As classes at Harvard moved online, so too did the Bok Center’s Pedagogy Fellows Program, comprising 33 experienced and creative graduate students who support their peers in their roles as undergraduate teachers. Pedagogy Fellows (PFs) collaborate with faculty, department administrators, and the Bok Center’s senior staff to enhance training and support for teaching fellows within their departments and across the Faculty of Arts and Sciences by leading pedagogy seminars and workshops, consulting with TFs, and developing resources on teaching and professional development for their peers.
The Bok Center’s training prepares the fellows for the many facets of their roles. Over the course of the year, we delved deeply into key topics in teaching and learning, building a vibrant community of practice and fostering a spirit of collaboration in the process. Our final meetings of the year were held via Zoom, and proved to be an essential space for all of us, as we were simultaneously learning about teaching remotely, helping faculty and TFs transition their teaching responsibilities online, and both supporting and finding support from our community. Javier Caride, PF in Philosophy, shared his thoughts: “It has been challenging to advise and support other TFs on remote teaching issues when I myself have really only started studying it in the last few weeks. Touching base with other PFs really helped orient my thinking on a lot of these issues.”
Click to view the Pedagogy Fellows Capstone Gallery
In the midst of adapting to so many changes, the PFs continued to work on their capstone projects, initially meant to be shared at a reception in the Bok Center’s Learning Lab. The capstone assignment is designed to allow the PFs to showcase the great work they have done, to provide a space for them to reflect and learn from each other, and to share their work with their departments and the broader teaching community. We focused on these goals as we adapted the event to be held remotely. We are proud of the results: an engaging online poster session held via Zoom on May 1, and an online gallery we designed to showcase their projects.
While a goodbye wave in Zoom cannot replace the energy of an in-person celebration, the virtual capstone session came close to giving this year’s cohort of PFs the send-off they deserved. As Hudson Vincent, PF in Comparative Literature, noted: “Thank you all for hosting such a wonderful event this afternoon. It was the perfect send-off. I learned so much from you all over the last year, and I can’t thank you enough for letting me be a part of such a stellar group of PFs.” Or, as Eric Johnson, PF in Anthropology, shared, “Thank you so much for such a rewarding experience. You've been so supportive this whole year, even with all the chaos. I really appreciate all the work you do to make this program successful. I've learned so much! And I feel far better equipped to navigate the uncertain future as a result.”
We want to thank this cohort of fellows for being an ever-present source of inspiration and community through this challenging year. We are excited to share their work through the Pedagogy Fellows Capstone Gallery; this site will continue to remind us of what we can achieve, and to inspire us as we look ahead to the future of our collaborations with departments and graduate students across the FAS.