This program will highlight concepts and considerations for incorporating group-based projects and assignments into engaged scholarship and experiential learning courses. Instructors and staff will share and reflect on their experiences using group projects for engaged scholarship, addressing questions about the nature and value of these assignments and why group projects can serve as an important part of this type of scholarship.

Facilitated by:
Eleanor Finnegan, Assistant Director, Faculty Programming (FAS-Bok Center)
Lee LaFleur, Associate Librarian for Research, Teaching, and Learning Services (FAS-Library)

Speakers:
Satchit Balsari, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine (FAS/HMS/HSPH)
Marshall Ganz, Rita E. Hauser Senior Lecturer in Leadership, Organizing, and Civil Society (HKS)
Maggie Hughes, PhD Candidate in Media Arts and Sciences in the Center for Constructive Communication at MIT’s Media Lab
Emily S. Lin, Program Director, Center for Public Leadership (HKS)
Caitlin Schmid, Assistant Director of Engaged Scholarship, Phillips Brooks House (FAS)

Team projects can build real-world collaboration skills and deepen learning, but also bring added complexity and challenge. In this session, Harvard instructors will share their practices and strategies for engaging this complexity, sharing how they teach students to be effective in teams and how they use teams to deepen students’ learning. How can we create the best environment for students to learn collaboratively in teams? What structures, processes and other approaches can instructors use to launch and sustain student team project work? What skills do students need to learn to be effective in teams?

Facilitated by:
Karina Lin-Murphy, Manager of Faculty Development (DCE)
Allison Pingree, Senior Instructional Coach (HGSE)

Speakers:
Matt Andrews, Edward S. Mason Senior Lecturer in International Development (HKS)
Jocelyn Chu, Director of Community Engaged Learning and Instructor (HSPH)
Carrie Conaway, Senior Lecturer on Education (HGSE)
Salimah Samji, Director, Building State Capability (HKS)

We value collaboration and teamwork, but how do we know when teams are functional, healthy, and effective? What are some feedback mechanisms to identify and address areas for improvement or intervention? This session will focus on: how we define a successful team and what metrics we can use to measure that success; methods for fostering independent and self-sustaining teams; and using assessment and peer feedback to create a sense of shared ownership, buy-in, and fairness.

Facilitated by:
AJ Blechner, Research Librarian and Library Instruction Coordinator (HLS-Library)
Robert Haussman, Research Associate in the Learning Incubator (Learning Incubator, SEAS)

Speakers:
Karen Brennan, Professor of Practice (HGSE)
Dan Levy, Senior Lecturer in Public Policy (HKS)
Kelly Miller, Associate Senior Lecturer on Applied Physics (SEAS)

Civil discourse has long been considered essential to democracy, but the art of engaging in discussion around opposing views has become increasingly limited in recent years. Perhaps the only thing more difficult than engaging in these discussions is facilitating them gracefully in the classroom. In this session, Harvard faculty will share their experiences, successes and failures, and practical strategies for creating space in a course for challenging and charged discussions that empower students to actively share thoughts and ideas, listen to different or new perspectives, and hopefully expand their thinking about complex topics.

Facilitated by:
Zahra Ahmed, Faculty Development Specialist (DCE)
Kerry Foley, Director of Online Pedagogy and Course Design (DCE)

Speakers:
Meira Levinson, Juliana W. and William Foss Thompson Professor of Education and Society (HGSE) and Co-director of the Graduate Fellowship Program at the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics, and Director of the Democratic Knowledge Project
George Soroka, Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies (FAS) and Associate of the Ukrainian Research Institute (FAS)
Christina Villarreal, Lecturer on Education (HGSE)