HILT Conference 2018
Implementing the Science of Learning to Advance the Art of Teaching
Friday, September 21, 2018
Wasserstein Hall, Harvard University
#hiltconf
Welcome remarks
Keynote panel
Breakout sessions 1 (11:0am – 11:45am)
Breakout sessions 2 (12:00pm – 1:15pm)
Lunchtime remarks
Welcome Remarks and Framing the Day
Lawrence S. Bacow is the 29th President of Harvard University. One of higher education’s most widely experienced leaders, President Bacow is committed to supporting scholarship and research, encouraging civic engagement, and expanding opportunity for all. From 2001 to 2011, he was president of Tufts University, where he fostered collaboration and advanced the university’s commitment to excellence in teaching, research, and public service. Prior to Tufts, he spent 24 years on the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he held the Lee and Geraldine Martin Professorship of Environmental Studies and served as Chair of the Faculty (1995-97) and as Chancellor (1998-2001).
An expert on non-adjudicatory approaches to the resolution of environmental disputes, President Bacow received an S.B. in economics from MIT, a J.D. from Harvard Law School, an M.P.P. from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and a Ph.D. in public policy from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.Prior to his election to the Harvard presidency in February 2018, he served as a member of the Harvard Corporation (2011-18), the Hauser Leader-in-Residence at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government (2014-18), and a President-in-Residence at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (2011-14).
President Bacow was raised in Pontiac, Michigan, by parents who were both immigrants. He and his wife, Adele Fleet Bacow, were married in 1975 and have two adult sons.
Erin Driver-Linn is Dean for Education and a faculty member in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the HarvardT.H. Chan School of Public Health. She provides dedicated strategic leadership for the educational activities of the Harvard Chan School, and plays a critical role in strengthening connections between SPH and other schools and offices across the University. From 2012 to 2018, she served as founding director of the Harvard Initiative for Learning and Teaching (HILT), a ten-year, $40 million initiative to catalyze innovation and excellence in teaching and learning across the University and also served as Associate Provost for Institutional Research from 2008 to 2018.
Keynote Conversation
The Intentional University
Claudine Gay (moderator) leads Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences. She assumed the role of Edgerley Family Dean of the FAS in August 2018, having served previously as Dean of Social Science from 2015 to 2018. A professor of Government and of African and African-American Studies at Harvard University since 2006, She is founding chair of the Inequality in America Initiative, a multidisciplinary effort launched in 2017. The inaugural cohort of postdoctoral fellows joins Harvard in Fall 2018.
Senator Bob Kerrey is Executive Chairman of the Minerva Institute for Research and Scholarship, where he advocates for broad reform in higher education. Prior to joining the Institute, Kerrey served as president of The New School, a university founded on strong democratic ideals and daring educational practices. From 1989 to 2001, Kerrey represented Nebraska in the United States Senate and made a concerted effort to allow Nebraskans to participate in writing laws that defined the quality and inclusiveness of their health care system, schools, and communities. Before serving as a U.S. Senator, Kerrey served a single term as Nebraska’s Governor, during which he partnered with the private sector to create jobs, help to improve the quality of the public school system, protect natural resources, and balance the state’s budget. He also served three years as a Navy SEAL in the U.S. Navy, and is a Medal of Honor recipient. Kerrey earned his B.S. in Pharmacy from the University of Nebraska.
Stephen M. Kosslyn is the Founder, President and CEO of Foundry College. Prior to that, he was Founding Dean and Chief Academic Officer of the Minerva Schools at the Keck Graduate Institute. He previously served as Director of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University after having been chair of the Department of Psychology, Dean of Social Science, and the John Lindsley Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. While at Harvard, he was also co-director of the Mind of the Market Lab at Harvard Business School and a member of the Department of Neurology at the Mass. General Hospital. Kosslyn’s research has focused on the nature of visual cognition, visual communication, and the science of learning.
Unpacking the Plenary – Breakout sessions 1 (11:00am – 11:45am)
A Conversation with Senator Kerrey
Senator Bob Kerrey is a former U.S. Senator and Governor of Nebraska. See full bio above.
Allison Pingree (facilitator), HILT’s Director of Cross-School Programming, oversees the annual conference and speaker series, the Teaching & Learning Consortium, a Harvard-wide program for peer-observation of instruction, and Into Practice. Prior to coming to HILT, Allison served as Director of Professional Pedagogy at Strengthening Learning and Teaching Excellence (SLATE) at the Harvard Kennedy School from 2011- 2018, and as Director of the Vanderbilt Center for Teaching from 1998-2011. She holds a Ph.D. in English & American Literature and Language from Harvard, and has taught in English, History & Literature, and Expository Writing at Harvard, and in American Studies and Leadership, Policy & Organizations at Vanderbilt.
A Conversation with Stephen Kosslyn
Erin Driver-Linn (facilitator) is Dean for Education at the T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Founding Director of HILT. See full bio above.
Stephen M. Kosslyn is Founder, President and CEO of Foundry College. See full bio above.
Harvard Faculty Views
Emily Click has served as Assistant Dean for Ministry Studies and Field Education and Lecturer on Ministry at Harvard Divinity School for over 12 years. Emily teaches courses on leadership and administration, education for social change, and on supervision as mentoring. Her scholarship focuses on building connections between theories of adult learning and development, and educating for social change leadership. She develops pedagogical practices aimed at building learning communities. The focus of all of her pedagogical practices is on ways to engage learners in experiential and creative explorations. She administers HDS’ field education program for all masters of divinity students.
James Kloppenberg is the Charles Warren Professor of American History. In recognition of his teaching, he has been named a Harvard College Professor and awarded the Levinson Memorial Teaching Prize by the Harvard Undergraduate Council. He teaches courses on European and American thought, culture, and politics from the ancient world to the present. He serves as the chair of the Committee on Degrees in Social Studies, as well as on the faculty of the graduate program in American Studies and the undergraduate concentration in History and Literature.
Dustin Tingley (facilitator) is Professor of Government in the Government Department at Harvard University. He is also Deputy Vice Provost for Advances in Learning (Deputy VPAL), and directs the VPAL Research Group and Harvard Initiative for Learning and Teaching (HILT). He received a PhD in Politics from Princeton in 2010 and BA from the University of Rochester in 2001. His research interests include international relations, political economy, data science, and education.
Harvard Students’ Views
Emma Giles has deep interest in learning, memory, and education. She is a co-founder of the EdTech Startup Sage Learning, and a PhD Student in the Harvard/MIT Center for Brains, Minds and Machines. She has worked with the World Health Organization as an EdTech consultant, with Khan Academy as a Teaching Fellow/Content Creator, and with HMS as a concept video creator.
Hilda M. Jordan is a senior at Harvard College studying Philosophy and African American Studies. Last year she worked with HILT as a Student Innovation Strategist, a think tank focusing on mapping and centralizing the teaching and learning efforts that happen across Harvard’s many campus. She is also an Undergraduate Pedagogy Fellow at the Bok Center where she designs and facilitates workshops for teaching fellows and faculty to address issues of power and privilege within the undergraduate classroom experience from the perspective of undergraduate students.
Gorick Ng is the founder of Frank, a “TurboTax for career services” that helps colleges more affordably scale their job search advising. Passionate about bridging the gap between school and work, Gorick is also the author of a forthcoming book for new graduates on how to succeed in their first jobs. He currently serves as a Resident Tutor and lead career adviser in Adams House and previously worked in corporate innovation at The Boston Consulting Group and BCG Digital Ventures. Gorick graduated from Harvard Business School and Harvard College and is the first in his family to pursue higher education.
Farah Qureshi is a 6th year doctoral candidate studying social epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Currently, she serves as a Pedagogy Fellow at the Global Health Education and Learning Incubator and the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning at Harvard University, where she develops classroom materials for diverse audiences and provides teaching support to global health courses at Harvard College.After completing her degree, Farah looks forward to continuing a career in academia using innovative pedagogies to teach global health at the graduate level, and adapting such strategies for use among undergraduate learners to foster early quantitative skills, analytic thinking, and general interest in issues of population health equity. Farah holds a master’s degree in child health and development from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a bachelor’s degree in writing from Johns Hopkins University.
Thomas Patrick Wisniewski is a Pedagogy Fellow at the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning and a Tutorial Board Teaching Fellow in Comparative Literature. His research centers on rhythm, prose, and modernism. He holds degrees from Dartmouth College and the University of Michigan and has held visiting lectureships at Boston University, Tufts University, and Harvard College. His work has been supported by the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, the Jacob K. Javits Fellowship Program, Villa I Tatti, and Freie Universität Berlin.
Jaime B. Goldstein (facilitator), HILT’s Director of Strategic Projects and Innovation Grants, oversees Spark and Targeted funding opportunities to pilot and scale innovation educational initiatives across the University. She is taking the lead on several strategic projects including curriculum mapping and developing online resources to support faculty, students, and staff. Prior to joining HILT, Jaime launched and scaled a lab at MIT that helps engineers learn to communicate effectively. She earned a Masters in Education from the University of Pennsylvania as well as a BA from the University of Pennsylvania in Environmental Studies and Writing.
Implementing Workshops – Breakout sessions 2 (12:00pm – 1:15pm)
Advancing and Promoting Quality Teaching
Julia C. Lee is the Executive Director for Research & Education at Harvard SEAS, primarily focusing on developing productive relationships with universities and industry for research and education in line with SEAS strategic goals and faculty interests, and also heads the SEAS international programs. Since 2016, she is concurrently serving as the Executive Vice Provost for Universidad de Ingenieria y Tecnologia in Peru, tasked with re- envisioning the University’s strategic agenda for both research and curricula. Julia was a professor in the Harvard Astronomy department from 2005-2014 and a co-recipient of the 2015 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. Julia was a member of the working group for the recent Royal Academy of Engineering publication “The Careers Framework for University Teaching”.
Richard Schwartzstein is the Ellen and Melvin Gordon Professor of Medicine and Medical Education at Harvard Medical School (HMS), is Associate Chief of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC). He has been an active clinical educator and researcher since he came to the HMS faculty over 30 years ago, and now serves as director of the Shapiro Institute for Education and Research at HMS and BIDMC and Director of Education Scholarship at HMS. Recipient of multiple HMS and national teaching awards, Richard chaired the Steering Committee that developed the Pathways curriculum and he now serves as course director for Homeostasis 1, a core course for first year students. His education research focuses on the development of pedagogical approaches to enhance analytical reasoning, techniques to maximize the benefits of small group teaching, and assessment of the role of simulation in medical education.
Barbara Cockril (facilitator) is Harold Amos Academy Associate Professor of Medicine. She was appointed Associate Director of the Academy in July 2014, and she has served as co-director of the second-year MD course, Human Systems, for the past decade. In her role in the Academy, she is responsible for working with the faculty in the Pathways curriculum to develop new pedagogical skills for teaching. In 2011, Cockrill won the Donald O’Hara Faculty prize for Excellence in Teaching.
Erin Driver-Linn (facilitator) is Dean for Education at the T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Founding Director of HILT. See full bio above.
Harvard-developed Tools to Enhance Teaching and Learning
Vittorio Bucchieri is a Senior User Experience Lead at Harvard University Information Technology. He employs User Experience best practices (research, testing, design) to support initiatives across the University and to grow and strengthen the awareness and adoption of User Experience (accessibility, usability and mobility) by Information Technology and schools’ organizations. Vittorio has also established processes to integrate User Experience methods with Agile methodology; coaches and mentors project teams; and designs and teaches courses.
Mae Klinger designs and develops digital learning materials at the Harvard Kennedy School’s SLATE initiative (Strengthening Learning and Teaching Excellence). She supports teaching with online materials and using learning data. Prior to coming to HKS in 2012, she was an Associate Editor at Bedford/St. Martin’s, responsible for editing film studies, journalism, and public speaking college textbooks and media projects. Mae holds an Ed.M. in Technology, Innovation and Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education and a BA in College of Letters and Studio Art from Wesleyan University.
Andrea Mary LaRocca is the Senior Project Manager at the Teaching and Learning Lab at HGSE, and she leads two strategic projects, Instructional Moves and How People Learn. Andrea’s career has focused on supporting educators and their learning, in service of making critical shifts in classrooms and the education system for students. She started in education as a high school English teacher and then became the Director of National Initiatives at NYC Leadership Academy, a non-profit that prepares transformational school leaders and leadership teams. In 2017, Andrea also completed a Doctorate of Education Leadership at HGSE, during which she focused on adult learning and organizational development. Andrea is passionate about and committed to improving adult learning experiences and supporting educators in making a difference for students.
Dan Levy is a Senior Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, where he teaches courses in quantitative methods, policy analysis, and program evaluation. His research focuses on evaluating social programs, including a transparency program in Indonesia and Tanzania, education interventions in Burkina Faso and Niger, and a welfare program in Jamaica. He is passionate about effective teaching and learning, and enjoys sharing his experience and enthusiasm with others. He is particularly interested in leveraging technology and data to improve teaching and learning. He recently co-founded Teachly, a web application aimed at helping faculty members teach more effectively and more inclusively. He was a founding member and served as the faculty chair of the Kennedy School’s SLATE (Strengthening Learning and Teaching Excellence) Initiative. He received his PhD in Economics from Northwestern University, grew up in Venezuela, and is fluent in Spanish and French.
Janina Matuszeski is Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. Her interests include program evaluation, development economics, political economy and research involving digital map data (GIS). Most recently, she worked for Oxfam America as Senior Research Coordinator, Community Finance Department, overseeing the operational and impact research for Oxfam America’s Saving for Change microsavings program in Mali, Senegal, Cambodia, El Salvador and Guatemala. Prior to this she served as a water and sanitation Peace Corps Volunteer in Mali. She also worked at ideas42, a microfinance research center at Harvard, focusing on small business development projects in India. She received a PhD in economics from Harvard University in 2007, with specialties in development economics, political economy and macroeconomics, and a BA from Amherst College in 1997 in chemistry and physics.
Daniel Seaton is an education enthusiast that has worked on both the research and product development sides of educational technology. Currently a Product Owner at Harvard University, he oversees the DART project (Digital Assets for Reuse in Teaching), which allows users to discover and reuse digital- learning content from sources across Harvard. Before DART, he was a Sr. Research Scientist in VPAL Research at Harvard studying learner behavior and large-scale studies of course design. Daniel received his PhD in physics from the University of Georgia, his BS in physics from Auburn University, and completed postdoctoral work at MIT studying physics education research and learning
Teddy Svoronos is a Lecturer of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, where he teaches courses in using statistical methods to improve public policy. His primary interest lies in the use of technology to replicate the dynamics of small classes on a large scale. To this end, Teddy develops fully online courses and blended learning modules that he uses to teach students and practitioners at the Kennedy School and abroad. He is also a co- founder of Teachly, a web application focused on creating effective and inclusive learning environments. Teddy received his PhD in Health Policy from Harvard University, where he studied the extent to which quasi-experimental designs can approximate the results of randomized trials.
Zachary Wang (facilitator), HILT’s Manager for Resources Adoption and Impact, is responsible for facilitating the increased adoption across the University of teaching and learning tools and practices that are supported by HILT grants or developed by other Office of the Vice Provost for Advances in Learning (VPAL) initiatives. Prior to joining HILT, he served as the Associate Director for Executive, Online, and Special Initiatives at Boston University School of Law. He earned a Master’s in Education from Boston University and also holds an LL.M. in Chinese Law from Tsinghua University and a J.D. from Boston College. Zachary received a B.A. from Columbia University in Political Science and East Asian Studies.
Improving Teaching by Studying Student Learning
Henrike C. Besche is the Associate Director for Curriculum Integration at Harvard Medical School and a Lecturer of Cell Biology. As one of the Core Faculty in the Foundations of Medicine Course she helped implement the case-based collaborative learning (CBCL) pedagogy at HMS, a flipped, discussion-based format that is now deployed across the entire first year medical curriculum. In her work as Associate of Director of Curriculum Integration she focuses on further improving basic science education in the MD curriculum in a variety of areas, including developing new courses, peer coaching, improving CBCL classroom materials and creating a safe and inclusive learning environment.
David Levari received his PhD from Harvard’s Psychology department, studying with Daniel Gilbert. Currently he is a Postdoctoral Research Associate working with Michael Norton at Harvard Business School. He has worked with the Bok Center as both a Pedagogy Fellow and an author of an online course about effective pedagogy in higher educaion. His research includes work on how to give effective advice, and was originally funded by a HILT Spark Grant.
Tamara Brenner (facilitator) is the Executive Director of the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning at Harvard University. Tamara is responsible for setting the strategic direction for the Bok Center in partnership with the faculty director, and for providing leadership for programmatic activities and initiatives to enhance teaching and learning in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. She has particular interests in science education and active learning. Tamara received a PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of California, San Francisco, and a BA in biochemistry from Swarthmore College. Prior to joining the Bok Center, she served as Associate Director of Life Sciences Education at Harvard and a lecturer on Molecular and Cellular Biology, and she taught a large introductory life sciences course for Harvard undergraduates.
Simple Ways to Use the Science of Learning
Josh Bookin is Assistant Director of Instructional Support and Development for the Teaching and Learning Lab at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. His main focus is developing and promoting teaching excellence at HGSE by engaging with faculty members and teaching fellows to assist them in solving problems of practice to best meet the learning needs of students. He previously served in a similar capacity as Assistant Director of Curriculum and Pedagogy at the Harvard Kennedy School.
Adrienne Phelps-Coco is the Associate Director of Online Pedagogy at the Harvard Division of Continuing Education and an instructor at the Harvard Extension School. She consults with instructors on adapting their courses for online delivery while maintaining their preferred teaching styles and pedagogical methodologies. Through teaching workshops, she also works to promote student engagement and interaction.
Allison Pingree is the HILT Director of Cross-School Programming. See full bio above.
Lunchtime Plenary Conversation
Bharat Anand is the incoming Vice Provost for Advances in Learning, the Henry R. Byers Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, and the Senior Associate Dean and faculty chair of HBX, the school’s digital learning initiative that he helped create. He is an expert in digital strategy, corporate strategy, and organizational change, and his work on these topics has influenced start-ups and established companies around the globe. His recent book The Content Trap was named by Fast Company and Bloomberg as one of the “top ten books of the year.” Professor Anand helped oversee the design and creation of HBX’s digital learning platforms, and created one of its first online courses. HBX has received accolades for its innovative approach to online pedagogy and its virtual classroom has been described by Fortune as the “Classroom of the Future.” Professor Anand is a two-time winner of the Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence in the MBA program. He received his B.A. in economics from Harvard College magna cum laude, and his PhD in economics from Princeton University. He is a recipient of the Greenhill Award for outstanding contributions to Harvard Business School.
Alan M. Garber is Provost of Harvard University, where he holds professorships in the Medical School, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Kennedy School of Government, and School of Public Health. Alan’s academic work explores health policy and the economics of health care. As Provost, Alan has taken a special interest in pedagogy and teaching, leading Harvard in its partnership with MIT to create edX. He received his AB summa cum laude and PhD in Economics from Harvard University, as well as his MD with research honors from Stanford University.