Project overview:
The Law Teaching Network (LTN) project is a three-year partnership between the Faculty of Law and Teaching and Learning Services (TLS). The project aims to generate a shared commitment to excellent, innovative and engaging teaching and learning practices in the Faculty. Over the past three semesters, significant headway has been made on many program initiatives at both the individual and Faculty level.
Individual level:
- Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs):
2010-2012: 24 law faculty voluntarily participated in six FLCs. The FLCs were intended to be environments in which dialogues about teaching and learning would occur among colleagues at all career stages and where innovative educational practices would be developed. The FLCs addressed multiple topics based on faculty interests: learning-centered course re-design, concurrently advancing teaching and research, teaching and learning with technologies, active learning strategies, peer observation in the classroom, and assessment. - Teaching portfolio workshop: Eight law professors attended a workshop in which they worked with law-specific examples of exemplary teaching portfolios (Dec. 2010)
- Teaching strategies workshop: Sessional lecturers for the 2011-12 academic year attended a workshop in which they learned about numerous teaching strategies customized for legal education, and considered ways to incorporate these strategies in their courses. (Aug. 2011)
- Assessment methods workshop: Ten law instructors attended a workshop in which they explored best practices for assessment of student learning and reviewed a range of assessment materials and methods in legal education, including McGill Law-specific examples. (Nov. 2011)
- Experiential/Active Learning Fund: Ten faculty received funding to facilitate the creation of high-quality learning experiences for students in 2010-11; to date in 2011-12, eight faculty have received funding. These grants have led to a variety of interesting course innovations in teaching pluralist subject matter across the Faculty.
- Conference fund: This was intended to make attending (legal) education conferences more feasible for instructors and teaching staff in the Faculty of Law; four proposals have been funded to date.
Faculty level:
- Workgroup on Teaching and Learning Reform: Struck by the Dean in Aug. 2011; meets fortnightly to manage aspects of the LTN project that consider and address possible pedagogical reconfigurations for the delivery of the undergraduate program.
- Curriculum inventory: This extensive process of consultation, benchmarking, and research synthesis led to the development of program outcomes that were presented to the Faculty Council by the Workgroup on Teaching and Learning Reform in Dec. 2011. These program outcomes are intended to help guide curricular decisions and ensure a more intentional progression of skills and knowledge through the curriculum, thus providing a more coherent student experience. The Faculty is now embarking on a curriculum mapping exercise to see to what extent these program outcomes are reflected across the courses currently offered.
- Law Teaching Network (LTN) Talking Teaching profiles: As part of the LTN project, McGill Law professors have been invited to share their ideas about teaching through “Talking Teaching” profiles. These profiles feature the professors talking about various aspects of their teaching and students’ learning, and are intended to provide a catalyst for discussion and reflection among colleagues. See the profiles at: http://www.mcgill.ca/law/teaching
- Pedagogical resources: Resources responding to faculty’s requests and interests in legal education have been evaluated, gathered and annotated. These have been made available to the faculty through the FLCs and the Workgroup on Teaching and Learning Reform.
- Clinical Legal Education Working Group (CLEWG): This group assessed the clinical legal education offerings within the Faculty and undertook benchmarking of experiential learning initiatives offered in Canadian law schools. It led to the development of a pilot course specifically designed to help students integrate their internship experiences with other in-course aspects of their McGill education, focusing on the Centre for Human Rights & Legal Pluralism's program.
- Guest consultants provided expertise in support of the FLCs and the curriculum inventory process. A list of potential future guest speakers about various pedagogical topics was developed and presented to faculty members for feedback.
- Faculty of Law retreat: A highly successful 1.5-day retreat occurred in June, 2011. Evidence collected in the context of the LTN project led to activities promoting meaningful, data-driven discussions involving everyone concerned about topics including program outcomes, the curriculum, students, and reflecting upon the LTN program’s first year and next steps.
- Dissemination: the LTN project team presented the project at the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE) annual conference, June, 2011.
For further information about the Law Teaching Network Project, please contact:
- Dr. Mariela Tovar at Teaching and Learning Services mariela [dot] tovar [at] mcgill [dot] ca or
- Professor Hoi Kong at the Faculty of Law hoi [dot] kong [at] mcgill [dot] ca