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Support for General Education

Recognizing that courses in the new General Education curriculum that debuted in Fall 2019 often benefit from specialized instructional design and/or logistical support, the Bok Center has created a General Education team dedicated to providing the Program's instructors:

  • highly tailored, one-on-one consultations on course design;
  • collaborative, community-building Course Design Institutes funded by the Davis Educational Foundation; and
  • "in-flight" support for faculty and Teaching Fellows in the form of workshops, class observations, guest facilitation of activities, and opportunities to use the Bok Center's space and resources to host course-related events.

Partners in Course Design & Delivery

Bespoke design consultations

Faculty who have been approved to teach in the new Gen Ed are warmly invited to dock with the Bok Center either to revise their existing course materials or to build out their new proposal into a full syllabus. As you consider the committee’s feedback, develop your materials, onboard your teaching staff, and get the semester underway, our team would be happy to help you with some—or all—of the following :

  • Defining and articulating your course goals
  • Identifying the resources available to you
  • Designing an assignment
  • Designing your syllabus
  • Teaching with technology (Canvas, Multimedia, Timelines, .... )
  • Developing a research/writing guide
Read more about the support available to all faculty
Make an appointment to meet with our team

Course Design Institutes

Gen Ed InstitutesBeginning in Spring 2019, the Bok Center is bringing together small groups of faculty participate in multi-day course design institutes, focusing on general elements of assignment and syllabus design as well as elements of particular relevance courses in Gen Ed. These institutes will feature workshops led by the Bok Center’s Assistant Director for Writing Pedagogy, as well as one-on-one attention from preceptors currently teaching in Harvard’s first-year Expository Writing program.

Visit the Course Design Institute Canvas site

Comprehensive In-Flight Support

The Bok Center looks forward to working with faculty and graduate students as they deliver their courses, whether by offering professional development opportunities such as special workshops and/or class observations, or by providing the people and the facilities with which to implement a special activity or assignment. Our team would be happy to help you with some—or all—of the following :

  • Planning your use of in-class time
  • Training and supporting your TFs
  • Hosting hackathons and other course-related events
Request Bok support for your teaching staff
Schedule class/video observations for your TFs

Faculty Testimonials

  • Stephen Greenblatt
  • Kathleen Coleman
  • Maya Jasanoff

Contact Bok's Gen Ed Team

  • Adam Beaver

    Adam Beaver

    Director of Pedagogy

    As Director of Pedagogy, Adam Beaver provides leadership and strategic direction for the Bok Center's faculty programming, while working closely with faculty and graduate students in the humanities, social sciences, and General Education.... Read more about Adam Beaver

    50 Church Street, room 382
    Cambridge, MA 02138
    abeaver@fas.harvard.edu
    p: 617-495-1947
  • Jonah

    Jonah Johnson

    Assistant Director of Writing Pedagogy

    As the Assistant Director of Writing Pedagogy at the Bok Center, Jonah oversees programming related to writing in Harvard College courses, delivering workshops and consulting with faculty and graduate students on their assignment design and feedback practices. He is currently engaged in a multi-year effort to create a culture of meaningful writing in the new General Education curriculum, part of a larger project of creating a more unified culture of academic writing in the College.... Read more about Jonah Johnson

    50 Church Street, Room 383
    Cambridge, MA 02138
    jmjohns@fas.harvard.edu
    p: 617-495-9818

Additional Bok Support for Gen Ed

  • Pamela Pollock

    Pamela Pollock

    Director of Professional Development

    Pamela Pollock provides strategic oversight of a full portfolio of teacher training, professional development and scholarly communication programming for graduate students, including the Bok Seminars and Teaching Certificate, the Fall Teaching Conference and Winter Teaching Week, the Pedagogy Fellows program, the Professional Communication Program for International Teachers and Scholars, the Harvard Horizons mentoring program and other initiatives. ... Read more about Pamela Pollock

    125 Mt. Auburn Street, room 316
    Cambridge, MA 02138
    pamelapollock@fas.harvard.edu