In this section, Leigh Hafrey discusses the role of teamwork in the course.
I emphasize that leadership emerges from effective collaboration.
— Leigh Hafrey
In 15.270 Ethical Practice: Leading Through Professionalism, Social Responsibility, and System Design, I emphasize that leadership emerges from effective collaboration. Moderation belongs among the skills that a leader deploys, and consensus will emerge from the best of his or her efforts. The course mandates small-group engagement as a way of helping students practice those skills.
I think that teamwork in the classroom has huge pedagogic effect. And I incorporate it into the course in part because I want the course to help students recognize their differences and diversity.
And at the same time, once they have recognized that, as a reality, I want them then to think about how they build consensus. And so teamwork in the course aims to encourage the students simultaneously to appreciate that they're different and to recognize that they then need to master that difference in order to achieve ends. The team papers aim to accomplish that.