HILT Spark Grant fall 2015 awards announced

HILT awarded seven Spark Grants of $5-$15K this fall. Awardees will:

• Design a “hackathon” as a participatory learning and engagement strategy. Marcus Mello and Lindsay Woodson (GSD) will host a design-focused hackathon – inclusive of Harvard community members across disciplines – in order to prototype methodologies of community engagement.
• Explore optimal sequences of instructional material. Marshall Thomas (HMS), Selen Turkay (CADM-VPAL), and Michael Parker (HMS) will compare combinations of instructional modalities in controlled studies and online courses at HMS.
• Investigate the impact of embodied exercises. Irwin Shapiro and Anna Yermakova (FAS) will measure retention in students taught with relevant physical exercise versus taught with demonstrations.
• Leverage teaching fellow potential in experiential learning. Erin Baumann, Carolyn Wood, and Allison Pingree (HKS) will interview faculty to surface best practices in designing the role of the teaching fellow in experiential learning environments.
• Pilot an advanced elective in primary care medicine. Kristen Goodell (HMS), Barbara Ogur (HMS-BIDMC), Sara Fazio (HMS-BIDMC), Barbara Gottlieb (HSPH/HMS-BWH), Valeria Pazo (HMS-BWH), Colleen Farrell (HMS), and Lydia Flier (HMS) will design a 2015-2016 course employing near-peer teaching in a primary care experience.
• Refine a new approach to legal education. Jon Hanson and Jacob Lipton (HLS) will offer a conference for University faculty and students to evaluate and discuss how the bottom-up approach to The Systemic Justice Project can be generalized.
• Study the long-term retention of information in science education. Susanne Jakob and William J. Anderson (FAS) will administer a survey to graduates of SCRB 10 to analyze long-term retention of concepts.