This article outlines the author's experience designing and implementing an asynchronous online course. Designed as a complement to public health law externships at any location, the course addresses professionalism and strategic lawyering. The article further describes the author's fellowship journey, which emboldened her view that faculty must attempt to live the expectations we have for our students, and also declare our professional values, especially when teaching about policymaking which is fraught with values conflicts. It concludes with a call for others to pilot innovative teaching approaches to address both the crisis in legal education and pressing societal issues, thereby contributing to the health of our legal community.
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References
1.
See generally C.Scott, “Transforming the Future of Public Health Law Education through a Faculty Fellowship Program,”Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics44, no. 1, Supp. (2016): 6–17.
K. M.Sheldon and L. S.Krieger, “Does Legal Education Have Undermining Effects on Law Students? Evaluating Changes in Motivation, Values and Well-Being,”Behavioral Science22 (2004): 261–286.
4.
M.Hojat, M. J.Vergare, K.Maxwell, G.Brainard, S. K.Herrine, G. A.Isenberg, J.Veloski, and J. S.Gonnella, “The Devil Is in the Third Year: A Longitudinal Study of Erosion of Empathy in Medical School,”Academic Medicine84, no. 9 (2009): 1182–1191.
I owe a great debt to Diane Hoffmann, deans’ consultant for this faculty fellowship program, for sharing her experience developing, refining, and teaching a classroom-based practice workshop course. See D. E.Hoffmann, “A Health Law Practice Workshop: Bridging Externship Placements and the Classroom,”Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics37, no. 3 (2009): 513–518.
8.
American Bar Association, 2014-205 Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools, “Chapter 3 Program of Legal Education,”Standard 305(e)(7) (“Field Placements and Other Study Outside the Classroom”), available at <http://www.americanbar.org/groups/legal_education/resources/standards.html> (last visited January 11, 2016).
9.
The syllabus for this course is available through the fellowship program’s online teaching resources library. See Network for Public Health Law, “Public Health Law Faculty Teaching Resources,”available at <https://www.networkforphl.org/faculty_teaching_resources/> (last visited January 11, 2016) (this site is password protected; faculty may request a password from the Network on the site) (see “Public Health Law Workshop” in the Syllabi section of this website). The author can provide a “virtual tour” of the course’s online presence to interested readers; please contact her directly.
10.
Id. (a complete table of the content for the six modules may be found in the syllabus).
11.
This activity and tool can be accessed in the teaching resources library at Network for Public Health Law, supra note 9 (see “Designing an Evidence-Based Resource Guide” in the Case Studies section of this website).
12.
This activity can be accessed in the teaching resources library at Network for Public Health Law, supra note 9 (see “Public Health Law Online Practice Workshop, Lawyers as Leaders” in the Case Studies section of this website).
13.
D.Rhode, “Lawyers and Leadership,”The Professional Lawyer20, no. 3 (2010): 1, 12–17.
14.
S.Sturm, “Law Schools, Leadership, and Change,”Harvard Law Review Forum127 (2013): 49-53; D. E. Meyerson, “Radical Change, the Quiet Way,” Harvard Business Review 79, no. 9 (October 2001): 92–100.
15.
American Bar Association, supra note 8 (Standard 303(a)(3), ”Curriculum: Experiential Courses”).
16.
Y. Y. H.Fung, “Collaborative Online Learning: Interaction Patterns and Limiting Factors,”Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and e-Learning19, no. 2 (2004): 135–149.
17.
Id.; C. M.Johnson, “A Survey of Current Research on Online Communities of Practice,”The Internet and Higher Education4, no. 1 (2001): 45–60.
