Using tricks from church and game shows to promote engagement

code
large lecture
AI
Author

Matt Waite

Published

September 15, 2026

We all know that the Sage On The Stage doesn’t work as well as it we want it to, but what can you do?

Me? I use fragments of ideas from anywhere I can. Specifically, I’ve grabbed ideas from church growing up and game shows I watched as a kid. Then, I feed those ideas to AI coding agents to create silly things that promote engagement and learning. I know this isn’t for everyone, so here’s what I’ve got cooking that you’re more than welcome to use.

NOTE: Nothing you upload goes to my server. My server can’t accept data, so everything you see here is happening in your browser and nowhere else. This costs me no money and I make no money from it. So please, use it however you want.

Arise Riders of Rohan

Every class, I start with music. Usually disco or funk, something upbeat with a hook. Ask yourself – can I be sad listening to this? If the answer is no, that’s what you want.

Then, I make them all stand up and meet people around them. After a few sessions, I make them walk in random directions and meet someone new. If I see people not moving, I make everyone on one side of class go talk to them. Later in the semester – not too early, because it’s fun – I make them play rock, paper, scissors against as many people as they can.

It takes less than 5 minutes of class time and it completely changes the energy in the room.

And yes, half the time, I quote King Theoden from Lord of the Rings and say Arise Riders of Rohan! They look at me like I’m nuts.

How to play The Feud

Example Lecture Feud board.

This works if you’re UNL faculty because it involves tools available to instructors on campus.

  1. Log into https://polling.unl.edu/ with your Canvas credentials.
  2. Create poll questions with no correct answers. You can create open ended fill-in-the-blank questions but you’re likely going to need to do some pruning of the answers. Ideally, make it multiple choice.
  3. Conduct the poll in class!
  4. Download the poll responses as a CSV file (there’s a button at the top).
  5. Open the Lecture Feud board generator at https://www.mattwaite.com/lecture-feud/
  6. Give your two “families” names.
  7. Import your poll results.
  8. Take a screenshot or take a photo of the answers with your phone. You won’t be able to see the answers as students guess.
  9. Click create board.
  10. Have fun!

Knockout tournaments

Honestly, I stumbled across this by accident one day. I just got the idea of a Would You Rather style set of choices and then the idea came to me to create a knockout tournament of things. Students vote on each round and we crown a champion at the end. When you have preference style information in class, highly recommend. Students really got into this.

My knockout tournament generator is specific to social media right now, but you can delete those and change them out for anything you want.

Knockout tournament generator

Got an idea?

If you’ve got an idea but don’t have the tools/desire/time to create it, I’m always looking for ideas to liven up my classes. I’d love to build it for both of us. Give me a holler at matt.waite@unl.edu.