March 2018

Interactive lecturing: High-leverage teaching practices to energize students

This post is republished from Into Practicea biweekly communication of Harvard’s Office of the Vice Provost for Advances in Learning

This issue of Into Practice is adapted from Instructional Moves content produced by the Teaching and Learning Lab at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Paola ArlottaPaola Arlotta, Professor of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, creates an environment of active inquiry, experimentation, and brainstorming by employing interactive lecturing in her course, Got (New) Brain? The Evolution of Brain Regeneration. An approach which spurs discussion that “often spans multiple fields of study.”

The benefits: Her interactive, Socratic teaching style engages students more deeply in the content ... Read more about Interactive lecturing: High-leverage teaching practices to energize students

Hearing their own voice: Consistent student participation while discussing polarizing topics

This post is republished from Into Practicea biweekly communication of Harvard’s Office of the Vice Provost for Advances in Learning

Kamali, Into Practice

Elizabeth Papp Kamali, Assistant Professor of Law, wants to ensure that students contribute consistently throughout the semester: "A student can get into a rut if they don't participate in those first few classes, and it can be very difficult to break that cycle." She uses different models to encourage participation—for example, the Socratic method in larger introductory courses and student-led discussion in smaller seminars—often asking students to adopt non-mainstream arguments. 

The benefits: Compelling student participation brings diverse perspectives—intellectual, demographic, and experiential—to the classroom,... Read more about Hearing their own voice: Consistent student participation while discussing polarizing topics