Teaching Law for Engaged Learning
Registration
Attendance will be limited to 50 participants. The roster will be filled in the order that Elon receives the registration form and conference fee of $195.
Pre-Conference Event (Optional)
We invite participants to pre-register and begin getting acquainted at the Law School during a meet and greet from 5:00 to 7:00 on Friday, April 9. Hors d'oeuvres will be served.
Conference Schedule
Friday, April 9
- 5:00-7:00 p.m.
» Pre-registration
Saturday, April 10
- 8:00 a.m.
» Registration and Breakfast - 8:30 a.m.
» Welcome and Opening - 9:00 a.m.
» Course and Class Planning - 10:15 a.m. - Break
- 10:45 a.m.
» Teaching Methods - 12:00 p.m. - Lunch
- 1:30 p.m.
» Assessment and Exams - 2:45 p.m. - Break
- 3:15 p.m.
» Developing as a Teacher - 4:30 p.m.
» Closing - 5:00 p.m. - Adjourn
Make check payable to Elon University or provide Visa/MasterCard information on the registration form.
"Teaching Law for Engaged Learning," is a one-day conference for new and experienced legal educators interested in developing as teachers. The conference will take place on April 10, 2010, at the Elon University School of Law in Greensboro, North Carolina. The conference co-sponsors are the Institute for Law Teaching and Learning (Gonzaga and Washburn) and the Center for Engaged Learning in the Law (Elon).
Structure of the Conference
The conference will consist of four sessions.
- Course and class planning. What are the most important things you want your students to learn and how will you get your students there? In this session, participants will construct learning objectives, plan how they will know whether their students have attained those objectives, discuss what to include in a syllabus and what makes for an effective syllabus, reconsider how they start and end their courses and class sessions, and plan a single class session from start to finish.
- Teaching methods. Participants will consider a wide variety of techniques and perspectives, from the more traditional techniques, such as lecture and questioning, to other commonly-used techniques, such as free writing, collaborative learning, PowerPoint slides, simulations, clickers, and course Web pages, to a few cutting-edge techniques, such as discovery sequence instruction, cognitive think-alouds, and in-class instant messaging. Participants will both experience and discuss how best practices can be applied to these techniques. Participants will also consider keys to effective teaching beyond techniques, including attitudes, habits of mind, conceptualizations of students, and personal qualities and characteristics.
- Assessment and exams. As a result of taking a course, what should students be able to do? Design effective ways to solve clients' problems using a range of authorities and complicated facts? Would they show their learning by writing opinion letters, drafting agreements, or interviewing witness? During this workshop, participants will work from their own assessments, samples, and guidelines to design and evaluate a variety of assessments. Participants also will practice using and developing effective and sustainable ways to provide feedback, including rubrics, classroom assessment techniques, and peer review, and they will consider how to use assessment results as feedback for improving their course and class design and teaching.
- Developing as a teacher. Following an introduction to the research on faculty development, participants in this session will engage in a variety of teaching development instruments. For example, participants will complete a teaching inventory, engage in reflective writing, view a teaching video, practice giving feedback, and brainstorm ways to develop a sustainable teaching development practice.
Presenters
The program will be designed and co-taught by five law professors:
- Roberto Corrada (Denver University School of Law)
- Steven Friedland (Elon University School of Law)
- Gerry Hess (Gonzaga University School of Law)
- Michael Hunter Schwartz (Washburn University School of Law)
- Sophie Sparrow (Franklin Pierce Law Center)
The five conference planners/presenters have authored or contributed to 11 books (including six casebooks) and more than 25 law review articles addressing law teaching, learning, assessment, and curriculum design. They have delivered more than 200 presentations about these topics at national and international conferences and as invited speakers at law schools around the country.
Benefits to Participants
During the conference, participants can expect to encounter many new ideas about teaching and learning in law school. Participants will experience a variety of active teaching/learning methods. Participants should leave the conference with the inspiration and information to apply the new ideas in their courses. In short, the ultimate goal of the conference is to help the participants improve their teaching and their students' learning.
Each participant will receive a copy of Teacing Law By Design: Engaging Students From The Syllabus To The Final Exam (Carolina Academic Press 2009).
