Harvard Initiative for Learning & Teaching (HILT) awarded five Spark Grants of up to $15,000 intended to “spark” promising teaching and learning projects. Awardees will:
- Examine podcasting as a learning tool. Natalie DuPre, E. Francis Cook, Myroslava Makuch, and Sejal Vashi (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health) will train students to effectively communicate through podcasting.
- Leverage the video essay to improve teaching and learning. Jorrit de Jong and Cecily Tyler (Harvard Kennedy School [HKS]) will explore the video essay as an integrative teaching tool.
- Optimize preparation for the flipped classroom. Henrike Besche, Randall King, Elizabeth Lemoine, and Barbara Cockrill (Harvard Medical School [HMS]) will use efficiency metrics to analyze the effectiveness of pre-class materials.
- Produce a series of ethnographic engagements. Kaya Williams (Faculty of Arts & Sciences [FAS]) will use an ethnographic lens to spark an interdisciplinary and intergenerational conversation on the role of whiteness in research, pedagogy, and institutional life.
- Study how decision-making is taught across disciplines. Baruch S. Krauss (HMS), Joanna Huang (FAS), Rhonda Bondie, and Chris Dede (Harvard Graduate School of Education) will develop effective methods for pedagogical instruction of decision-making.
HILT awarded three Targeted Support projects of up to $125,000. Awardees will:
- Assess the Teachly tool. Dan Levy, Theodore Svoronos, Karti Subramanian, and Sarah Hamma (HKS) will study the effectiveness of a software tool designed to help faculty teach more inclusively and effectively.
- Expand web application for language pedagogy. Ivy Livingston and Mark Schiefsky (FAS) and Rebecca Miller, Jeff Emanuel, and Bill Barthelmy (HUIT) will broaden languages and features available within Hedera.
- Scale established SEAS LTI tools. Gabriel Abrams (Harvard Extension School) will open the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) education technology application store university-wide.
