Changing the meanings that emerge in practice, for the better, through humour - how I changed plagiarism from the suppository of good scholarship to the condom of good scholarship and lived happily ever after

Abstract

In this paper, using core concepts from personal pedagogy, reflective practice and cognitive theory as a theoretical base, I examine the energising effect of humour and its contribution to my development of new and useful meanings for what was otherwise a tired and tiring practice problem: the teaching of in-text referencing to undergraduate Business students. The major contribution of this paper to theory is that it acknowledges the impact of cognitive depletion on reflective practice and posits the use of humour as a partial remedy to this problem. The paper also contributes to practice by re-inventing the use of metaphor as a reflective practice strategy and, perhaps most importantly, by giving academics permission to bring some much needed, energising irreverence and joy to their work.