{
  "$type": "site.standard.document",
  "content": "---\ntitle: \"Respectful Learning Memes\"\ndescription: \"Students make brilliant memes to explain course content to each other---so why not make that an official part of the class?\"\ntags:\n  - teaching\n---\n\nimport Picture from \"@/components/Picture.astro\";\n\n:::info[Note]\n\nThis post was noticed by the good folks at the\n[ANU Centre for Learning and Teaching](https://services.anu.edu.au/business-units/centre-for-learning-teaching),\nand they asked if they could syndicate it on their Interact blog---so you can\n[read it there](https://interact.weblogs.anu.edu.au/2021/03/03/respectful-learning-memes/)\nas well.\n\n:::\n\nA few years ago I re-wrote one of our core\n[computer architecture courses](https://cs.anu.edu.au/courses/comp2300/) (it has\nthe course code COMP2300). It's a large (400+ students) compulsory course, so\nthere's a spread of different levels of interest, aptitude & enthusiasm in the\nstudent cohort.\n\nOne of the tricky parts of COMP2300 is that it doesn't use a high-level\nprogramming language (with recognisable keywords like `if`, `else`, `for`, etc.)\nwhere a function which adds two integers (whole numbers) together might look\nlike this:\n\n```c\nint add(int a, int b) {\n  return a + b;\n}\n```\n\nInstead, in COMP2300 all the programming is done in \"assembly\" language, which\nis fairly close to the direct stream of bytes that the CPU sees as it's\nexecuting your code. But it's less readable to humans---the above `add` function\nmight look like this in assembly language:\n\n```armasm\nadd:\n  sub  sp, sp, #8\n  str  r0, [sp, #4]\n  str  r1, [sp]\n  ldr  r0, [sp, #4]\n  ldr  r1, [sp]\n  add  r0, r0, r1\n  add  sp, sp, #8\n  bx   lr\n```\n\nWhile this is a great chance to learn how CPUs work, the unfamiliarity can be\nchallenging---and the students aren't shy about saying so.\n\nOne thing I've learned over the last few years is that for every \"official\"\ncourse forum or communication channel, there's _at least_ one shadow channel\nthat's created somewhere else. These Facebook/WhatsApp/Insta/WeChat/TikTok/etc. channels are\nwhere the students really let their hair down and say what they think about the\ncourse.\n\nOne unexpected (to me) upside of these channels is that as the students chat\nwith one another, they come up with some really helpful explanations of the\nconcepts they're struggling with in the course material. And they're _really_\ngood at making **memes**. Here are just a few of the ones which I've seen end up\non the allowed \"cheat sheets\" in the COMP2300 final exam.\n\n<Picture file=\"posts/respectful-learning-memes/comp2300-offramp.webp\" alt=\"COMP2300 offramp meme\" />\n\n---\n\n<Picture\n  file=\"posts/respectful-learning-memes/comp2300-galaxy-brain.webp\"\n  alt=\"COMP2300 galaxy brain meme\"\n/>\n\n---\n\n<Picture\n  file=\"posts/respectful-learning-memes/comp2300-joey.webp\"\n  alt=\"COMP2300 Joey from Friends meme\"\n/>\n\n---\n\n<Picture file=\"posts/respectful-learning-memes/comp2300-obiwan.webp\" alt=\"COMP2300 ObiWan meme\" />\n\n---\n\n<Picture\n  file=\"posts/respectful-learning-memes/comp2300-anakin.webp\"\n  alt=\"COMP2300 Anakin Skywalker meme\"\n/>\n\nI don't know where they came from---although clearly at least some of them were\ncreated specifically for COMP2300. But I know from talking to students that they\nreally helped them understand and remember key concepts from the course.\n\nSo why not harness that creativity as part of the course itself? I'm\ncurrently brushing up my course syllabus for the new semester, which starts\nnext week. And I'm sure my students will make new memes for (among other things)\nexplaining the course content to each other. But if these memes only appear on\nthe \"secret\" channels then that's not good from a student equity perspective. I\nwant to make sure _all_ students benefit, not just the ones in the right\n\"hidden\" channels.\n\nSo this year I'm going to include a meme thread as part of the official course\nforum. Since it's an official course communication channel I'm sure it'll be\nkept [respectful](https://twitter.com/RespectfulMemes), and then all my students\ncan benefit. As I teach bigger and more diverse classes, the chance to harness\nthese students' brilliance in meme-making (and some of them are _seriously_ good\nat it) to help all my students learn seems like a win. I can't wait to see what\nthey come up with ☺\n\n**Note**: if you're using MS Teams for your class discussion, there's even a few\nsettings relating to memes and gifs which you might want to make sure are\nenabled.\n\n<Picture\n  file=\"posts/respectful-learning-memes/teams-meme-settings.webp\"\n  alt=\"MS Teams meme settings\"\n/>\n",
  "createdAt": "2026-05-13T23:14:52.434Z",
  "description": "Students make brilliant memes to explain course content to each other---so why not make that an official part of the class?",
  "path": "/blog/2021/02/19/respectful-learning-memes",
  "publishedAt": "2021-02-19T00:00:00.000Z",
  "site": "at://did:plc:tevykrhi4kibtsipzci76d76/site.standard.publication/self",
  "tags": [
    "teaching"
  ],
  "textContent": "Students make brilliant memes to explain course content to each other---so why not make that an official part of the class?",
  "title": "Respectful Learning Memes"
}