This text has been translated from Norwegian with the assistance of GPT UiO.
For the third time, Magne Flemmen has received an award for his teaching. According to the Student Parliament’s citation for the teaching award, the professor at the Department of Sociology and Human Geography is an engaged and inspiring lecturer who succeeds in making complex topics such as class and inequality understandable and relevant.
Flemmen is also praised for being an entertaining speaker who creates lively, motivating and amusing PowerPoint presentations.
– I start from the assumption that the syllabus is not something students will automatically care about. That’s why I use humour, memes and other devices. I try to get my points across so that it’s a little entertaining to see what the sociologist claims, or what my research really means, he says.
But if Flemmen were to sit through one of his own lectures, he doubts it would impress him much.
– Isn’t it often the case that you’re not easily amazed by someone doing something you can do yourself? asks the prize winner.
– I am more impressed by people who can unpack complex arguments and hold an audience’s attention without PowerPoint, without any showmanship. Personally, I prefer classic lectures of the sort you might now have to go to the Skjervheim seminar to hear.
Short explanation just as good as long?
Each year the Student Parliament presents its award for teaching. The award goes to individuals, groups or units that have made an outstanding effort to improve teaching at UiO.
Flemmen has become well known among students on platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, where he makes short, accessible videos that explain sociological concepts. The Student Parliament believes that this ability to adapt his teaching to different arenas makes Flemmen a communicator who reaches a broad audience and helps to create greater interest in sociology, even outside the lecture hall.
Flemmen himself is not entirely sure he has chosen the right method.
– I would not pretend that I don’t understand the value of my own contributions on social media. I get a lot of positive feedback on that, says Flemmen.
– But I notice that students increasingly want the subject to be presented more sharply and simply. They probably think that a short explanation is just as good as a long one – or perhaps even better.
Flemmen is convinced that you also need the long explanation.
– To be able to use the concepts and to think with and against them yourself, you must understand what they are based on and what view of the world they represent. That kind of understanding cannot be gained from a brief summary, or from podcasts – which many in the comments section think I should make. Even today, something I read fifteen years ago can suddenly reveal to me what it really implies.
Wants to motivate students
In the Student Parliament’s reasoning for the award, it is stated that Magne Flemmen is particularly good at capturing students’ attention. Even though he records his lectures, the lecture hall is always full – clear evidence that students want to be present when Flemmen is teaching.
For his part, Flemmen is unsure whether engagement really leads to students learning more. He refers to the Dr Fox effect:
– This refers to a classic experiment in which an actor pretended to be a lecturer. He gave a very engaging talk, but without any real substance. The students were enthusiastic and gave top ratings – far better than they gave a real researcher who conveyed genuine knowledge but without the show.
Nevertheless, Flemmen intends to continue simplifying his sociology, both in the lecture hall and on TikTok.
– I justify my approach to myself by thinking that humour and memes really do motivate students – at least that’s what many of them tell me, he says.
– And I know that motivation is a foundation for learning. If you are going to bother listening to the long explanation, you also have to want to.