INSPIRING TEACHERS

Three years from now, in the fifth year of the program, the Gen Ed program will undergo a review to determine how successful it has been in meeting the goals of Gen Ed.

Harris said he expects to use focus groups, Q guide data, and an analyst to assess Gen Ed programming.

But Harris said it could be years before the College has a definitive understanding of how well the long-term goals of the program have been achieved.

As Gen Ed prepares to enter a period with more established courses, some faculty members said that the best way to improve Gen Ed science courses is to draw on the talents of professors.

Some of Harvard’s most committed teachers are grappling with the difficult question of how best to teach science to non-science concentrators, Brenner said.

“The people who teach Gen Ed are by and large very dedicated teachers,” he said.

Brenner adds that he thinks faculty—who are under no obligation to teach Gen Ed—typically only teach Gen Ed courses because they love to teach.

McCarty said he thinks science faculty have enormous potential to teach great courses.

“You really have to somehow inspire the passions of the very creative science faculty we have and really challenge them to think of something outside the box,” he said.

—Punit N. Shah and Saieed Hasnoo contributed research to this article.

—Staff writer Rebecca D. Robbins can be reached at rrobbins@college.harvard.edu.