 1) - have driven a certain attention when searching for an alternative to the chalk and board. Together with that, an more visible of the role of humour at lectures has has been associated with several positive effects both physiologically and psychologically (González, Torres, & Carreres, 2013). Lastly, the beneficial use of music has been supported for example by Levitin (2006), who argued that from a neuropsychological perspective can be explained how music affects our brain, our mind, thoughts and spirit.

Starting from that point, in this study we have combined the superlearning techniques, using music and dynamics, giving a central role to the humour as a driver to the development of the lecture and the relation among the students and the teacher. 79 undergraduates from the subject of Statistics on second course of the degree of Economy in the University of La Laguna responded surveys assessing the effects that the music and dynamic had on them and in the environment of the classroom, and establishing the preferences they had among the different dynamics proposals used in the lectures. Those assessments will be analysed by using the SERVQUAL methodology, a wide spread method recognised as a valuable tool to analysing process of improving (McCollin, Ograjenšek, Göb, & Ahlemeyer-Stubbe, 2011) that also has had a practical application in education (Lourenco & Knop, 2011; Udo, Bagchi, & Kirs, 2011).

The results show clearly that the students’ satisfaction with the new methodology is high and that they consider that humour has played a central role on the positive effects identified during the lectures. This opens a door for the use of this methodology in other subjects and degrees at the university.

Keywords:

Superlearning, HEI, teaching methodologies, humour.