Bok Seminar - Teaching with Special Collections

Led by Chloe Chapin

Are you interested in integrating more “active learning” in your teaching? Do you want to get students out of the traditional classroom and in front of the “raw material” that scholars use in your field? Harvard has a wealth of resources available through its museums and libraries that you can use to introduce students to new ways of thinking and learning across disciplines, or to help them practice various disciplinary methods, such as manuscript research or visual and material analysis. In this seminar, we will practice strategies for teaching with collections-based materials, including a range of close-looking, object analysis, and archive skills, so that you can incorporate these practices in your own teaching, both as a TF for Harvard courses and in your course planning for the future. We will discuss how to prepare students to visit museums and archives, how to design course learning objectives around primary sources, how to design collections-based lesson plans, and how to prepare for conversations with collections teaching staff. This seminar is designed for new and experienced TFs from all disciplines who are interested in learning how to: 1) teach close-looking and other collections-based instruction methods 2) integrate museum visits into their courses, and 3) learn more about long-term strategies for collections-based pedagogy. No prior experience in working in or teaching with museums, libraries, or archives required. 

This is the first session of a 6-session seminar. Registration required.

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