Teaching, Learning & Curriculum Solutions  

The Teaching, Learning & Curriculum group supports faculty with integrating digital technologies into your teaching.  We offer one-on-one consultations to provide you with the tools you need and to help you incorporate effective techniques that fit your style and teaching philosophy.

Please feel free to explore the applications of our available instructional tools or to request service.

A New Wiki for Teaching and Learning

Adopted last Spring by the University, Confluence wiki is user-friendly for posting, editing and revising one document by many. It's also used for program sites, and some faculty even use it for their course Website.

Others use it for a private, safe and simple collaboration space. Explore the uses of the wiki (http://wiki.harvard.edu) and experiment with your own after logging in with your HUID. We can also convert your Media Wiki to this easy-to-use version. Contact us for assistance.

A Survey Tool for Teaching and Research: Qualtrix

All Harvard faculty, staff and students now have access to a very user-friendly survey tool that allows for a wide variety of questions types for research, teaching and learning.

Qualtrix, introduced to campus by our own HLS faculty, is used for peer evaluation of class teamwork in the Problem-Solving Workshop. At the end of the term students are asked to rate their own performance on the team as well as that of their peers.

Features of the survey tool include:

• Professionally designed templates
• A wide range of question types
• Skip/branch logic
• Distribution to select panels of e-mail recipients or via anonymous links
• Custom reports updated as new responses are received
• Response data in CSV, HTML, XML, and SPSS

Activate your account and create a survey at http://surveytools.harvard.edu. For further questions please contact us at tlc@lists.law.harvard.edu.

Clickers and the Classroom Experience

The use of clickers, handheld remotes that transmit student responses to professors’ questions onto a projected screen, make a difference in the teaching and learning experience on several levels.

A former visiting HLS faculty member explains how she used clickers in the lecture hall to gauge where students are with understanding problems assigned as homework.

Students work the problems in advance, as homework. When they do the reading many think a little bit about the problems but only get half way to the solutions. The first day of using clickers I figure out who in class does that. The group who solved the problems for homework buzz in right away, while the rest will delay. I ask, “Can this debt be discharged in bankruptcy?” The half that responded instantly prepared the problem sufficiently. I address the delayed responses at that time, explaining the value of working the problem all the way to a definite answer.  With the second class of usin clickers, I see the number of delayed responses go down. And with the third class the number goes down further. Students are preparing more fully in response to the follow up possible with clickers.

To discuss clickers further, please contact us at tlc@lists.law.harvard.edu.

• MEDIA SERVICES
• THE CASE STUDIES PROGRAM
• RESEARCH LIBRARIANS
• INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SERVICES