Using improvisational theater in team-based teaching activities

In this paper we describe experiences using improvisational theater (improv) techniques in teaching acitivities. The educational setting where we aim to profit from these experiences are software engineering courses. The usefulness of improvisational theater in different contexts was discussed in the literature during the last few years. We conducted two sessions of improvisational theater with two objectives: (a) enhancing creativity and (b) enabling the process of team building. This paper describes our motivation, the goals, the educational setting and the different improv exercises performed. Results of our evaluation indicate that the majority of students enjoyed the improv sessions. Exercises focused on team building gained better results than those focusing on creativity. Our overall impression was that the success of using improv depends on careful planning and performance on the one hand and on the students' individual comfort zone on the other hand.