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Close Encounters with Original Works of Art—Despite the Distance

May 8, 2020

When the Harvard Art Museums closed to the public just before Spring Break, it opened new doors in the online space. With numerous course collaborations scheduled for the remainder of the semester, the museums’ staff worked to transform gallery visits and classes in the Art Study Center into interactive visual learning experiences via Zoom.... Read more about Close Encounters with Original Works of Art—Despite the Distance

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Celebrating Bok Teaching Certificate Recipients

May 7, 2020

The Bok Center is excited to recognize and celebrate this year’s Bok Teaching Certificate Recipients!

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...

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Bok Seminars Go Remote

April 27, 2020

As classes at Harvard went online, so too did Bok Seminars, short courses for PhD students covering a range of topics in teaching and learning, from course design to public speaking, taught by the Bok Center’s senior staff and fellows. Reframing our own seminars informed our experience helping faculty and TFs make the transition to teaching remotely. Like instructors across campus, we worried about time zones and students' technical challenges, and gained firsthand experience figuring out how to achieve our core goals under...

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Supporting Graduate Student Teachers Remotely

April 21, 2020

How do I move students to breakout rooms in my Zoom classroom? What activities can I do online to foster engagement? What can we do to help students feel included, cared for, and motivated to learn during a global crisis, when we also have to manage the disruption to our own lives?

Bok Center staff identified these and many other questions as we quickly mobilized to help graduate students prepare to teach remotely. In developing the most timely and impactful programming for TFs during the transition to online instruction, we were guided by our core values...

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Community for International Graduate Students

April 15, 2020

The Bok Center strives to be a place where teachers and scholars at all stages of their careers can find community, and it has been important to us to maintain that during these challenging times.

We have helped international graduate students stay connected through Community Check-ins: Connect and Chat, a drop-in conversation hour for international scholars and undergraduates to share ideas for teaching, learning, and living.... Read more about Community for International Graduate Students

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Lessons from Game Design: 3 Reasons to Add “Turns” to Your Online Class

April 14, 2020

As we are all gaining experience with remote teaching and learning, we are pleased to share a post on lessons from game design. Learning Lab Graduate Fellow Ceci Mancuso reflects on the mechanics that asynchronous online games use to connect players across the globe and what those mechanics can teach us about designing asynchronous experiences for our students.... Read more about Lessons from Game Design: 3 Reasons to Add “Turns” to Your Online Class