As scholars, we are always developing our research, but how do we think about learning and growing as teachers? This spring, an interdisciplinary group of ten PhD students explored frameworks for teaching development to consider this question and become more reflective and effective teachers in our Bok Seminar, Taking Your Teaching to the Next Level: Practice, Feedback, and Reflection.

Students in the seminar considered their own goals and questions they...

Did your EALC student submit his DAO letter by Fifth Monday?

When you talked to ATG and ESS about AV support for your lecture in CGIS, did they ask for a 33-digit billing code?

Can I print my paper at the SOCH on my way to the QRAC?

Every university speaks its own language, its own distinctive lexicon full of rapidfire acronyms and well-worn campus shorthand that separates those who are in-the-know from... Read more about Supporting Visiting Faculty

While some faculty come to the Bok Center for help in getting started on designing a new course or trying a new teaching technique, many of the 150+ faculty with whom we consult every year arrive already equipped with an ambitious plan informed by years of experience creating transformative learning experiences for their students. In those cases, we are happy to partner with faculty to hone and scale their plans, whether it’s the choreography of a single in-class activity or the logistics of supporting students through a semester-long research project involving multiple types...

This year marks the 18th cohort of the Bok Center’s Pedagogy Fellows Program, a collaboration between the Bok Center, academic departments, and the Office of Undergraduate Education. Each year, we teach more than 25 Pedagogy Fellows to be teaching consultants, to identify needs and develop resources on teaching and professional development for their peers, and, in many cases, to lead their departments’ pedagogy courses. The program aims to support all Harvard PhD students in their roles as undergraduate teachers, and to provide a cohort of excellent graduate student teachers with the...

At our Bok Graduate Community Celebration on April 28, we were excited to honor this year’s Teaching Certificate recipients and all of the graduate students who engaged in our programming over the past year. Students from Bok Seminars, the Professional Communication Program for International Teachers and Scholars, and Bok Fellows programs joined us to share their experiences and connect with fellow graduate students.... Read more about Learn, Practice, Reflect, and Celebrate!

This spring semester we will mark a year since the Presidential Initiative on Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery launched its landmark report, and while the university has already begun to take action on the report’s seven...

Planning a third revamped Fall Teaching Conference in three years, while challenging, really encouraged us to distill all of the lessons learned from previous conferences into what we hope will be the new template for the Fall Teaching Conference going forward. Going online and coming back in-person again prompted us to reflect on our core values, articulate our goals clearly, and reimagine a Fall...

As we close the books on the academic year, we are taking stock of what we’ve learned, and planning for the coming year. Our programs always strive to reflect the current moment, as we adjust to the needs of each year of teaching. 2021–22 was the year of being “back again” on campus, of teaching with masks, and of getting used to being together in the classroom again. Perhaps none of the Bok Center’s programs felt more responsive to these new circumstances than the Pedagogy Fellows. Each year, approximately 34...

The Bok Teaching Certificate gives GSAS PhD students a tangible marker of their ongoing commitment to developing as teachers in higher education. Guided by three principles—Learn, Practice, Reflect—those who pursue the Certificate explore different topics in teaching and learning through departmental pedagogy courses and Bok Seminars, reflect on their own teaching practice, and compile a portfolio of written materials documenting their experience. We offer a tailored approach for students; no two students follow...

PhD students with teaching experience and a passion for teaching and learning are invited to apply for the 2022-2023 cohort of Pedagogy Fellows! Positions are available for Pedagogy Fellows based either in Departments or at the Bok Center. Applications are due by 5:00pm EST, Friday, February 25, 2022.

Pedagogy Fellows (PFs) enhance...

Faculty and Teaching Fellows often are in an excellent position to identify students and colleagues who are struggling, and to refer them to the right person or department for help. And yet, at the same time, many instructors understandably report that they feel uncomfortable and/or unprepared in reaching out to a student or colleague in distress. After all, most of us are trained to be teachers and scholars, not mental health professionals.

Recognizing this challenge, the Bok Center recently collaborated with...

After a Fall semester full of reconnecting with colleagues, friends, students, and instructors in person and teaching and learning on campus, we were excited to plan our Winter Teaching Week to be an opportunity for graduate student teachers to refresh their teaching and get new ideas before the spring term. We especially were looking forward to hosting our revamped programming at our Bok Center offices, building upon our successful return to in-person teaching in the Fall. But COVID was...

Planning the Fall Teaching Conference this summer felt like building an airplane while flying it: we knew we would be teaching in person, but the continually changing circumstances required us, like all instructors teaching this fall, to be intentional yet flexible in our planning. We had so many questions to consider: How should we prepare graduate student TFs to teach in physical classrooms? How could we most effectively apply the lessons we learned from our fully online conference in 2020 to this new “hybrid” moment of transition? How could we meet the needs of both new and experienced TFs facing another unprecedented semester?

... Read more about From Zoom Rooms to Classrooms: A Hybrid Fall Teaching Conference

Teaching is a collaborative act, and the Pedagogy Fellows Program is by definition a community of practice. Every year, approximately 34 experienced and creative graduate students from 28 departments and programs across the FAS come together at the Bok Center to support their peers in their roles as undergraduate teachers by leading pedagogy seminars and workshops, consulting with Teaching Fellows (TFs), and developing resources on teaching and professional development. Over the course of the year, we meet regularly...

Is there any document that does more, and receives less recognition, than the humble course syllabus? By comparison with the other documents scholars produce—journal articles, dissertations, even letters of recommendation—our syllabi hardly rate; they’re often regarded as ephemeral, purely functional, designed to be read once or twice and then cast aside at the end of the semester. But in fact, the syllabus is so much more than a reference document.... Read more about Exploring Syllabus Design