Harvard's Bok Center

Harvard's Bok Center
Name	Bok Center for Teaching and Learning
Established	1990s
Location	Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Harvard's Bok Center is a campus teaching and learning center at Harvard University that focuses on improving undergraduate and graduate pedagogy, enhancing faculty development, and supporting curricular innovation. It operates within a network of Harvard schools and administrative units, collaborating with departments, libraries, and research centers to foster evidence-based instruction and public engagement. The Center engages faculty, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and instructional staff through workshops, consultations, and multimedia resources.

History

The Center traces roots to efforts at Harvard College and Radcliffe College in the late 20th century to professionalize pedagogy, reflecting influences from John Dewey, Paulo Freire, Jerome Bruner, Howard Gardner, and initiatives at institutions like Stanford University, Yale University, Princeton University, Columbia University, and University of Chicago. Its formation paralleled national movements such as the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching reforms and programs at the Council of Graduate Schools, while responding to curricular experiments at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and cross-disciplinary projects at the Berkman Klein Center. Over time, the Center expanded services amid Harvard-wide strategic plans under presidents like Neil Rudenstine, Lawrence Summers, Drew Faust, and Lawrence Bacow, aligning with efforts at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and collaborations with the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard Business School, Harvard Law School, and Harvard Medical School.

Mission and Programs

The Center’s mission draws on pedagogical theory from figures such as Benjamin Bloom and Lev Vygotsky while implementing practices found at organizations like the Association of American Colleges and Universities and the American Educational Research Association. Programs include faculty development seminars akin to offerings at Oxford University and Cambridge University, certificate programs similar to those at the Teaching Centre, University of Oxford, and peer-observation schemes used at University College London and the University of California, Berkeley. It supports active learning techniques championed by Eric Mazur, assessment strategies informed by Grant Wiggins and L. Dee Fink, and inclusive teaching practices promoted by Beverly Daniel Tatum and Stuart Hall. Partnerships extend to libraries such as the Widener Library and archives including the Houghton Library, and to technology units like the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Instructional Technology group and the Harvard Innovation Labs.

Facilities and Resources

Physical and digital resources reflect standards found in centers at MIT, Stanford Learning Lab, and the University of Pennsylvania. Facilities include seminar rooms equipped with lecture capture systems used at Carnegie Mellon University, flexible classrooms modeled after designs at Northwestern University, and consultation spaces adjacent to research hubs like the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. Resource collections include teaching guides referencing works by Richard E. Mayer, multimedia libraries comparable to those at the British Library, and assessment toolkits inspired by the National Survey of Student Engagement. The Center offers repositories of syllabi, case studies that mirror methods from Harvard Business School, and grant-writing support aligning with practices at the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health.

Teaching and Training Initiatives

Training initiatives include workshops on classroom management, assessment, and course design drawing from models at the Princeton Center for Teaching Excellence and the Yale Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning. Programs tailor support for instructors in disciplines represented by the Department of Economics, Department of Physics, Department of Government, Department of History, Department of Psychology, and professional schools such as Harvard Law School and Harvard Medical School. Specialized seminars incorporate case methods popularized by Clayton Christensen and simulation exercises used by the Harvard Kennedy School. Graduate student teaching apprenticeships echo programs at the Council of Graduate Schools and the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, while postdoctoral teaching fellowships reflect models from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Graham Institute.

Research and Scholarship

The Center supports scholarship on pedagogy that intersects with research at institutes like the Harvard Initiative for Learning and Teaching and collaborations with centers including the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics and the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Faculty and staff produce publications drawing on methodologies from Jean Piaget and Donald Schön, contribute to journals such as The Journal of Higher Education, Teaching in Higher Education, and Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, and present findings at conferences hosted by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education and the Society for Research into Higher Education. Grants and fellowships are pursued in competition with awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Spencer Foundation, and research collaborations extend to international partners at University of Toronto, University of Melbourne, University of Oxford, and University of Cambridge.

Outreach and Community Engagement

Outreach efforts partner with local and global organizations like the City of Cambridge (Massachusetts), the Cambridge Public Library, the Cambridge Community Services, and international networks such as the Global Partnership for Education. The Center engages alumni through channels tied to the Harvard Alumni Association and collaborates on civic projects with the Harvard Kennedy School Ash Center and public programs at the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture. Professional development offerings are shared with neighboring institutions including Massachusetts Institute of Technology and community colleges in the Massachusetts Community College System, and the Center contributes to public conversations alongside entities like The New York Times, NPR, The Atlantic, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and the Boston Globe.

Category:Harvard University