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.

• Keeping students engaged and learning through the “human hook”

  Maya Jasanoff, X. D. and Nancy Yang Professor of Arts and Sciences and Coolidge Professor of History, uses narratives to engage students and deepen their understanding of course content. From her Gen Ed course Ancestry to her upper-level seminar Narrative History: Art and Argument, Jasanoff demonstrates that “stories do not necessarily mean fiction; rather, stories are simply arguments based on the evidence. The former cannot exist without the latter.”

• Case Studies Affinity Group: Challenges and Trends in Case Writing and Development

  Please save the date for our fall Affinity Group meeting, Challenges and Trends in Case Writing and Development, hosted by Harvard Business Publishing (HBP) on Thursday, October 26, 2017, from 3:00-4:30 pm.

• Learning Spaces Affinity Group: Inaugural Event

  The HILT Learning Spaces Affinity Group will hold its first event on Wednesday, June 7, 2017 from 3 to 5 pm in Cabot Science Library. Please join us for a fun exploration of learning spaces around campus, and a chance to experience in person the new spaces in Cabot – featured in a recent Gazette article at http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/04/harvards-cabot-science-library-charges-into-the-future/

• Simulations & Games Affinity Group: Educational Games Gallery Walk

  Wednesday, May 31, 2017: 12:00pm to 2:00pm at Cabot Science Library. HILT Simulations & Games Affinity Group invites you to join them for an afternoon of learning, fun, and exploration. Featuring hands-on board games, role plays, video games, and virtual reality -- this event will showcase a variety of educational games being used in learning experiences across Harvard.

• Learning Data & Analytics Affinity Group Meeting

  Have you been wishing or planning to use data from your school's Canvas sites to understand student learning and behavior? Join the HILT Learning Data Analytics affinity group and VPAL Research for a presentation of VPALs Canvas Data products and a discussion how they can be used to help you answer your analytics questions.  

• Learning Design Affinity Group

  The HILT Affinity Group for Learning Design is holding an inaugural event on May 16, 2017 in Cabot Library. 

• Case Studies Affinity Group Lunch & Chat

  For our next Affinity Group meeting, we decided to change it up a bit!  The survey we conducted last fall indicated that many of our members wanted a chance to meet and talk in smaller, more informal groups about top-of-mind issues.

• Case Studies Affinity Group: How to engage and support faculty new to case method teaching

  The Harvard Affinity Group for Case Studies invites you to its fall/winter session next Wednesday, December 14, 2016 at 12:30pm on engaging faculty in case teaching with Willis Emmons and Matt Miller. This should be an exciting and interactive discussion, and lunch will be provided.

• Applying Pedagogical Insights to Large Online Courses

  When William Fisher, WilmerHale Professor of Intellectual Property Law, was approached to create an online course version of his Harvard Law School Copyright course, he agreed with the stipulation that CopyrightX be paired with the residential version, that enrollment be limited to 500, and that students meet in discussion sections of 25. Both online and residential students watch the same 90-minute lecture video prior to class time. When the class meets, Fisher facilitates case study discussions with residential students and 15-20 teaching fellows do so for sections of online students. Sometimes, residential and online students meet virtually to hear from a guest speaker.

• Socialize Remotely

  Although we moved online, we can still laugh, play, learn, and grow closer outside of class and work as a community. Socialize Remotely is a University-wide platform designed to bring us together to do exactly that. On Socialize Remotely, you can publicize and explore a variety of online gatherings available to the Harvard community.