Teacher pretends to be a student on the first day of class: where is this idea from?

December 3, 2009 1:37 AM

It is the first day of class and the instructor does not show up. The members of the class discuss their options, and when the first person starts to leave, one of the "students" stands up and announces that she is in fact the teacher. Is this a campus legend? A scene from a sitcom? An actual demonstration?

I know that I've heard of this before, but I can't remember where. I have spent a lot of time with ole goog, but to no avail. Where can I find out more about this exercise (or a fictional depiction of it)?

I'm teaching a cognitive science class this summer, and I have always sort of wanted to do this. I get mistaken for an undergrad pretty frequently, so I think I could pull it off appearance-wise.

It's an upper level class, and probably not too big (20-30 students), so I think there would definitely be at least some discussion before the first person decides to leave. I can see how this could go horribly wrong as far as setting the tone for the teacher-student relationship is concerned. On the other hand, I think it might also provoke a neat discussion about information processing under conditions of uncertainty.

If you've had an experience like this, please share it.

Where can I learn more about any sort of precedent for this kind of exercise?

Note: I'm not talking about the anthropology professor who enrolled as an undergrad and posed as a student for a semester. I'm looking for info on an in class demonstration.

posted by solipsophistocracy to human relations (37 comments total)

We talked about this during one of my first psychology tutorials when the tutor was late. I've never heard of it in fiction or urban legend though.

As for the reality of it, I think it would be fine as long as you didn't spring some 'gotcha' moment on them like it was all a prank for your benefit. And make sure you're ready to prove that you really are the teacher.
posted by twirlypen at 1:44 AM on December 3, 2009

I would be so irritated if a professor did this. I pay good money to spend time learning, not chatting with other students about what to do when the professor doesn't show up. And then to find that it was a trick...a gimmicky learning exercise? I'd probably be the first to leave after the big reveal.

Please don't do this. It's a waste of time for a discussion that can be had by other means. It also does do something whacky to the power dynamic in the class, and sets off a tone of mistrust. I just wouldn't take you or the material all that seriously after something like that. And I'd be wondering what you had up your sleeve for the next week.

Sorry to be such a wet blanket about this. Also, I do think it would take at least 15 minutes before somebody left. And that would be after a lot of "oh have you heard anything about Professor Solipsophistocracy? Is he always late? I heard on Rate My Professor that...[something that somebody will regret saying and you will regret hearing]."
posted by iamkimiam at 1:57 AM on December 3, 2009 [36 favorites]

To clarify, I don't want to do this as a prank. I think it has the potential to be a neat way to start class. Because it's a summer class (four weeks long, Monday through Thursday for 2 hours a day), I think it will be a little less formal than during the ordinary school year, and since there are few explicit requirements as to content, I can teach pretty much whatever I want as long as I can somehow tie it to cognitive science. I want to do this in order to encourage a discussion about critical thinking and decision making, not to have a laugh at the students' expense.
posted by solipsophistocracy at 2:01 AM on December 3, 2009

It's neat for you, but potentially horrifying for the students who might not be filtering themselves during the "pre-reveal" discussion. Even if you were acting completely in good faith, students might be really anxious about how you might interpret what they said pre-reveal.

There's nothing lower stakes you could do? Like, say, leave some cookies out before class and see if anybody eats them?
posted by HeroZero at 2:01 AM on December 3, 2009 [26 favorites]

That is to say, it's obvious that you are planning this with the best of intentions, but students might interpret it differently.
posted by HeroZero at 2:02 AM on December 3, 2009

Bluntly stated, were I your student and were you to do this I would think you are a fool who likes to waste people's time and I would quickly drop the class.
posted by dfriedman at 2:08 AM on December 3, 2009 [15 favorites]

First impressions matter.

A class, like a show or a book or a film, has a beginning, a middle and an end. Hopefully it has a "story arc" or some kind of theme that runs throughout. And shows, books, films and classes all need a strong beginning in order to capture the attention of the audience and start off on the right footing. The beginning sets the tone for the rest of the piece. It is one of the single most important elements to get right.

Having a class sit about for ten minutes getting bored and grumpy, thinking the teacher is a flake? This is the opposite of a good beginning. This would be like finding an arty reason to start your novel with three pages straight out of the Financial Times.
posted by emilyw at 2:11 AM on December 3, 2009 [5 favorites]

Sorry to moderate the thread so heavily. I'll butt out after this.

I was a mistake to mention that I was thinking about actually carrying out this idea, because I'm not looking for pros or cons (unless this actually happened to you and you would like to share your experience). I know there are plenty of reasons why it might be a terrible idea, and I have plenty of time to mull them over.

What I'm looking for is any sort of documentation that pertains to this exercise. Referring to fictional depictions is great too, but I didn't ask this question to get feedback on whether or not it's a good idea.
posted by solipsophistocracy at 2:12 AM on December 3, 2009 [2 favorites]

Yeah; I had a professor at U-Mass Boston do this back in the late 80's. The campus is an urban commuter school and most of the students are going to school and have full-time jobs. It's not a 4 years of living on campus place. The students trend a little older and more mature.

First day of an African American Literature course, this happened. After 10 minutes, the rumblings of "Is he coming?" started and people just started getting up to leave. I remember that there was one older mommy-type who was perturbed because she came out to this one weekly class, she had kids at home and now she had to commute back home.

Then a younger, scraggly-looking man stood up from the back and wrote his name on the board. Told us he was the professor, etc.

It was bullshit and people were annoyed. Nobody thought it was cool or thought-provoking. From that moment, people thought that this was a guy who liked to mess with others' heads and play games, and not treat his paying students with any respect.

It completely ruined the trust in the relationship. Nobody likes a mindf*ck.
posted by dzaz at 2:38 AM on December 3, 2009 [8 favorites]

A friend in my grad program who was teaching his first or second class sort of did this. Sat in front and only got up in front a couple minutes after class was supposed to start after chatting with a few students for awhile.

He is a charismatic fellow and didn't do it for any pedagogical reason and it went over pretty well (as I heard it). I too would find it incredibly obnoxious and problematic as a classroom exercise.
posted by pseudonick at 2:42 AM on December 3, 2009

I teach part time and would advise against this; first, as noted upthread, there are confidentiality issues. First, what if a student seriously starts to complain about "lack of professionalism", and states he / she will be complaining, tries to get other students to complain? You've created an awkward situation.

Second, at least at the Universities I teach at, once students start to go they move fast! For all you know a quarter or more of the class might be out the door while you're still trying to convince everyone else you're not a fellow student joker, playing at being the prof. And will they just go back to their dorms quietly? Possibly, but more than likely you'd run into the next point.

Third, complaints. One or more of students who slipped out will inform Admin about the "problem". Do you really want this attention?

Finally, credibility. As others have noted you'd be damaging yours by such a stunt.
posted by Mutant at 2:57 AM on December 3, 2009 [4 favorites]

Second, at least at the Universities I teach at, once students start to go they move fast! For all you know a quarter or more of the class might be out the door while you're still trying to convince everyone else you're not a fellow student joker, playing at being the prof.

Yep. I'd split, on the assumption that you were just some dick pretending to be the prof.

Come back the next class, see you at the front of the room, and then drop the course.
posted by Netzapper at 3:20 AM on December 3, 2009

I remember taking an art class in music school and the teacher put up a painting, which was some terrible pseudo-Dali thing that I thought was awful. She asked us what we thought and I told her I thought it was a turd. Later on she was like "oh it's my painting!". I liked the teacher a lot so I was embarrassed. I liked her even if she painted turd paintings.
posted by sully75 at 3:34 AM on December 3, 2009 [2 favorites]

When I lecture I often get mistaken for an undergraduate before the start of the class. At this point I'm sitting (at the front) waiting for the students to show up. I never try to trick them, and they quickly realize that I'm the lecturer as I welcome them to the class and engage them in conversation.

Can someone give any reasons why this would be a neat way to start the class?
What could the students get out of it?
posted by jonesor at 3:51 AM on December 3, 2009 [1 favorite]

One of my undergrad linguistics profs played an prank along similar lines. He introduced himself, then put up the Powerpoint slides for a fourth-year astrophysics class. Cue a lot of nervous calendar-checking and at least one person bolting for the door. He restored order and put up the real slides before anybody left, though.
posted by Schlimmbesserung at 3:55 AM on December 3, 2009 [3 favorites]

I remember this happening on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air -- Will says something about what he thinks the professor will be like (all derogatory, of course), and then the guy he's talking to jumps up and starts the class.
posted by pised at 4:38 AM on December 3, 2009 [1 favorite]

Can someone give any reasons why this would be a neat way to start the class?
What could the students get out of it?

Well, if the class was explicitly covering how people behave in situations like the one presented, this experiment would present data on what people would actually do rather than data on what people imagine they would do, or would tell their class and professor they would do.
posted by Mike1024 at 4:49 AM on December 3, 2009

This happened to me, in my first class on my first day of college. The instructor (who was a grad student, btw) sat down with everyone else. There was no grumbling about where the professor was. We were all nervous freshman and just waited in silence. But I don't think he waited very long before revealing himself. It was more of a joke, to show us that he thought of himself more as a student than a teacher.
posted by donajo at 4:55 AM on December 3, 2009

An instructor I had did this about years ago.

I think he was disappointed that everyone just sat there chatting, waiting patiently for his arrival.
posted by marimeko at 5:57 AM on December 3, 2009

This happened to my mother. It seems strange to write this, but I just realized when I was a small kid it was one of my favorite stories and I would often ask her to tell it to me before bed. Background: In California in the 1960's (mid 60's? current with Apollo 1 tragedy) she was working for NASA as a psychologist and finishing up a graduate degree at the same time. It's been more than 30 years since I last heard the tale, so the details may be a little fuzzy, but it was something like this:

Everyone showed up for class and there was a stack of papers on the professor's desk and a note on the blackboard that said "Everyone take a paper and follow the instructions on it."

The handout stated that this was an exercise (in organizational leadership? psychology? duh.... can't recall) and that the instructor was hidden among the students observing them and would reveal himself/herself at the end of the exercise.

According to the handout, the students were supposed to organize themselves, possibly select a leader or spokesman, and complete some certain tasks. Maybe they broke up into subgroups and each team had to produce a certain result? Something like that. Anyway, my mother said they were confused and intrigued at the same time, and discussed the best way to complete the assignment, which she later learned had been carefully prepared not to be too overwhelming or take up too much time.

15 or 20 minutes before the scheduled end of the class, they had finished the work, and one of the "students" stood up and introduced himself as the professor, thanked them sincerely for their work, talked about the ramifications of what they had done and how it affected their course of study. He then spoke about the class, curriculum and reading list, answered questions and assigned homework for next session.

Overall, my mother and her fellow students were pleased and excited, and felt like it was a great introduction to the class. She remembers this class and that instructor as one of her favorites in grad school.

I think the above structure might eliminate some of the trust/timewasting issues people upthread have so rightly pointed out. By way of the handout (or blackboard instructions) you state up front what is happening-- that you are hidden among the students, observing them and that this is an introduction to your field of study and this course in particular.

If you can pull it off, perhaps these students will be talking about you as a bedtime story to their children well into the next century. Good luck!
posted by seasparrow at 6:01 AM on December 3, 2009 [25 favorites]

An instructor I know did a similar gimmick at the beginning of this very semester, in fact. The course was on encryption and code-breaking. He pretended to be a student and sat somewhere in the back of the class, and a few minutes after the period began, an assistant came in and wrote a coded message on the board, saying he was not the instructor but had been told to deliver a message.

The students set to work cracking the code, and the message was eventually revealed to be I'm watching you from the back of the room. The students figured it out, and the instructor revealed himself and began handing out course materials.

Obviously this was not a general "tee hee I'll mess with the students' heads" game, but a sort of introductory exercise with a twist. This guy is also something of a clown in general, and always well-liked by the students, so it worked out great. Probably not so great in most other circumstances.
posted by Maximian at 6:14 AM on December 3, 2009 [3 favorites]

In a US research institution, I'm pretty sure that you would have to pass a full-board IRB review (or at least an extremely well-justified expedited review; I've never done studies involving deception) to get this approved as human-subjects behavioral research. Deception is troublesome. I understand that you do not want to publish or even record these results, but keep in mind that major legal/advisory groups identify this as the sort of potentially problematic study design that requires high-grade oversight. Maybe it's not the kind of thing you want to leap into as a stunt.
posted by Alterscape at 6:24 AM on December 3, 2009 [4 favorites]

An old Robert Redford movie called Brubaker used the same basic idea -- a new prisoner arrives and reveals himself as the Warden after experiencing what the prisoners experience for a while.

I know you didn't want this question to be a referendum on your plans, but the Brubaker example is instructive. Brubaker had a purpose, which became immediately clear and relevant -- he was going to "clean up" the corrupt prison. I think, as in seasparrow's example above, if you tie the stunt into the lesson plan of your first class, making it clear there is a pedagogical value to it, I think you can pull it off.

As a professional facilitator, I would recommend that if you do any activity that had the potential to produce negative emotions or anxiety, lead the class in a short debrief of their various reactions before moving on to the lesson. An anxious or angry mind is not an open mind.
posted by cross_impact at 6:27 AM on December 3, 2009 [1 favorite]

A friend of mine looked really young and was concerned about students recognizing her as the authority she was on the course material. She tried this trick to get her concerns on the table with the class before the semester started. I thought it was a brave thing to do but I can't speak to what the students thought.
posted by Fiery Jack at 6:28 AM on December 3, 2009

This happened on Saved By the Bell: The College Years.
posted by anniecat at 6:37 AM on December 3, 2009 [3 favorites]

I remember this happening on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air -- Will says something about what he thinks the professor will be like (all derogatory, of course), and then the guy he's talking to jumps up and starts the class.

I remember it happening on Saved by the Bell: The College Years (yes, I realize I just horribly embarrassed myself by admitting to having watched that at all). Zack is sitting in the back of the room next to another guy and is asking when this clown is going to show up and mentions how he's only taking the class because of some girl he likes, and then it turns out the guy is the professor.

The professors I work with do a lot of interesting things in their various classes. Lots of fun, free-form activities. One activity done nearly every semester specifically requires the next class meeting to be only the debrief from the activity itself. People get really angry, upset, and emotionally involved in the activity, which is the entire point. So, it's really important that a debrief and discussion about the proceedings of the activity take place. Granted, this activity is done halfway through the semester after some rapport has been established. Whatever the case, I think having a debrief about what happened is necessary. And I think the make up of the student population is also important. A traditional four year institution with 18 - 22 year olds making up most of the student population would probably welcome this a bit more than a school with non-traditional students. The students at my university who take 1 class a semester for nearly a decade in order to finish a Bachelor's while raising a kid and working full-time would not take kindly to this whereas the students who fall in the more traditional population probably would.
posted by zizzle at 6:49 AM on December 3, 2009 [1 favorite]

An alternative is what a professor of mine did in law school in the very first class for all first year students.

Basically the class began the professor walked in and started. He gave us a little introduction and welcome to law school and being lawyers etc...., then he said the first question traditionally went to the first person alphabetically in the class, and he called on Mr. Anderson.

Asked some basic question, got an answer. Asked a follow up question that was harder, got an answer. Asked a question that was ridiculously hard, which hardly anyone in the room was able to follow let alone answer. Mr. Anderson whips through it off the top of his head. Asks another follow up question and Mr. Anderson interrupts him in the middle of the question to make a point. At this point we all figure Mr. Anderson is some kind of plant. The professor says, well if you know so much, why don't you come down here and teach the class. Turns out Mr. Anderson was the actual professor of the class and had just gotten a colleague to help pull a prank on the first day. Was pretty awesome to be honest. Especially when later in the class he actually called on the first person alphabetically who had totally thought they had gotten off scott free.
posted by sorindome at 7:24 AM on December 3, 2009 [2 favorites]

If you are considering potential variations of this for your cognitive science class, I really like seasparrow's suggestion above. That way, all students know from the get-go that the professor is indeed in the room (so they can shut up about anything embarrassing) and the additional onus of completing tasks while being watched (but by whom?!?) is different. If you could make this creative, fun, and short enough to be an introduction I could see it as a good way to start the semester.

Maybe instead of leadership groups, it could be something like The Mole? Each paper has a number on it and students separate into groups. After five minutes of discussion, each group votes secretly to select one of their group members as the potential professor. Out of these 5 (or however many) students, the class must choose which one they think is the professor. Perhaps there could be a reward involved if they guess correctly.

However, you'd have to make sure to give this much more thought than I just did, and make sure that you don't put anyone on the spot too much when they don't want to be. There's a bunch of different ways that you could weave this into your lessons (decision-making processes, identifying authority figures, et cetera).
posted by amicamentis at 7:30 AM on December 3, 2009 [1 favorite]

I had this happen in a tutorial once: we were standing waiting outside the classroom door for about ten minutes, idly chatting, and of course the conversation turned round to who had/hadn't done the suggested reading, and how boring it was (for those who had done it). After a few minutes of this, a girl who'd been standing there silently went and unlocked the door and let us into the classroom, before introducing herself as the grad student taking the tutorial.

To be honest, we were all irritated and a little embarrassed. It seemed like she'd just been trying to spy on us, and there was a weird dynamic in the tutorial for the rest of the semester.

I wouldn't advise doing this. Apart from annoying your students, it just seems like a waste of everybody's time and I can't see what it would accomplish.
posted by badmoonrising at 7:43 AM on December 3, 2009 [1 favorite]

I'm surprised that no one mentioned the scene from Catch Me If You Can.
posted by sambosambo at 8:02 AM on December 3, 2009 [1 favorite]

I like seasparrow's proactive suggestion. I have taught for many years, and just want to add that I have seen students sitting in the hallway lined up, waiting for class outside, only to be the first person to try the doorknob which was unlocked. I love the shocked look on others' faces sitting in the hall when they realize they just assumed the door was locked. ;)
posted by effluvia at 8:13 AM on December 3, 2009

I think it has the potential to be a neat way to start class.
posted by Rash at 9:04 AM on December 3, 2009 [1 favorite]

Sorry, meant to italicize that, with my comment:

I think you're wrong.
posted by Rash at 9:05 AM on December 3, 2009 [2 favorites]

I'm not sure why this would be clever or even interesting. Every college I've gone to has a rule of how long you have to wait for a late instructor before you can leave without any sort of penalty. If I go to a class and there's no teacher, we'd all just wait, chat idly, maybe work a little on homework or reading... maybe my college classes have been less sitcom material than most.
posted by lemniskate at 11:10 AM on December 3, 2009

I think it will be a little less formal than during the ordinary school year

Er, people who take summer classes on a condensed schedule generally aren't doing it because they wanted a fun summer on the beach. Don't waste people's time and money this way -- what are they going to get out of it? Spending 15 minutes on this entertainment for you will take 5 to 7 person hours of your student's time, not a good way to make a first impression.
posted by yohko at 11:30 AM on December 3, 2009 [1 favorite]

Seasparrow and Maximian both described scenarios that are a lot more in line with the rough plans I sketched out after the first batch of cautionary emails. I think the "wait till someone gets up to leave" part of my question is what garnered so many "please don't do this" responses. The reason I put it that way is just because this is the way I'd heard such exercises described in the past, and I wanted to find some resources before I started crafting my own plan. In retrospect, I should have asked two separate questions. "Where can I find some info on this sort of exercise?" followed up (after doing some more research) with a preliminary plan sketched out and a request for feedback.

The way I phrased the question was foolish, and not indicative of what I actually want to do. I certainly understand the negative responses, and I could see myself being pissed if I was a student in some snot-nosed grad student's class and he felt that the best way to get things going was by essentially spying on everyone in the absence of an instructor.

However, I'm not interested in wasting anyone's time, hearing students' opinions about whether or not their teacher is a jerk, some sort of "gotcha," an experiment on authority, or anything like that. It's not just waiting to see how the class reacts to no instructor being present that interests me, but how starting class without standing up in the front and identifying myself as the teacher could lead to a thought provoking learning experience.

I thought maybe I'd leave a note with some instructions to click "start" on a computer sitting in the front of the class, which would then project a brief slide show concluded with some instructions to begin an exercise/discussion. The class is still seven months away, so I've got a lot of time to plan for it. I don't really even care if some of the students know/suspect that I am actually the instructor, I just don't want to start class in the traditional "Hi, I'm solipsophistocracy. Here is the syllabus. Cognitive science is the study of blah blah blah."

One potential angle that I think might be neat to explore with such an exercise is the difference between modularity and emergence as models of human information processing. A class that starts out in the traditional way could be looked at as modular. The instructor is a teaching module, the students are learning modules, etc. However, if the class just starts without these preconceived roles, decisions about who the teacher is and who the students are would have to emerge out of the information garnered by interactive exercise (this is still a pretty raw idea, and needs significant refinement).

In a US research institution, I'm pretty sure that you would have to pass a full-board IRB review (or at least an extremely well-justified expedited review; I've never done studies involving deception) to get this approved as human-subjects behavioral research.

I don't know if this would even necessarily qualify as deception (though I added that tag because I thought it might be helpful in locating potential resources that do involve deception). I'll make sure this sort of thing isn't gonna cause any IRB problems before I try it though.

Thanks very much to everyone for all of your feedback. I appreciate it much, and apologize for the foolhardy wording of my question. After hours of frustrated searching, I threw my hands up and posted my question without really recalling that folks who saw the question wouldn't be disentangle my intentions to gather information about exercises like this and the intention to do the activity as stated in the question (which, I acknowledge, is a really dumb thing to do).
posted by solipsophistocracy at 5:42 PM on December 3, 2009

I haven't heard about this specific case before, so unable to comment. I can comment on it from the pedagogical point of view however.

I taught didactics 7 yrs on the university level. I am currently striving for one more Master's degree as a student again, and I have to be honest, it upsets me how pedagogically clueless university professors are -- even in the best universities.

In other words, pedagogics and didactics are considered something that "everybody" knows if one just teaches enough. Sad truth is that you can teach the rest of your life, without ever paying attention to those most critical things that suck in your teaching. Teaching is about behaving instinctively. At the same time, solely following instincts leads to bad problems. So you may never even notice your problems...

As an outcome:

The example you give is plausible / possible. I have seen and heard about weird shit happening - actually far worse than this. We human beings do not want to accept that we are freaks and behave weirdly. Still, teachers also have those moments when they get sudden "great ideas", and end up doing some crazy shit on the spot.

This is acceptable only if pedagogically founded. This might be the case if the class is e.g. advanced class in Social Psychology or Sociology, so that his/her behavior can be used as a demonstration. In that case, this demonstration must be analyzed so that it contributes learning one way or another. Otherwise no. No student should leave the session without knowing what happened and why, as it would not contribute learning by any means.
Most of the time these kinds of incidents are not prepared carefully enough, in order to be acceptable.

Two more thoughts:

1) Having taught for years, I still find myself in situations, where I don't know what is the right thing to do pedagogically. In my case it's not my limited knowledge, but that I face some sort of pressure when something upsetting happens suddenly. Then, I cannot be sure if my professional judgment is disturbed by my strong subjective instinct to behave in a certain way (e.g. defend myself when strongly accused by a student). That's how we human beings are, we sometimes lose our professional objectivity even without noticing it ourselves.

This is why, I always keep a rudimentary applied teaching handbook at hand (not advanced theoretical ones but the most basic one).

e.g. Keith-Spiegel et al. 2002. The Ethics of Teaching: A Casebook 2nd Ed.

In the beginning, I thought this book was useless, as it was spelled out boringly. Then I found its value, I have it on my desk and when I "feel" weird, I browse the book to set me back into the objective mood. As it only contains practical scenarios, I can modify them into the situation in question.

2) These kinds of topics are problematic for most universities. All universities have (tenure) professors, which are causing constant problems. Still, they are difficult to fire, and most of the time these professors have the best skills and knowledge of the domain they are teaching.
That's why, almost every academic department has its own weirdo.

If you do not see any, it's you!

DB
posted by Doggiebreath at 11:54 AM on January 20