Faculty Professional Development

Northwestern Event Aims to Interest Law Profs in Ed Tech

• By Joshua Bolkan
• 09/20/17

Faculty from Northwestern University's Pritzker School of Law recently participated in TEaCH LAW, an event designed to help encourage them to integrate technology in their classrooms.

"Law schools don't have a reputation for being particularly innovative in their teaching methods, but at Northwestern we have a number of faculty who are using technology in particularly engaging and inventive ways," said Alyson Carrel, assistant dean of law and technology initiatives, in a prepared statement.

The event was structured around demonstrations by other faculty members. Carrel kicked the day off with a talk that highlighted three motivations for incorporating technology into a law classroom — the increased use of technology by clients, efficiency and the potential for social justice — and examined the pros and cons of how some legal educators have deployed technology in the past.

Other highlights of the event included:

• Presentations from instructors and the university IT team in a new classroom designed specifically for blended and active learning;
• Demonstrations of learning tools such as Lightboard, Canvas, Webex and more;
• An invitation to partner with a learning design consultant from Northwestern IT; and
• A closing panel dubbed, "incorporating Technology in the Classroom."

"The challenge as I see it is to think about incorporating technology in ways that foster a vibrant intellectual community and encourage active engagement with the materials," said Deborah Tuerkheimer, the Class of 1940 Research Professor of Law, in a prepared statement. "TEaCH LAW generated a number of concrete ideas in this regard, while sparking a larger conversation — interesting and valuable in its own right — about how we can best serve our students."