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Missed Connections?: A Study of Academics and Student Employment at Harvard
In this session, hosted by the Research-Informed Teaching & Learning (RITL) TLC Affinity Group, HGSE Assistant Professor Anthony Abraham Jack will discuss findings from a chapter of his new book project, When Campus Closed: Inside the Upended World of Elite College. He examines how Harvard undergraduates with disparate pre-college experiences differ in their orientations toward seeking employment. In particular, Jack focuses on how these differences affect students' access to “life of the mind” opportunities that involve working with faculty—e.g., as course assistants, research assistants, or employees of teaching and learning centers. These findings have implications for Harvard faculty who serve as gatekeepers to many “life of the mind” positions in universities and for learning-and-teaching professionals who both support faculty members and directly employ students. -
Teaching in the Age of Misinformation
What do you do as an educator when someone brings up misinformation in your class? Moderated by Meira Levinson, join Neil McGaraghan (HLS), Eric Torres (HGSE), and Shifali Singh (FAS/HMS) as they discuss teaching in the age of misinformation and how we engage in thinking about and understanding misinformation. This is a follow up to HILT's 2022 Conference. -
Tour of Teaching & Learning Spaces at the Harvard Art Museums
Please join us for an in-person event with the Learning Spaces Affinity Group. The Harvard Art Museums will provide a tour of the facilities at the museum, specifically the spaces that are used for teaching and learning. Some portions of this tour will include spaces with capacity limits, so we will be gathering RSVPs. Please let us know if you plan to attend using the RSVP link. -
Exploring Teamwork and Collaboration in Learning – A Social Event
Building off of the HILT conference's theme of teamwork and collaboration, the Learning Design Affinity Group invites you to attend a social event which will feature hands-on examples of both! Together, we will explore how synchronous and asynchronous groupwork can work and how to design one for the classroom. Please join to connect with colleagues from across the university as we engage in various forms of (fun) cooperative activities! -
2022 HILT Conference
The 2022 annual HILT Conference will explore various approaches to collaborative learning and the successes and challenges in facilitating group dynamics. Our plenary session will demonstrate the importance of psychological safety as a foundation for successful teamwork. Breakout sessions will showcase current practices from Harvard faculty across the University on topics related to the effective design and implementation of group projects and collaborative learning. All will highlight students’ first-hand experiences engaging with the learning and teaching environment. -
Ungrading: Reimagining Traditional Assessments
This event, jointly hosted by the Research-Informed Teaching & Learning (RITL) and Learning Design HILT Affinity Groups, will summarize the scholarly research informing the “ungrading” movement and explore the implications of ungrading for teaching and learning in higher education. Participants will have the opportunity to collaboratively analyze interdisciplinary case studies of ungrading practices. Additionally, we will share resources and approaches that you can implement in your own professional practice as instructors or education developers. -
Teaching Climate Change Across Disciplines
In a follow-on to HILT's 2021 Conference, Harvard faculty from STEM and non-STEM disciplines will share how their students learn about climate change through various lenses. James H. Stock, Vice Provost for Climate and Sustainability and the Harold Hitchings Burbank Professor of Political Economy, will provide an overview of climate education at Harvard and serve as moderator of this discussion. -
Learning Analytics at Harvard Business School Online
A primary goal of HBS Online was to build a platform to bring active, social, and case-based learning experiences to asynchronous online learners. It was also a goal to instrument this platform to facilitate learning analytics and measurement to allow for the study and improvement of the learning experience. Brent Benson will talk about what makes the HBS Online platform and pedagogy different, how metrics and analytics are captured and stored, and give specifics around social engagement and procrastination metrics and how they are being used to improve learning experience and outcomes, especially among under-represented and diverse participant subgroups. -
Using podcasts to build foundational relationships between students
Matthew Potts, Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and the Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church, teaches Introduction to Ministry Studies, a cohort introductory course designed for graduate students who intend to go into the interreligious ministry broadly. His course offers an introduction that spans a variety of religions and simultaneously cultivates a sense of community amongst students. While the course was traditionally conducted in a lecture format with some section discussions, Potts had to rethink the course’s structure completely when it shifted online amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. “I wanted to get people off screen,” he explains. Rather than sitting through a live lecture, students listened to podcasts of Potts and the teaching team conversing about the readings prior to each class. To ensure students would also engage with him directly, Potts also organized Oxford-style tutorials, with students meeting in groups of two or three and with a different member of the teaching team to discuss the course material. Students would write a one-page memo reflecting on the readings and present it to get the conversation going. “I wanted a place for students to come and continue the conversation and feel invested in what they had read or what they had listened to, but not in any burdensome way.” -
Shifting STEM culture
Robin Gottlieb, Professor of the Practice of Teaching Mathematics, aims to make mathematics accessible and exciting to all students in each of her courses. “When students come to Harvard, they have very different but set ideas of what happens in the classroom,” Gottlieb explains. “In many high school math classrooms, the dominant cultural norm is an ‘I do, you do, we do’ model. The teacher is expected to tell you what to do. One of my main objectives is to shift the culture of the classroom so that students become mathematical thinkers.” Gottlieb works alongside colleagues on the preceptor team to construct classrooms in which students actively participate in the development of ideas. Inspired by colleagues’ such as Eric Mazur’s active learning and John Asher Johnson’s Tao of TALC, Gottlieb has students spend more time working on problems together in groups at the blackboard, reflect actively on questions and lessons from daily problem sets, and co-build community norms around supportive teamwork. Through group work, Gottlieb has developed mathematics classrooms that are more welcoming, active, and empowering places of learning.
