Applications for the 2023 – 2024 fellowship are now open!

Learning Innovation, in partnership with the Duke Graduate School, offers a semester-long fellowship program 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 Certificate in College Teaching.  

Fellowship Components

The semester-long fellowship experience includes the following:

  • A seminar course that prepares students to critically engage with themes of 21st century teaching and learning (GS762: Digital Pedagogy), which is completed prior to the start of the fellowship;
  • Digital Education Internship: Practical opportunities to develop teaching skills and gain direct experience for an academic semester collaborating on either a Duke faculty-led digital projects or a project with Learning Innovation;
  • A seminar series (GS772: Bass Digital Education Colloquium) taken concurrently with the fellowship, where Fellows gain online course design and development experience, collaboratively problem-solve design challenges and explore strategies to overcome them; and engage with Duke faculty and digital education leaders. 

In addition, Fellows will maintain a digital portfolio to document their experiences for their graduate school portfolio. Fellows will be offered opportunities to present their projects at Duke events (previously, Fellows presented projects as part of the Digital Education Showcase in the spring and at the Teaching Innovation Showcase with DUSON).

Eligibility and Funding

The Bass Digital Education Fellowship Program is available to qualified PhD students in any department at Duke. To be eligible, PhD students must have completed their preliminary exams and coursework by the end of the spring semester prior to the start of term of the fellowship, and must be in good academic standing to apply. For information on financial support and eligibility criteria, see the Graduate School website.

How to Apply

Applications are submitted through the Graduate School. To see a full list of eligibility criteria and required application materials, visit the Graduate School site.