Professional Development Resources

Among other things (small group discussion, role playing, etc.), Professor Todd Rakoff, Byrne Professor of Administrative Law at Harvard Law School, teaches his students to push further, to expand their reasoning, and to respond to each other during class discussion. He "has been actively involved in many of Harvard Law School’s educational experiments and reforms in the last quarter century. He rethinks classic law school pedagogies such as Socratic questioning, cold-calling, and case method teaching to create energetic, challenging learning environments for his students. Many of these techniques are applicable in other contexts." (Rakoff, Harvard Instructional Moves)

Professor Jane Mansbridge, Charles F. Adams Professor of Political Leadership and Democratic Value at the Harvard Kennedy School, uses student pre-work to design and choreograph class discussion. By doing this, she is able to make "material relevant and immediate to her students’ diverse political contexts and aspirations" and "[bring] would-be esoteric texts to life through inclusive and rigorous discussions while equipping students to think critically about democracy" (Mansbridge, Harvard Instructional Moves).

Simply put, Harkness is an instructional method of student-centered discussion. It is also an instructional philosophy that can be loosely defined as a system of learning based upon class discussions which center around a shared source.

Professor Timothy McCarthy, Lecturer on History and Literature at Harvard College, organizes his classroom around the student-centered provocation, which requires students to prepare passages, content, and ideas from the course readings in order to lead a seminar discussion for the class. Here is a description directly from the website: "Timothy Patrick McCarthy, director of Culture Change and Social Justice Initiatives at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, is an award-winning lecturer at Harvard College, Harvard Kennedy School, and Harvard Graduate School of Education. Deeply reflective about his teaching practice, Timothy uses a broad range of pedagogical techniques to facilitate generative, student-centered discussions in seminar settings." (McCarthy, Rakoff, Harvard Instructional Moves)

Professor Jane Mansbridge, Charles F. Adams Professor of Political Leadership and Democratic Value at the Harvard Kennedy School, uses student pre-work to design and choreograph class discussion. By doing this, she is able to make "material relevant and immediate to her students’ diverse political contexts and aspirations" and "[bring] would-be esoteric texts to life through inclusive and rigorous discussions while equipping students to think critically about democracy" (Mansbridge, Harvard Instructional Moves).