About the Program
Harvard Professor and Lemann fellow (2006), Felipe Fregni, has
developed and launched a novel educational program in Teaching
Learning and Innovation. This program was launched in Brazil for
educators in 2017 and quickly became a global program. This program
aims to promote social changes by enhancing teaching effectiveness.
The entire program is offered in English. We were excited to partner
with the Lemann Foundation in this endeavor.
Prof. Fregni, a neuroscientist and educator, used his experience in
teaching more than 5000 clinicians in a global interactive course in
clinical research to develop this novel course to change how we teach
and learn.
This 4-month program aims to introduce participants to the principles of
effective teaching and theoretical aspects of learning, focusing on
novel methods to enhance long-term retention and learning. In addition
to this program, we encourage participants to develop novel programs
aimed at promoting social change through teaching.
We also encourage Brazilian participants to apply to join the Lemann
Foundation Health Network. All participants will be offered additional
opportunities to learn more about the foundation's work within the TLI
program.
Often, teaching is not used properly. In fact, teaching should not be
viewed as a task to "cover material"; rather teaching should have a
clear short-term and long-term goal. By understanding how learning
takes place and identifying the main teaching tools, participants will
become more effective teachers.
Finally, this is meant to be a program where participants apply their
knowledge in real-life projects. As part of this 4-month program,
participants work with the faculty and teaching assistants to develop
their own educational initiative, which could be a course, an educational
app, a systematic review, or a master's or PhD project. In fact, a number
of participants finished the program and are now implementing their
programs. One example is Fabio Botelho, who developed a game to
teach hematology to medical students and has been very successful.
Program Instructor
Felipe Fregni, MD, PhD, MMSc, MPH, MEd
Prof. Felipe Fregni earned his Medical Degree and Doctorate
Degree (PhD in Medical Sciences) from the University of Sao Paulo;
completing also his residency in Neurology. After he moved
to Boston, where he has lived for the past 20 years. There he
earned three masters degrees from Harvard University (Medical
Sciences from Harvard Medical School, Public Health from Harvard
School of Public Health and Education from Harvard Graduate
School of Education). He is now a Professor of PM&R at Harvard
Medical School and also a Professor of Epidemiology at Harvard
T.H. Chan School of Public Health and leads one of the largest
neuroscience laboratories at Harvard, the Spaulding
Neuromodulation Laboratory. He has also been awarded the
highest honor bestowed by the United States Government to
outstanding scientists and engineers U.S .: the Presidential Early
Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE).
Program Schedule
Module 1: The Neural Mechanisms of Learning - designing your learning strategies based on principles of the neuroscience of learning
Week 1 to Week 5
Week 1. Neuroscientific Basis of Learning: understanding the basics of neuroplasticity as to design effective educational programs
Week 2. Learning and motivation (the molecular/dopaminergic brain and learning): one of the important tasks of the teacher is to enhance students' motivation: understanding how motivation works and what motivates the students: the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation system and strategies to enhance students' motivation
Week 3. The Interaction and relationships in the classroom (the social brain and learning): understanding the biology of emotions and relationships and how that affects learning positively and also negatively. The positive and negative effects of stress in the classroom and the power of peer collaboration in the learning process.
Week 4. Getting ready and engaging our attention to learn (the midbrain and learning): how to engage students attention during the learning process; bottom-up (multisensory approach) and top-down strategies / shifting bias to engage the attentional system, understanding the concept of priming and pre-exposure to enhance attention, and managing/avoid cognitive overload
Week 5. Consolidation of learning (the Forebrain and learning): understanding memory consolidation and strategies to enhance it (retrieval, spaced learning)
Module 2: Teaching Strategies - designing your teaching strategies based on evidence based neural learning and student centered techniques (rather than lecture-based teaching / teacher-centered approaches)
Week 6 to Week 10
Week 6: Using the traditional lecture in an effective manner: preparing and delivering an effective lecture, active breaks and student participation / interactive lecture, concept of mini-lectures, promoting students taking notes & teaching for experiential learning: simulation, games, role-playing and service learning
Week 7: Teaching to promote critical thinking: the four elements (analogy) of critical thinking (earth, fire, air, water), how to design your program to promote critical thinking among your students
Week 8: Teaching with team-based learning (collaborative and peer tutoring learning): the case vs. challenges for group learning, the ideal size and duration of group activities, individual accountability and how to use group learning to prepare students for real-life projects
Week 9: Teaching with Socratic discussions and seminars: preparing the class for a Socratic discussion, the kinesthetic warm-up activities, class size for the Socratic discussion, the case method
Week 10: Teaching by inverting the structure of the traditional classroom: the flipped classroom method and project/problem-based method
Module 3 - Technology and Innovation: tools to help you to create your masterclass
Week 11 to Week 13
Week 11: Technology and innovation in the classroom: what technologies to use (learning management systems, social media, apps for student interactions outside class, education apps for lectures) & Online teaching: understanding the pros and cons and how to design distant-learning online programs effectively
Week 12: Assessment, grading and feedback: why do we usually get this topic wrong? How do the motivational systems need to be considered when designing how your students will be evaluated? Using feedback as a form of assessment; and measuring effort, why is it very difficult (if not impossible) to measure learning accurately? new assessment tools using technology
Week 13: The final class: transformative teching & learning: pursuing the "why" you want to teach, connecting to the first class - your physical, social and emotional well-being as a teacher
Module 4:
Develop a Syllabus and an abstract/poster of the learning methodology
Week 14 to Week 20
Participants are expected to create a novel education project to enhance learning. This novel project can be a novel teaching method or an online course using the tools and concepts learned in the course. In this case, a syllabus for the educational project needs to be drafted and presented. This syllabus will developed during the program and finalized and discussed with the peers and TAs during this 4th module. In addition, they will write and present an abstract about the learning methodology in their educational program as developed during module 1. They will present online at the International Collaborative Clinical Research Conference, in the educational panel.
Module 5: Workshop (optional module)
In the workshop, the students will apply the last component of the experiential learning (the active experimentation). In this workshop, they will have some panels on practical topics (such as preserving academic integrity, ensuring students prepare for class, and preventing and responding to lack of civility in class) and then they will prepare and present a mock class of their educational program to a faculty panel and the workshop participants.
Learn through experience
in the TLI program, you will experience what your
students will experience as we apply what we teach in
the classroom: the experiential learning cycle
Module 1:
Concrete experience
Learn how to learn by being an active learner and experiencing the active learning techniques.
Module 2:
Reflective observation
Students will then reflect on their experience by reflecting on teaching strategies.
Module 3:
Abstract conceptualization
Based on the experience of modules 1 and 2, they will apply what they learn to create their effective class
Workshop:
Active experimentation
Students will then present their effective class in a simulated experience during the workshop to test their ideas.
Learn by doing
Students will have to complete three main tasks
Task 1
Prepare and present a scientific poster about effective learning methodologies for
their students
Task 2
Students will prepare and present a syllabus of the educational program they want to develop based on their learning in TLI
Task 3
Students will prepare a class to present as a similation using all they learned in the
program during the workshop (optional component)
Textbooks for the Program
Prof. Fregni has written 4 important books in this topic (one of them with his colleague Joao Arantes) for this program
Critical Thinking in Teaching & Learning
Dr. Fregni in this book shows that many of the current practices of teaching are not efficacious. He discusses alternatives to enhance learning. This book also examines the main mechanisms of learning so the teacher will understand why current teaching methods may not be optimal and how to improve them. Also, by going into the neural mechanisms of learning, this book provides tools for the teachers to explore novel methods of learning using the new science of learning. This book will undoubtedly change some of the concepts about learning that we intuitively believe based on our observations. Readers will, therefore, be able to improve their teaching methods and learning of their students based on the non-intuitive new science of learning.
The Cartoon Guide to Effective Teaching and Learning
We are constantly learning, either we want or not. Learning is very natural to our brains, and it is (or it should be) enjoyable. What is the best way then to learn about effective learning? Making the process simple and fun. Cartoons are a very effective method because we learn with stories, we learn with observations and being part of a narrative. This is the idea of the authors, Harvard Professor and neuroscientist Felipe Fregni and Federal University of Sao Paulo Professor of Systems Thinking Joao Arantes, when they got together to write this cartoon book about learning and how to use this knowledge in teaching practices.
This book follows the book of Critical Thinking in Teaching and Learning (Felipe Fregni, 2019) and in 191 cartoons the authors show using funny and simple illustrations the basic neural principles of learning (including the basic principles of neuroplasticity, how we encode new information, the attentional system and learning, memory and learning, the critical importance of our motivation system and how to activate that in educational programs, how stress affect (or help) learning and the use of social interaction in educational programs) and how to apply these principles for teaching (including teaching methods (student-centered vs. teacher-centered methods), online teaching, teaching critical thinking and assessments).
We all need to become better learners, especially in a society when fact memorization is no longer important. This book is, therefore, an essential guide to every student and teacher looking to improving their own and their students learning experience.
The Learning Paradox
In The Learning Paradox, neuroscientist, educator, and Harvard professor, Felipe Fregni discusses how our brain architecture, combined with our current educational system, may result in superficial and short-term learning. This book is relevant for students, teachers, education systems, and individuals who seek to improve their cognitive prowess while becoming better learners.
50 Classroom Strategies to Enhance Learning-Related Cognitive Domains
Learning comes from experimentation, from trial and error. This is the motivation for this book: helping those who are interested, in enhancing learning and teaching using neural mechanisms by providing practical activities to be used in the classroom. In a way, This book is therefore written to provide a direct guide to those who want to change their teaching skills by using new methods, and then reflecting on these changes.
All these activities (strategies) can be implemented relatively easily in the classroom, allowing you to learn which works best for your course format and audience.
In this book, I organized the strategies by what, how, or why, in each chapter; in other words: What is the strategy? How is it done? Why does it enhance the respective cognitive domain (e.g., motivation, attention, etc.)?
Program Format
Lectures and Program Activities
First meeting: April 2, 2024
Program is fully online and highly interactive
Weekly meetings to June 25
Live Meetings: on Tuesdays - 5 to 6 pm Boston time
Meetings are live and required (web-connection).
Meetings are interactive and demand live participation.
Interactive Forum and Project Design between lectures
Registration Form
Submit your application here. Please click on the link to submit your application if you are interested in participating in this program. After you submit your application, it will be reviewed by the program faculty and if you are accepted in the program you will be contacted. The next step will be then to pay the program tuition (see below the tuition).
LINK to apply to this program: APPLY NOW
Program Tuition
Apply to a scholarship
We are delighted to offer 25% and 50% scholarships to the TLI 2024. We will grant the scholarship based on the financial needs and also academic achievements, and/or potential to change the field of education. As scholarships are limited, we kindly ask you to apply only if there is a need.
Program tuition - main component only (EARLY REGISTRATION - by April 1, 2024)
Option 1:
Payment in installments: 5 installments of US$ 315 dollars
OR Option 2:
One-time payment with discount: US$ 1475 dollars
Program tuition + mailed printed copies of the 4 textbooks for the course (EARLY REGISTRATION - by April 1, 2024)
Option 1:
Payment in installments: 5 installments of US$ 395 dollars
Or Option 2:
One-time payment with discount: US$ 1850 dollars
Program tuition + 1-day workshop on research methods in education + mailed printed copies of the 4 textbooks for the course (EARLY REGISTRATION - by April 1, 2024)
Option 1:
Payment in installments: 5 installments of US$ 490 dollars
Or Option 2:
One-time payment with discount: US$ 2350 dollars
Program Sponsors and Founders
Fundacao Lemann
Founding Sponsor
IMREA - HCFMUSP
Collaborating Institution
Associação Instituto Scala
Co-founder and Program Offering Institution