Biostatistics PhD candidate Derek Shyr was recently mentioned in a featured HSPH news story which describes the activities of the Pedagogy Fellows program, a small group of doctoral students and postdocs that helps to strengthen educational activities across courses, degree programs, and departments at Harvard Chan School.
The group of fellows is provided with professional development on topics such as the science of learning, teaching in a diverse classroom, and using technology in teaching. Fellows are then called upon to offer training, workshops, and support for the roughly 300 Teaching Assistants (TAs) across HSPH. They also provide input for faculty and departments on the development, design, or redesign of courses and course modules that incorporate key public health education competencies.
Shyr, who has been a TA for courses on regression analysis and longitudinal analysis, is currently one of two “Lead Pedagogy Fellows” who coordinate PF work across HSPH departments. Having greatly enjoyed the program, he urges students who want to know more about teaching dynamics and have a hand in building and improving curriculum to reach out to learn more about the experience, and to consider applying themselves to become a pedagogy fellow.
