To kick off the fall semester and the start of a new academic year, teaching fellows (TFs) in global health courses at Harvard College gathered at the Incubator for a training in teaching global health concepts to undergraduate students. TFs in attendance came from a wide array of backgrounds, ranging from graduate students from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health to visiting scholars from international health and academic institutions.
The training was led by Farah Qureshi, a 5th year doctoral student at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health who is currently serving in a joint role as a Pedagogy Fellow with the Incubator and Global Health Departmental Teaching Fellow with the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning. Prior to her current role, Qureshi worked closely with Faculty Director Sue J. Goldie as the Head TF for her Harvard College course, “Global Health Challenges: Complexities of Evidence-Based Policy.”
During the training, Qureshi shared an overview of teaching at Harvard College, walked through the value of using global health frameworks to help students organize their thinking around complex health challenges, and led a group discussion on designing section plans. Workshop participants also had the opportunity to apply approaches and insights from the training through a teaching simulation exercise, where they received feedback on pedagogical techniques and communication styles in advance of their first section meetings.
GHELI, in its role as a hub for global health educators and instruction, will continue to offer opportunities for graduate students to develop, discuss, and pilot their global health teaching methods. The next teaching fellow training will be held in late January 2018 for spring courses, and future lunch-time seminars will allow graduate students to discuss innovative approaches to pedagogy, as well as pathways to academic careers that balance teaching with research.