We Are in this Together: A Faculty-Led Approach to Fostering Innovation in Online Instruction

Authors

Courtney Selby, St. John's University School of LawFollow
Rachel H. Smith, St. John's University School of LawFollow

ORCID

Prof. Selby: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6444-1791

Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Title

Law Teaching Strategies for a New Era: Beyond the Physical Classroom

Publication Date

2021

Abstract

(Excerpt)

After reviewing this chapter, readers will understand how to:

• Implement a faculty-led approach to improving online instruction at their in­stitutions;
• Convene a faculty task force to spearhead that approach;
• Engage faculty members in productive discussions about the pedagogy of online law teaching;
• Prepare a set of institution-specific recommendations for improved online teaching; and
• Foster a faculty culture invested in innovating online instruction well beyond emergency use.

As so many platitudes tell us, challenges present opportunities. And the challenges of teaching law in a pandemic certainly created an avalanche, a flood, a—pick your natural disaster—of opportunity. Indeed, the sudden switch to online teaching occasioned by COVID-19 was a unique opportunity to start a discussion about law school pedagogy and technology that was, for at least some law faculties, long overdue.

Comments

This is from section one of Law Teaching Strategies for a New Era: Beyond the Physical Classroom, edited by Tessa L. Dysart and Tracy L. M. Norton (2021).