Into Practice, a biweekly communication distributed from the Office of the Vice Provost for Advances in Learning to active instructors during the academic year was inspired by a successful 2012 HILT grant project. The e-letter highlights the pedagogical practices of individual faculty members from across Schools and delivers timely, evidence-based teaching advice, contributing to and strengthening a University-wide community of practice around teaching.

Below is a catalog of all the Into Practice issues sorted by the publication date. To subscribe to Into Practice, please sign-up via our Mailing List page.

• Teaching students how to build better teams

  Scott Westfahl, Professor of Practice at Harvard Law School, intentionally develops students’ team-based collaboration skills in his law school courses on leadership fundamentals and innovation. Throughout the semester, student groups learn, reflect, and act on what makes a great team in real-time. Westfahl begins with a focus on the academic frameworks for successful teams. Then a series of scaffolded activities and assignments allow students to collaboratively reflect on what they want as a team, consider over time what is working and what isn’t, and work on projects throughout the semester. At the end of his innovation course, Westfahl surprises his students with a “graduation,” where he reads aloud paraphrased reflections from students on each of their group members' contributions.

• Grappling with a global pandemic in class, as a class

  Jonathan Zittrain, George Bemis Professor of International Law, adapted his digital governance course to incorporate what everyone was really focused on in mid-spring of 2020: the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of “compartmentalizing” between class and crisis, he reworked the syllabus to respond to students’ needs and evolving experiences. Zittrain replaced the final exam with collaborative reports in which students examined aspects of the pandemic through the lens of digital governance dilemmas. “The idea was to offer students an opportunity to apply what they learned in the course to problems that were on everybody’s mind.”

• Applying Pedagogical Insights to Large Online Courses

  When William Fisher, WilmerHale Professor of Intellectual Property Law, was approached to create an online course version of his Harvard Law School Copyright course, he agreed with the stipulation that CopyrightX be paired with the residential version, that enrollment be limited to 500, and that students meet in discussion sections of 25. Both online and residential students watch the same 90-minute lecture video prior to class time. When the class meets, Fisher facilitates case study discussions with residential students and 15-20 teaching fellows do so for sections of online students. Sometimes, residential and online students meet virtually to hear from a guest speaker.

• Debate Spaces

  Debate Spaces Awardees: Matt Summers (HLS), Tessa Holtzman (External), Courtney Foster (External), and Maya Benzinger (External) Summary:Debate Spaces uses a unique, scalable, debate-centered curriculum to equip middle school students to be civically-engaged, active, and connected members of their local communities. We emphasize three critical components in our curriculum: quick critical thinking that relies on hard […]

• Using a student cohort to test and innovate new training materials

  Tyler Giannini and Susan Farbstein, Clinical Professors of Law, pull back the curtain on pedagogy for students in the seminar Advanced Skills Training in Strategic Human Rights Advocacy by making them part of a learning community and giving them ownership over the learning process. For example, each year students work to improve simulations in which they originally were participants, in an earlier prerequisite seminar attached to the International Human Rights Clinic.

• DEEP Career

  DEEP Career strives to “Deliver Equal and Endless Possibilities” for young professionals’ career development in China, where accredited career opportunities are concentrated in Beijing and Shanghai, but young talents elsewhere are excluded.

• Hearing their own voice: Consistent student participation while discussing polarizing topics

  Elizabeth Papp Kamali, Assistant Professor of Law, wants to ensure that students contribute consistently throughout the semester: "A student can get into a rut if they don't participate in those first few classes, and it can be very difficult to break that cycle."

• Nuanced assessments: More than the final grade

  Howell Jackson, James S. Reid Jr. Professor of Law, experiments with end-of-semester exams and writing assignments to create opportunities for meaningful, formative feedback through skills practice, reflection, and peer collaboration.

• Late semester assignments: Recognizing merit through collaboration

  Lani Guinier, Bennett Boskey Professor of Law, incorporates collaboration into her late semester assignments in order to provide opportunities for self-improvement and self-reflection.

• Putting students at the helm of their learning experience

  Jon Hanson, Alfred Smart Professor of Law, saw an opportunity to improve learning by putting students in the driver's seat.

• Bottom-up pedagogy

  Awardees will develop, expand, and improve a new approach to legal education (and higher education generally) that is more problem-oriented, team-driven, and experiential than are traditional and conventional pedagogical methods.

• Enhancing student team effectiveness

  Awardees plan to use online assessments to improve team effectiveness and provide students with informative feedback about their role as team members.

• The Connected Scholar

  Awardees plan to develop further an online tool (“The Connected Scholar”) to teach and promote academic integrity and facilitate proper citation.

• H20: Adaptable digital textbooks

  Awardees plan to develop further their online H20 platform for digital textbook design and distribution.

• Women’s Law Association

  The Harvard Women’s Law Association’s mission is to support women at Harvard Law School by preparing them to succeed as students and lawyers, while providing exceptional programming that enhances the social, political, and professional lives of HLS students.

• African Law Association

  The mission of Harvard African Law Association is to unite African students and students interested in Africa, and increase awareness of legal, social and economic issues that shape and concern the continent of Africa.

• Harvard Black Law Students Association

  The Harvard Black Law Students Association (HBLSA) was founded in 1967. Today, HBLSA has grown to become the largest chapter in the National Black Law Students Association. Counting over 160 members annually, HBLSA reflects the strong Black community that is so integral to the diversity of Harvard Law School. The Black Law Students Association of Harvard Law School exists for the support, guidance and direction of Black students in academic, professional and social endeavors.

• Native American Law Students Association

  The Harvard Native American Law Students Association (NALSA) is a student-run organization dedicated to fostering a supportive atmosphere for Native American students at Harvard Law School, and is composed of Native American law students and students interested in issues affecting the Native community.

• The Child & Youth Advocates (CYA)

  The Child & Youth Advocates (CYA) seeks to build a community of students interested in a wide variety of issues affecting children and youth, including juvenile justice, child welfare, education, and children’s rights. We aim to heighten awareness and encourage discussion of these issues at HLS, facilitate student involvement with children and youth in our community and beyond, and advocate for children’s rights.

• American Civil Liberties Union

  The HLS ACLU is a student-run organization. The chapter aims to advance and promote awareness of civil liberties and constitutional rights on the Harvard campus by hosting speakers and organizing events throughout the school year. We focus on core issues of freedom of speech and religion, racial justice, privacy, women’s rights, and LGBTQ rights, and many more issue areas. ACLU members assist state ACLU branches, the national ACLU, and other organizations in research and advocacy relating to civil rights and civil liberties issues.