Katie L. Vale, Ed.D.
Director of Academic Technology
Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Harvard University IT
Agenda
 Information about Academic Technology Services
 Overview of pedagogical methods and examples of
educational software based on those methods
 Profiles of some of our larger initiatives
 Group exercise
 Q&A
My group – Academic Technology
 Part of HUIT
 Primarily responsible for Faculty of Arts and Sciences
(College, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences,
Engineering and Applied Sciences, Continuing
Education)
 FAS is approximately 50% of “Harvard University”
My group – Academic Technology
 Thirteen staff
 Four faculty liaisons/instructional designers
 Five technical staff/learning spaces manager
 One (busy) product manager/student experience
coordinator
 Two unit managers
 One director (me)
 Our sister group, iCommons, provides our LMS
What we do
 Consulting and support (course websites to custom
courseware)
 Development of tools for teaching and learning
(collaboration, visualization, etc.)
 Learning space design
 Support for faculty and student innovation
Examples of pedagogical models…
…and Harvard technology projects using them
That is, how pedagogy and learning theory shapes what
we do in Academic Technology Services
Direct Instruction
 Lecturing plus practice problems and homework
 Useful for maximizing student learning time
 Shown particularly useful for teaching math and
reading
 Less useful for teaching abstract thinking, creativity,
complex problem solving
Direct Instruction
 Technologies useful for this method:
 Practice opportunities (drill and practice applications)
 Time on task opportunities (recorded lectures)
 Active learning techniques (PRS, clickers, peer review)
Learning Catalytics
Personal Response Systems
Cooperative Learning
 Foster teamwork, increase student motivation,
generate synergy
 Steps:
 Present a puzzling situation
 Explore individual reactions
 Create plan of attack
 Assist individual students with their piece
 Regroup to share data and analyze progress
Cooperative/Collaborative Learning
 Technologies useful for this method:
 Collaboration software
 Wikis
 Shared whiteboards
 Shared datasets
Annotations
Collaborative Annotation Suite
(open source)
Mastery Learning
 Prescribed study completed at student’s own pace
 Objectives and milestones clearly set, with testing at
defined intervals and feedback for advancement or
remediation
Mastery Learning
 Technologies useful for this method:
 Programmed instruction
 Drill and practice
Flashcards and iBooks
Role Play
 Learners assume the role of another person and
approach a situation in the manner of that person
 Used to gain insight into attitudes and values and
explore feelings that may arise from unfamiliar
circumstances
Role Play
 Technologies useful for this method:
 Discussion boards
 Social media
 Virtual reality
 Instant messaging
 Online case studies
Inductive Thinking
 Consists of these steps:
 Concept formation (defining, categorizing)
 Data interpretation (relationships, inferences)
 Development and application of principles (predicting
consequences, hypotheses)
 E.g. How does per capita income affect longevity in
different countries?
Inductive Thinking
 Technologies useful for this method:
 Databases
 Data analysis tools (GIS, spreadsheets)
 Interactive simulations
 Mashups
Exploratory Learning
 Students explore an information-rich setting via own
choices
 Develop concept maps to make sense of the
environment
 Proper framing is needed for successful exploratory
learning exercises
Exploratory Learning
 Technologies useful for this method:
 Virtual reality
 Knowledgebases
 Simulations
 Game engines
 Location-aware devices
Harvard Mobile
Constructivism
 Learning by doing (John Dewey, Papert)
 Stresses active engagement with objects
 Project- or activity-based learning (engineering and
design)
 Learning by teaching to others
Constructivism
 Technologies useful for this method:
 Peer tutoring and collaborative peer review
 Electronic portfolios and design notebooks
 Simulation and modeling
 Multimedia, podcasts and presentation software
Creative assignments
Inquiry Learning
 “Scientific Method” with active experimentation
 Confront a problem
 Gather data and isolate variables
 Make hypothesis
 Develop explanation
Inquiry Learning
 Technologies useful for this method:
 Simulation and modeling software (Giza)
 High Performance Computing
 Databases (WorldWide Telescope)
 Research software (Matlab, Pymol, Geneious)
That’s the what…
 Here’s the how: Organizations, Initiatives, and
Programs
General Education Curriculum
 Harvard’s new undergraduate curriculum
 Strives to link students’ experiences here with their
lives after college
 Prepare them for civic engagement
 Expose them to thinking from all parts of the
University
 Allow for new models of teaching and learning, and
pedagogical experimentation
Implementing “Gen Ed”
 The Instructional Support and Services Team
 Comprised of representatives from IT, Library,
Museums, Writing Program, Undergraduate Education
Office and Bok (Teaching and Learning) Center.
 Members collaborate to help faculty design new courses
from scratch or modify existing courses to make them
compatible with the Gen Ed philosophy.
 Also graduate seminars that design the follow-on
undergraduate course (Graduate Seminars in General
Education)
How we work with Gen Ed
 Consulting for faculty – brainstorming, demos,
discussions about pedagogical goals, custom
courseware or adapted software
 Course trailers (available via the General Education
website)
 Creative assignments – student work using digital
media
Example: Middle Ages course
Making the Middle Ages, Professor
Daniel Smail
 Museums: located examples from the collection for
site visits…
 Libraries: located manuscripts and music, prepared
research guides, visits to library collections…
 ATG: digitized materials, created interactive materials,
course trailer…
Example: Sociology GSGE
 Initial meeting with Teaching and Learning rep; faculty
chose who in ISST to contact next
 Faculty consulted with ISST and has us present to the class
as follows:
 ATG about data visualization tools such as Gapminder, Many
Eyes, OECD Explorer
 Libraries on locating data sources, how undergrads find
information
 Bok Center on syllabus design and leading discussion sections
 Writing Project on how to respond to student writing and
how to write for the social sciences
Example: CS50
 Provide data feeds for student projects
 Brainstorming about pedagogy and objectives
 Guest lecturing to introduce students to computer
science careers
 https://www.cs50.net
 Game Changers profile
To learn more about Gen Ed:
 http://www.generaleducation.fas.harvard.edu/
 Course trailers
PITF
 Presidential Instructional Technology Fellowships
 Made possible from a grant from Harvard’s President
and Provost
 Mission: to provide opportunities for student PITFs to
intern with faculty to help create instructional
materials
 Outcomes: faculty receive digital teaching materials,
PITFs gain valuable experience in both technology and
pedagogy, ATG can work on many more projects than
otherwise possible
Planning PITF Projects
 Meet with faculty and potential project staff (teaching
assistants, librarians, etc.)
 Train students in pedagogical models and assessment
 Ascertain faculty commitment, availability, whether
project will be fully integrated into course,
sustainability
 Explain fully how the team operates and what
expectations would be
Expectations of faculty
 Participate in planning meetings with ATG, Library, or Art
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Museum staff
Participate in regular meetings during the development
period
Work with ATG, Library, Art Museum staff, Fellows, and
others to develop course materials for the project
Update their syllabus and/or assignments to incorporate
materials into the course
Participate in ongoing assessment of technology
integration in the course (interviews, student surveys, etc.)
Share the results of the project as appropriate (via
presentations, written reports, etc.)
Factors for success
 Engaged teacher who sees value of project
 Explicit educational goals
 A project coordinator (if multiple participants)
 Commitment over years (funding, porting)
 Good documentation (both user and code)
More information on the PITF
Program
 Past PITF project reports
 Portfolio of developed applications
HILT
 Harvard Initiative on Learning and Teaching
 Based on a $40 million donation from Gustave and
Rita Hauser
 Goals:
 Elevate discussions about teaching across all of Harvard
 Explore how new technologies can help teaching
 Create opportunities for collaboration
HILT: Components
 Annual symposium on teaching for Harvard faculty
 Grants program for faculty, student, and staff projects
 Establishment of a Teaching and Learning Consortium
comprised of staff in instructional support roles (see
ISST)
 IT infrastructure improvements for digital video
 Decanal requests for School-wide projects
HILT Symposium
 Deans selected faculty participants
 Daylong event
 Speakers from both outside and inside Harvard
 Associated Resource Fair where faculty could learn
about Harvard-wide instructional support assistance
 Demos by some of Harvard’s known educational
innovators
HILT Grants
 Innovative
 Evidence-based
 Extendable
 List of initial recipients
 Work begins July 1st
HILT TLC
 Builds on the success of the Gen Ed ISST
 Official liaisons to Hauser Grant projects
 Provide forum for problem solving, information
sharing and innovation dissemination
 Help the different “tubs” of Harvard learn from one
another
New Digital Video Services
 HILT is bootstrapping this group
 Will provide infrastructure for automated classroom
and event capture, digital content management,
dissemination and archiving
 Initial experiments using Opencast/Matterhorn and
Kaltura this summer
Student Experience
 Attempting to provide a more coherent IT experience
for students in their academic and administrative
work, via:
 Service blueprinting of all student-facing IT
 Founding of a student IT advisory board
 Hiring students to sit in on development meetings
 Contest to redesign the student portal
 Provision of data feeds for campus services for
instructional and student projects (e.g. menus, shuttle
schedules)
EdX
 Partnership with MIT (primary partner) and Berkeley
 Working with faculty to think about translating a face
to face course to a MOOC (Massively Open Online
Course)
 Harvard’s goal is to learn what really works in online
education, share this knowledge with the world, and
use it to improve on-campus teaching
EdX: HarvardX
 Two committees: Course Committee and Research
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Committee
Two courses go live October 15 – CS50 and Public
Health. Over 100,000 enrolled to date.
3-4 additional Harvard courses for spring release
Aiming for quality over quantity and preserving the
uniqueness of each class.
Not “competing” with Coursera or Udacity
Exercise
 Based on what you’ve heard so far, how can you adapt
these support models or project ideas to your own
institution? Find a partner or two and discuss.
 Could you form an ISST or TLC at your school? Who
would be in it?
 Can MOOCs inspire meaningful reflection about oncampus pedagogy?
 What does your campus need for better support of
teaching and learning?
 What models of teaching best fit your goals?
Additional information on Projects
 We have an FAS portfolio of finished projects
 http://atgportfolio.fas.harvard.edu
 Information on PITF projects can be found at
pitf.harvard.edu
 Visit http://annotations.harvard.edu for more info on
the open source toolkit
 ATG website: http://atg.fas.harvard.edu
Thanks
 Questions? Feedback?
 katie_vale@harvard.edu