#  Cultivating communities of practice in graduate student teaching 

 



**Awardee:** Nonie Lesaux (HGSE)



 

**Summary:** Awardee plans to develop a formal model of professional development for doctoral students who serve as teaching fellows.

*“We realized that we needed a differentiated model to support our teaching fellows who have very active roles in our courses…”*  — Nonie Lesaux

### **Fellows teaching fellows . . . and faculty**

Through “Cultivating communities of practice in graduate student teaching,” HGSE teaching fellows took charge of their own learning, creating resources useful to them as well as faculty.

Using a peer-consulting network and a weekly e-blast called *Collected Wisdom*, fellows began to share teaching ideas and provide one another with timely teaching tips. The team also curated a set of protocols that feature practices for the Higher Ed classroom.

Today, the majority of the HGSE’s teaching fellows read *Collected Wisdom*, and the protocols are proving a valuable teaching resource not just for fellows, but faculty too.

The project also inspired a University-wide publication, [*Into Practice*](http://vpal.harvard.edu/intopractice), an e-letter highlighting the pedagogical practices of individual faculty members from across schools as well as just-in-time, evidence-based teaching advice. *Into Practice,* which debuted in 2015, is coordinated by the Office of the Vice Provost for Advances in Learning and is distributed on a bi-weekly basis to active instructors at Harvard.



 

 

 See also:- [ Past Grant Project ](/resource-taxonomy/past-grant-project)
- [ Teaching and Learning Strategies ](/resource-taxonomy/teaching-and-learning-strategies)
- [ Faculty/Professional Development ](/resource-taxonomy/facultyprofessional-development)