HILT Spark Grant awards announced

The Harvard Initiative for Learning and Teaching (HILT) awarded five Spark Grants to projects that will be pursued over the year:

• Improving student statistics literacy. Abha Ahuja and Melanie Stefan (HMS) will study misconceptions about statistics in a high-enrollment life science course and develop a related computer-based module.

• New course on creativity. Michael Van Valkenburgh (GSD) will develop a new interdisciplinary course, involving leaders in landscape architecture and other fields paired with faculty at Harvard to examine originality, authenticity, and invention, and develop a model for courses that spark students to develop their own creative voice.

• Online learning models matrix and working group. Bill Wisser (HGSE) will convene a group of faculty and staff to study and document the current range of online learning models and disseminate a matrix of findings that will inform pedagogical strategies and production activities.

• Open review platform. Erik Bauch and Georg Kucsko (FAS) will, within several physics courses, test, assess, and refine a promising education tool that facilitates student and faculty collaborative annotation of scholarly materials.

• Revamping foreign language curriculum evaluation. Nicole Mills, Stacey Katz Bourns, and Virginia Maurer (FAS) will organize a new symposium and series of workshops for faculty to explore contemporary approaches in evaluating and renewing foreign language curricula.

Spark Grant awards range from $5-$15K and are designed to help “spark” promising teaching and learning projects from idea to reality. HILT will announce the recipients of the Cultivation Grants in May.