On Wednesday, January 25, the teaching fellows for Professor Sue J. Goldie’s two global health courses—both entitled “Global Health Challenges: Complexities of Evidence-Based Policy”—gathered at the Incubator for a kick-off meeting and training. The TFs started with introductions, getting to know each other and learn about their backgrounds, academic programs and interests, and connections to global health. Most of the teaching fellows are doctoral or master’s students at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and bring diverse work and teaching experience to their roles with the course, which is offered as a traditional undergraduate class through the General Education program at Harvard College, and as a new, online course piloted at Harvard’s Extension School. Both provide students with a broad conceptual foundation for critically thinking about population health in a global context, positioning health as a fundamental prerequisite for building strong societies, and as a social objective that is relevant to economic development, national security, foreign policy, and a human rights agenda.
The training was led by Terry Aladjem, Senior Contributor at the Incubator; Anshul Kumar, Global Health Curriculum Fellow at the Bok Center and Incubator; and Farah Qureshi, Head TF for the Gen Ed class. Aladjem shared an overview of teaching in the Gen Ed program, then he and Kumar led a segment about facilitating discussion in small-group sections. The teaching fellows completed a practice teaching exercise, and participated in an activity designed to simulate “hot moments” in the classroom, with the goal of preparing TFs to respond effectively to charged or challenging situations.
The teaching fellows will meet weekly throughout the semester to discuss course content and pedagogical approaches introduced by Professor Goldie, develop section plans and weekly assignments, support each other’s teaching efforts, and more. They will also work with Incubator staff to modify course material for dissemination through the Incubator’s digital resource repository for teaching and learning.