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Teaching Your Course

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Table of Contents

Early in the Term – Start strong

Meet with your instructional team

Meet with your instructional team—which might include TFs, TAs, and CAs—regularly throughout the term to maintain pedagogical coherence across the course. Weekly meetings can be a great opportunity to discuss challenging course material, share plans for section meetings, and discuss grading practices. The Office of Undergraduate Education provides funds to facilitate regular meetings over lunch (or breakfast, coffee, etc.) between course heads and their instructional support staff to discuss course-related matters throughout the term.

Hold office hours

All course instructors—including faculty and Teaching Fellows/Teaching Assistants—are required to hold weekly office hours. Office hours can be a good opportunity for you to get to know your students better, and for students to ask questions, explore course material in more depth, or perhaps learn more about your academic field. We encourage you to provide clear advice to your students about what to expect at office hours and why they might wish to attend. 

Identify Communication Channels

Let your students and instructional team know how you’ll communicate with them – and vice versa – through the semester. 

  • You can use Canvas to post announcements and send emails to members of the course.
  • You can set up a Slack workspace within your Canvas site so students can chat with each other and the teaching team.
  • Ed Discussions provides a forum for Q&A about problem sets.

Know student support resources

Familiarize yourself with the many campus resources that provide support for students facing a range of challenges, including mental health and academic difficulties. An awareness of these resources will help you connect students to the support they may need during the semester.

Update Your Canvas Site

Students will expect your Canvas site to provide up-to-date information throughout the semester, so if dates or assignments change, be sure to update your site. Students can also see the grades for any assignments you’ve collected and graded in Canvas in the Gradebook, so be sure you and your teaching staff are familiar with the Gradebook settings.

Collect and Grade Assignments

By providing regular opportunities for students to receive feedback on their work, beginning early in the term and continuing throughout the semester, students will be able to gauge their progress and gain insight into areas for improvement. The resources below provide guidance about grading, which is one facet of feedback and assessment.

Information about grading:

Mid semester – Assess and Adjust

Midterm exams

Midterm exams are one strategy—among many—to obtain feedback during the semester about what your students are learning. The Faculty Handbook offers guidance about administering midterm exams, including accommodating absences and providing accommodations for students with disabilities.

New for Spring 2024

The FAS Disability Access Office (DAO) and FAS Registrar’s Office are offering a pilot testing center to provide support for seated assessments for students with testing accommodations. Please contact testcenter@fas.harvard.edu if you have any questions.

Engage with students outside the classroom

Developing meaningful relationships with your students often resultx in enriching academic experiences, professional collaborations, and even lifelong friendships. These connections can make the difference for students between just acquiring information and actual learning. There are a variety of ways Harvard supports and promotes faculty-student engagement outside the classroom.

  • Classroom to Table – Fosters conversation and academic connection among undergraduate students and College faculty who gather in small groups for a meal arranged and paid for by the College.
  • Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) Student/Faculty Dining Program – Support and enriches the intergenerational communities in residence by inviting any FAS faculty, senior lecturer, lecturer, preceptor, or head coach to enjoy a meal in the House dining halls and Annenberg.
  • Gober Family Uncommon Fare Dinners with Faculty – Gives first-year students a chance to meet outstanding members of the Harvard community, to meet one another, and to see what is truly special about the College.
  • First-Year Faculty Dinners in Annenberg – A way for first-year students to get to know faculty and staff better, and to engage them in conversation about their academic work, research, career path, or general interests.

Support for struggling students

If an undergraduate student is struggling in your course or if you have special concerns about a student, you should share these concerns with the student’s resident dean by submitting a midterm report in my.harvard. The resident dean, who is assigned to students based on their dorm or House and oversees students’ well-being, will follow up with the student to help them identify relevant sources of support and determine how to move forward. Additionally, instructors should reach out directly to struggling students to offer advice and support.

Collect Mid-semester Student Feedback

Asking students for feedback early in a course provides you with the opportunity to learn about your students’ experiences in the class, and to make informed changes to the course. Read more about why and how to collect feedback, either through a customized survey or through the survey tool Blue, and how to respond to the feedback that you receive.

Class observations

By watching colleagues teach and by inviting others to observe you teach, you can gain new insights about teaching and reflect on your own practice. Bok Center senior staff are available to observe instructors in the classroom—either in person or on video—and consult with you afterwards. Additionally, the Bok Center offers advice about observing your peers.

Customize course evaluations

Midway through the semester, you will be prompted by the Registrar’s Office to set up and customize the end-of-term course evaluation form for your course. You should review the list of instructors for your course so that students may provide feedback on members of the instructional team.  Additionally, you can add up to three customized questions.

End of Term – Evaluate and Reflect

Reading Period

The period between the end of classes and the beginning of the Final Examination Period is known as reading period. Familiarize yourself with the policies regarding what types of activities may take place during reading period and due dates for final assignments.

Give Final Assessments

In some courses, students synthesize what they have learned throughout a course by writing a final research paper or completing a capstone project. Other courses may have a seated three-hour final exam during the Final Examination Period, at a date and time determined by the Registrar’s Office. Instructors are responsible for administering and proctoring exams for their courses; however, the FAS Registrar’s Office administers seated final exams for students with DAO-approved exam accommodations. 

Assign Final Grades

Course heads are responsible for submitting final grades in my.harvard at the end of the semester. The Registrar’s Office publishes a list of grade entry deadlines each semester, and will email you with reminders; deadlines are earlier for students receiving a degree that term.

Faculty may grant extensions to undergraduates for late work up until the last day of final exam period at their discretion. If an undergraduate is not able to complete their work by the last day of the final exam period, they should consult with their Resident Dean; extensions can only be granted by the Administrative Board. Undergraduate students cannot receive a final grade of incomplete. Note that a different policy applies to graduate students; instructors may grant graduate students an extension until the end of the next term.

Reflect on Course Evaluations

Course evaluations are centrally administered in the final weeks of the fall and spring semesters. Instructional staff may view the results shortly after the course evaluation close date, after final grades have been submitted. We encourage you to use the student feedback to reflect on the semester and consider modifications for the future. Additionally, faculty course heads should review the evaluations of all instructional support staff, and provide constructive feedback to TFs, TAs, and other teaching staff. The Bok Center is available to assist with this process.

Schedule a Bok Center consultation to reflect on student feedback

Classroom Disruptions

Practical Steps to Follow in Case of Classroom Disruption

  1. Develop a plan you will follow in case of a classroom disruption. The plan should be neutral to the content of the disruption. It may be helpful to prepare a script you will use to serve as a warning, perhaps facilitated by a slide you can project in class.

    Sample script:The University-Wide Statement on Rights and Responsibilities prohibits disruptions in class. If you do not end this disruption, you will be subject to disciplinary action through the Ad Board.
     
  2. Your plan may evolve if you know something specific in advance about a planned protest. In this case, you should work with the assistant dean for faculty affairs in your Divisional/SEAS Office to develop a plan.
     
  3. If your class is disrupted, stay calm. You are the leader of the class, and your students are looking to you for reassurance.
     
  4. If the disruption ends and the class is settled, continue teaching. If the situation does not de-escalate, you may consider moving to a different location. Alternatively, you can cancel class and make up the material in the future.
     
  5. If students stage a walk-out, you may choose to count it as an absence in accordance with your class’s stated attendance policy.
     
  6. Have HUPD’s number on your phone: (617) 495-1212. You can call them ahead of time for advice or if you become concerned about physical safety.
     
  7. You may refer disruptive students to the Administrative Board of the relevant School.
     
  8. If you feel upset after the event, your class may too. Your class may be upset even if you aren’t. Consider how you will support them. The Bok Center has resources that may be helpful.
     
  9. If your class is disrupted, moved or cancelled, follow up with plans to make up class time and missed material.