Into Practice, a biweekly communication distributed from the Office of the Vice Provost for Advances in Learning to active instructors during the academic year was inspired by a successful 2012 HILT grant project. The e-letter highlights the pedagogical practices of individual faculty members from across Schools and delivers timely, evidence-based teaching advice, contributing to and strengthening a University-wide community of practice around teaching.

Below is a catalog of all the Into Practice issues sorted by the publication date. To subscribe to Into Practice, please sign-up via our Mailing List page.

• Defining learning objectives: Pre-semester, all semester

  José A. (Tony) Gómez-Ibáñez, Derek C. Bok Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy, who holds appointments at the GSD and HKS, defines the learning objectives of his course prior to the start of the semester and references them to frame each individual class session: “I use the first five minutes to place each class in the course – ‘The last class we talked about X and today we want to see how those ideas might apply to Y.’”

• Putting students at the helm of their learning experience

  Jon Hanson, Alfred Smart Professor of Law, saw an opportunity to improve learning by putting students in the driver's seat.

• Getting the most out of classroom space

  Melissa Franklin, Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics, rethought her teaching by rethinking her classroom. She created a flexible classroom, “the SciBox,” to encourage active learning, greater engagement, and student ownership.

• Feedback vs. evaluation: Getting past the reluctance to deliver negative feedback

  When Dr. Keith Baker, Associate Professor of Anaesthesia at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Anesthesia Residency Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, gives medical residents feedback, he emphasizes a “learning orientation” (where the goal is mastery), rather than a “performance orientation” (where the goal is validation of abilities).

• Learning from learning management systems: New ways to engage students through Canvas

  Arthur Applbaum, Adams Professor of Democratic Values, Quinton Mayne, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, and Christopher Robichaud, Lecturer in Ethics and Public Policy piloted the new University-wide learning management system, Canvas, in their spring 2015 courses at the Harvard Kennedy School.

• Elevating class conversation: Taking a case-based approach

  Nancy Kane, Professor of Management and Associate Dean of Case-based Teaching and Learning at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, trains instructors on using the teaching case to lead effective course discussions.

• Devices in the classroom? Things to consider

  Alison Simmons, Samuel H. Wolcott Professor of Philosophy, made a decision in 2012 to include a policy in all her syllabi stating that electronic devices be put away during class time.

• Communicating course culture: Building on the syllabus

  Karen Brennan, Assistant Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, designs her syllabus for T550: Designing for Learning by Creating to not only communicate the plan for the course, but to introduce students to the course culture.

• The hiccups, humility, and benefits of deciding to flip a course

  Margo Seltzer, Herchel Smith Professor of Computer Science, flipped part of her course, CS161, “Operating Systems."

• Health Equity & Leadership (HEAL) Student Organization at Harvard Chan

  The Health Equity & Leadership (HEAL) Student Organization at Harvard Chan stemmed from the simple idea to bring together students and community members of different disciplines to address issues of health inequity in the United States. HEAL was formed in 2012 by a group of students who believed that there is a need for more partnerships between diverse communities and stakeholders to create innovative, effective solutions in addressing health inequities. Continuing this mission, HEAL is dedicated to generating discourse and action to resolve issues related to health inequities in the Boston and Cambridge communities. Through a series of workshops and presentations, HEAL aims to educate and empower students to address issues of inequity in health and well-being in their communities throughout their career. HEAL also hosts an annual conference which connects students with leaders from government, community-based organizations, and academia in order to facilitate discussion and encourage action aimed at addressing the issues of health inequity and racial injustice in our communities.

• Harvard Student Human Rights Collaborative

  The Harvard Student Human Rights Collaborative (HSHRC) is a group of medical students dedicated to addressing human rights issues in our local community and beyond. We provide a student-run clinic that provides forensic medical evaluations to survivors seeking asylum in the United States, as well as raise awareness about human rights through hosting talks, our newsletter, and articles that our members publish in the media.

• American Civil Liberties Union

  The HLS ACLU is a student-run organization. The chapter aims to advance and promote awareness of civil liberties and constitutional rights on the Harvard campus by hosting speakers and organizing events throughout the school year. We focus on core issues of freedom of speech and religion, racial justice, privacy, women’s rights, and LGBTQ rights, and many more issue areas. ACLU members assist state ACLU branches, the national ACLU, and other organizations in research and advocacy relating to civil rights and civil liberties issues.

• Advocates for Education

  The HLS Advocates for Education (A4E) is a student-run organization at Harvard Law School. We are an organization of students who are passionate about improving our nation’s education system and dedicated to raising awareness about current issues in education law and policy. A4E brings together students interested in these issues with practicing lawyers, policymakers, educators, and advocates. We seek to encourage greater understanding and participation by hosting various speakers and events throughout the year.

• Social Innovation and Change Initiative

  Our mission is to develop research, pedagogical content, and educational programs that help students, social innovators, and organizations around the world, navigate the challenges of initiating and implementing social change.

• The Future Society

  The Future Society focuses on policy research, executive education, convening and incubation.

• UndocuAllies Initiative

  As a group of Harvard graduate students, we came together at HGSE attempting to educate this community about the many issues affecting undocumented families. Among the most urgent issues are (1) The threat of deportation affecting the parents of children who are undocumented, legal permanent residents or American citizens (2) Unequal access to higher education for undocumented students, and (3) The possibility of Deferred Action (DACA) removal and its implications for students.

• QueerEd

  QueerEd's mission is fourfold: 1) to support the study of gender and sexuality by master's and doctoral students during their time at HGSE; 2) to promote awareness of issues at the intersections of sexuality and gender with race, class, ethnicity, immigrant status, ability level, and education; 3) to provide an outlet for the concerns of LGBTQ persons at HGSE 4) to build a welcoming and flourishing community for LGBTQ students and allies at HGSE

• Leading for English Learners

  English Learners (ELs) comprise one of the largest achievement gaps in the U.S. While English Learners have received a lot of attention recently in legislation, educators and community members know little about these policy changes and educational supports that will help this group thrive. Due to language barriers and cultural differences, EL families are often left without a voice in advocating for change. Leaders in education, therefore, need to be equipped to advocate for this group. In pursuit of preparing future leaders in education, the mission of Leading for English Learners is to lead conversations across HGSE around EL students. We advocate for equitable opportunities for ELs by opening dialogues from multiple angles, from administration to policy to teaching.

• Higher Education Student Association (HESA)

  The Higher Education Student Association (HESA) is an organization devoted to enriching the lives of students interested in higher education and reflecting on diversity and inclusion in our environment through speakers, professional development, community service, and social events.

• HGSE STEAM Team

  STEAM Team is a student-led effort to ignite communications between disparate fields in research, business and industry. Our focus is broad, but our starting point is in uniting the Arts with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics). We will collaborate to create learning opportunities for our STEAM Team members, HGSE, and our community.