In partnership with Learning Innovation, the Graduate School offers a semester-long internship to provide PhD students professional development opportunities in the growing area of digital education and online college teaching.
The Bass Digital Education Fellowship offers PhD students an opportunity to collaborate on digital projects in partnership with Duke faculty and under the guidance of Learning Innovation, where we support faculty to advance teaching innovation, to explore new technologies for learning, and to develop new online education models and programs.
The program helps graduate students develop new skills to distinguish themselves in the academic job market and to explore emerging career paths in education technology, digital publishing, online education, and teaching and learning innovation. Fellows will consult with Duke departments and/or individual faculty to uncover needs, research solutions, draft project proposals, and execute a digital project in support of undergraduate education. Fellows who complete the program will also partially fulfill the requirements for the Graduate School’s Certificate in College Teaching.
The Fellowship has a service commitment of up to 19.9 hours per week and provides support for one semester (Fall or Spring). No service is required during academic breaks or holidays.
The Bass Digital Education Fellowship includes three key components:
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A seminar course that prepares students to critically engage with themes of 21st century teaching and learning (GS762: Digital Pedagogy), which must be completed prior to the start of the Bass DEF;
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Practical opportunities to develop online teaching skills and gain direct experience during an academic semester with Duke faculty-led digital projects and Learning Innovation;
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A seminar series (GS772: Bass Digital Education Colloquium) taken concurrently with the apprenticeship. In this course, students:
- Successfully design, develop, and execute a faculty-led digital project;
- Collaboratively problem-solve design challenges and strategies to overcome them;
- Meaningfully contribute to and benefit from participation in an engaged community of peers, faculty, and education leaders.
This fellowship provides coverage of tuition, mandatory fees, and stipend for the semester that the DEF (not the GS 762 course) occurs.
Digital Education Fellowship in Learning Innovation
As a Digital Education Fellow you will collaborate on leading-edge projects in partnership with Duke faculty under the supervision of Learning Innovation. Learning Innovation is currently supporting faculty in teaching innovation, to explore new digital technologies for learning, and to develop new online education models and programs in Duke undergraduate education.
You could be assigned to work on any of these projects to support faculty in their digital explorations, depending on which projects are available. When you begin your fellowship we will attempt to match your disciplinary background (if there are projects in your discipline area), and your interests, but we can't guarantee perfect alignment, nor is it necessary for a successful learning experience in this fellowship. Given the timelines of many of Learning Innovation’s digital projects, you may be assigned to an existing project.
When you begin the fellowship in Learning Innovation, you will receive training to make sure you are up-to-speed on the technologies you will be using. Some of that training will occur as part of the assignments in the GS 762 course, but you likely will need additional training once you begin the apprenticeship.
A primary goal of this fellowship is to provide you with a wide range of professional development activities and opportunities to help you develop practical online teaching skills and experiences that you can apply in your own professional career in the future. Fellowship activities could include the following:
- Collaborate with faculty, project team, and engage key stakeholders throughout the project;
- Develop innovative teaching approaches for online and hybrid courses;
- Provide design and development support on digital projects;
- Explore digital tools and resources;
- Assist with video creation and development;
- Build assessments based on content provided by the faculty member;
- Proof and test project materials before students can access them:
- Gather, collate, or analyze project data under the direction of research staff and others.
This range of activities is intended to give you knowledge of and experience in all phases of digital teaching and learning, project design, development, implementation, and evaluation.