• Planning a Course
• Teaching a Class
• Teaching with Cases
• Assessing Your Students
• Assessing Your Course
• Resources
• Teaching Awards
• Events
• About Us

Resources

SLATE Materials

Past SLATE Faculty Teaching Seminar Handouts

Syllabus Development (November 17, 2009)

• Derek Bok Center for Teaching & Learning - Syllabus Planning
• Derek Bok Center for Teaching & Learning - Components of a Syllabus
• Derek Bok Center for Teaching & Learning - Course Design Tip Sheet
• One-page overview of syllabus development written by Terry Aladjem, Derek Bok Center for Teaching & Learning - Syllabus Development

Faculty-driven assessment tools (October 30, 2009)

• Lee Warren's Handout - Methods for Assessing Student Learning & Engagement

Teaching Courses with Multiple Populations (September 22, 2009)

• Derek Bok Center for Teaching & Learning - Classroom Dynamics
• Derek Bok Center for Teaching & Learning - Tips for Dealing with Hot Moments
• Derek Bok Center for Teaching & Learning - Tips for Classroom Contracts
• Derek Bok Center for Teaching & Learning - Diversity

The Value (or Not) of Student Evaluations (April 27, 2009)

• Richard Light's Handouts – Questions (PDF) and Discussion Responses (PDF) about Teaching Ratings
• Derek Bok Center for Teaching & Learning - Interpreting Evaluations
• University of Michigan Center for Research on Teaching and Learning - Guidelines for Evaluating Teaching
• University of Michigan Center for Research on Teaching and Learning - Questions Frequently Asked About Student Ratings 
• Vanderbilt Center for Teaching - Student Evaluations 

Making Lectures Interactive (March 30, 2009)

• Stanford University Newsletter on Teaching - Active Learning: Getting Students to Work and Think in the Classroom (PDF)
• Illinois State University Center for Teaching, Learning, & Technology - Write-up on Active Learning
• Indiana University Bloomington Office of Instructional Consulting - Active Learning Techniques (PDF)

Collaborative Group Projects and Grading (February 23, 2009)

• Derek Bok Center for Teaching & Learning - Working in Groups: A note to faculty and a quick guide for students

SLATE Research

During the winter of 2008-2009, SLATE hired Josh Bookin to research best practices in professional pedagogy.  Josh earned a masters degree in teaching and learning from HSGE, has taught economics and math in high school, college and graduate school, and has taken and/or audited a number of Harvard Kennedy School classes.  The following documents summarize his findings.
     Summary Presentation (PDF)
     Appendices Document (PDF)

HKS Faculty Meeting - March 10, 2009

     SLATE Presentation (PDF)
     SLATE Handout (PDF)

Tip Sheets

     Access to HKS & HBS Cases (PDF)
     Case Method Teaching (PDF)
     Class Discussions (PDF)
     Clickers 
     Professional Pedagogy 
Teams

Funding Opportunities

The Harvard University Office of the Provost offers a variety of funding sources for efforts that support enhancing teaching and learning.

Limited funding for the development of case studies, curricular materials, and teaching notes is available through SLATE and various centers.

Additionally, SLATE staff can assist you in preparing applications for grants related to enhancing teaching and learning. Please contact slate@hks.harvard.edu to request more information.

Student Case Writing Grant 2009 Program

SLATE has selected number of Harvard Kennedy School graduate students to produce new text-based or multimedia teaching cases during this summer and fall 2009 semester. Each student grantee who successfully produces a case according to the given requirements and guidelines, and receives the final approval of his/her faculty sponsor, will receive compensation in the amount of $2,000. He/she will also have his/her work published in the Kennedy School case library upon approval from the faculty review board.

Requirements 

• Identify a topic related to government, politics, nonprofits, and/or other areas of public service that would illustrate a challenging problem or accomplishment and encourage multiple perspectives and debate. 
• Identify a member of the HKS faculty who is interested in your proposed topic, willing to serve as your sponsor throughout the process, and work directly with you to produce, edit and refine your materials according to the requirements and schedule. 
• Conduct extensive research on the case topic and interview relevant stakeholders and decision-makers, where necessary and feasible. 

Deliverables 

• A complete case developed according to the specifications provided by your faculty sponsor. If you produce a text-based case, your faculty advisor will likely expect that you produce approximately 1,250 to 2,500 words and provide up to three exhibits. If you produce a multimedia case (movie, website, etc.), you and your advisor will devise the precise specifications in terms of length, format, etc. 
• Teaching notes for your case of approximately 500 to 1,000 words. 
• An abstract of your case of approximately 150 words. 
• A file of all information sources to support the content of your case (e.g., financial statements, interview recordings or transcriptions, news articles, etc.).

Qualifications 

• Must be an incoming 2nd-year HKS student or a joint-degree or concurrent-degree student who has completed at least one academic year at HKS. 
• Must have taken at least one HKS course in which the instructor utilized cases for instruction.

Process & Timeline

1. Applicants identify a subject/topic for your study and receive approval from a faculty member to serve as your sponsor.
2. The submission deadline for applications has passed (July 13, 2009).
3. Applicants will be notified of the decision, and grantees will receive guidelines and helpful materials, on or before July 24, 2009.
4. Grantees will work with their faculty sponsors to produce the deliverable throughout the summer and/or fall semester.
5. Grantees must submit all required deliverables and faculty sponsor approval to Anne Drazen at SLATE by December 4, 2009.
6. Grantees will receive $2,000 for completed projects by January 2, 2010.

FAQs

1. How do I pick a topic?
   You may choose to focus on an organization with which you have worked, write or document an event that took place, explore the experiences of a certain individual, etc. Organizations and/or people to whom you have great access will provide the greatest amounts of useful material, though it is possible to document those to whom you have limited access as well. Alternatively, you may choose to approach a particular professor for whom you would like to work, and propose that you write a case about a topic of his/her choosing or propose a general topic and ask the professor to define the focus. All cases should have a clear pedagogical focus, though your faculty sponsor will work with you to best define and highlight that focus. Additionally, all cases created through this program should be designed for specific courses or subjects.
2. How should I conduct the research?
   The design of your research strategy is entirely within the purview of you and your faculty sponsor. You may choose to request information from the organization/entity/subject, review relevant news articles, obtain pertinent financial documents, etc.
3. Will I be permitted to interview subjects?
   If you have access to individuals who could provide you with insight into your case, interviews can provide great character and color for your story and may be pursued. However, you must obtain written permission from each of your interview subjects in advance. (More information about interview protocol will be provided to grantees.)
4. May I produce a short documentary? A website? A slideshow?
   You and your faculty sponsor are free to select any format appropriate and feasible under the given guidelines.
5. May we work in teams?
   You may work alone or with a partner to produce your case, though the grant amount will remain $2,000 total per case. Should you work with a partner, it is up to you, your partner, and your faculty sponsor to determine the division or responsibilities and division of the grant money.

Click here to view the Case Program's Contributed Case Policy (PDF) or a document of helpful tips for case writing (PDF).  

The book Art and Craft of Case Writing by William Naumes is another useful resource.

Other Teaching & Learning Centers

C. Roland Christensen Center for Teaching and Learning
Harvard Business School

Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning
Harvard University

Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence
Carnegie Mellon University

Vanderbilt Center for Teaching
Vanderbilt University

The Center for Teaching & Learning
University of Chicago

Center for Teaching Effectiveness
University of Texas: Austin 

The Center for Teaching and Learning
Stanford University

The Center for Research on Learning and Teaching 
University of Michigan

Office of Educational Development
University of California: Berkeley

Ken Bain's Talk at the HKS Faculty Meeting on 10/20

On October 20, 2009, SLATE hosted Ken Bain as a guest speaker at the HKS faculty meeting. The topic of his discussion was "What research says about effective teaching and learning."  Click here to view Ken's talk (login required, RT approx one hour).