Liz McKenna received the 2026 Innovations in Teaching Award for engaging students in a clear-eyed examination of when AI adds value and when human judgment is critical—an important skill they will carry into their professions.
In her section of the required MPP course, API-203M: Empirical Methods II - Qualitative Methods, Liz converted her classroom into a focus group site where students ran focus groups on each other and discussed how they are navigating AI at HKS: its uses, their anxieties, and what they need to feel career ready. Students not only learned how to run focus groups but also discovered in real time how AI performs a range of qualitative research tasks.
At first, they coded focus group data manually and later used AI to do the same. Students then compared where AI sped up research tasks, where it flattened affect or meaning, and where the models missed what students had noticed upon close reading. Liz also shared her own analysis of the focus group data, clearly stating which steps were hers, which she delegated to AI, and the tradeoffs that came with each choice, e.g. using AI to code the data took mere seconds and removed the friction of manual coding, but the cost was less familiarity with the data. See results of focus group.
As one nominator wrote,
"Professor McKenna demonstrated an exemplary approach in being at the forefront of AI innovations — adopting the new technology rather than resisting and showcasing to students how the qualitative research field is rapidly evolving in the face of LLMs and AI models. At the same time, Professor McKenna was highly mindful and vocal about risks and limitations of the technology, demonstrating to students where AI falls short."
Liz exemplifies the ideals of methodological rigor, transparency, and preparing students to exercise professional judgment in the age of AI. By sharing her AI experiments, reasoning, and reservations, Liz has created a template with which to make explicit what it means to grapple with AI in any discipline. Her work stands as a model for HKS faculty, helping students gain fluency with fast-changing AI models and the judgment to know when and how to rely on them.