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Faculty Orientations

Every August the Bok Center contributes workshops on teaching and learning to the New Faculty Institute and Navigating Harvard orientations sponsored by the Office of Faculty Affairs. Our goals are to introduce new faculty, both tenured/tenure-track and non-tenure track, to the culture of the Harvard classroom, including the identities and expectations of our students and the tools and resources available to them as instructors.

Starting in summer 2024 we will also offer two summer workshops prior to these orientations for new faculty who wish to get a head start on designing their courses for a Harvard context.

Summer 2024 Course Design Workshops

The Bok Center is pleased to offer new FAS faculty a pair of summer workshops designed to help you get a head start to designing and teaching your course(s) at Harvard. We'll focus on topics including:

  • what the science of learning teaches us about effective course design;
  • the kinds of expectations and preparation with which Harvard students will arrive in your classroom; and
  • how to access the many resources available to support you in your teaching, including the Bok Center, libraries, museums, instructional technologists, and more.

The first workshop, to be scheduled on Zoom for July, will focus primarily on syllabus design. The second, to be offered in-person in August, will focus primarily on classroom practice.

Dates and times will be posted here in June.

New Faculty Institute & Navigating Harvard 2023: Three Big Questions about Teaching

In this two-hour interactive workshop, the staff of the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning will facilitate a series of activities that will invite you to learn about the students whom you'll be teaching, to reflect on how best to use your in- and out-of-class time to promote student learning, and to be transparent about your goals for yourself, your students, and your subject.

Session materials

Some additional resources re: Harvard students

Some resources re: the Harvard curriculum

Some resources re: developing your capacities

Learn more about the Bok Center's resources

We hope that Navigating Harvard and the New Faculty Institute will be just the first of many times that you interact with the Bok Center! Here are some more ways to engage: