Fall Teaching Conference Plenary: Teaching Remotely with Images and Objects Across Disciplines (Registration Closed)

Jen Thum, Inga Maren Otto Curatorial Fellow, Harvard Art Museums
Rebecca Miller Brown, Assistant Director, Graduate Student Programming, Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning

A Van Gogh analyzed by medical students. A landscape to think about climate change. Post-war prints to discuss the lives of noncombatants. Each semester, classes from disciplines across the university—on topics ranging from environmental science to poetry—engage with original works of art at the Harvard Art Museums. Works of art can illustrate arguments, give tangible expression to ideas, and provide a means to engage with concepts and build skills in new and novel ways. In this online workshop, we will use a variety of objects from the collection of the Harvard Art Museums – most of which have been featured in real Zoom classes – to demonstrate strategies for engaging students in the online space. We will discuss strategies to encourage students to look closely and think critically, and promote active learning with works of art in your teaching. Participants will also learn how they can collaborate with the museums’ staff for remote and in-person visits in the future.