Welcome to the Mini-Course

The class is over, but you can still view the videos and see the materials at the links below.  Besides the videos, there are MP3/Podcast versions that you can download.  There are annotated transcripts that you can read along with and click on links for articles, books, concepts and products mentioned in the videos.

 

Bonus Video – Creating Better Video for your Spring 2021 Courses

Session 1 – Creating a Successful Online Course 

Session 2 –Technology: Platforms and Lectures

Session 3 – Assessment: Formative and Summative

Session 4 – Engaging Your Students

Session 5 – Creating a Framework for Online Learning

Session 6 – Different Mix of Techniques for Skills-based, Seminars or Large Classes

Session 7 – Preparing to Teach Online: The Essential Checklist

 

Welcome to what might be the first or last mile of your journey towards online teaching. This mini-course will run live in June 2020. Live session will require about 9 hours with additional time spent reading articles, online discussion, and we hope, reflection on your own or with your colleagues. Realistically, this mini-course is not intended as a comprehensive manual for online teaching. Like a stone skimming the water, this mini-course will look at the surface of several theories and practices in online teaching. This mini-course will provide you with some of the tools and ideas to continue your exploration of online teaching as it will apply to your courses. 

We have assembled a fantastic group of guest speakers to provide a variety of expertise and viewpoints. While it is tempting to try and include “everything” as readings, we have attempted to curate the assigned readings and, at times, listed others should you want to explore a topic more deeply. As you explore these topics on your own, we hope that you will share any readings you find. 

We have divided this mini-course into 7 sessions, with two sessions per week for the first three weeks. Each session will have two units. CoursePress divides each unit into several sections. The first unit will include sections for the unit’s description and learning outcomes, readings, bios of the guest speakers, an assessment, and, when applicable, a list of additional readings. During each live session, there will be an activity. The activity will be part of the second unit for each session. We’ll add the second unit after the session is over for the day. Releasing the session activity after the session has ended allows it to be spontaneous for everyone. Likewise, the second unit will include the discussion. It, too, will be made live following each session. The discussion will take place on a different platform. However, the question prompts and links to the discourse forum will be available through the section. You can go back and review previous sessions.  

Each live session will occur in Zoom. While this blog is open to all the Zoom invitation will be sent to those who previsouly registered. Recordings will be available later for all. 

Please review the schedule to see the release dates of materials and to confirm live session dates.

Each unit starts with a description and several learning outcomes. The learning outcomes will provide focus to the session’s readings and discussion. Additionally, they are broadly written so that your achievement of the learning outcome can apply to the needs of your planned Fall courses. Related to the learning outcomes are the assessments. We included assessments for two reasons. First, to provide examples of various types of formative assessments that you can include in your courses. And, second, to amplify your role as a student in this mini-course.

Although each session will be recorded, we strongly encourage you to attend and participate in each session, if you are registered. The live sessions will allow for questions and answers from our guest speakers. Additionally, there will be short activities during the live sessions. Participating in these will allow you to test out different in-class activities for your courses. Remember, part of your learning will happen because you are the student in this mini-course. 

The discussion will take place asynchronously after each session. The discussions forum for each session will open at the end of each session. Each discussion forum will remain open from its start to the end of the mini-course. The discussion forums allow you to learn from your peers and experience different engagement methods in the forums.   

Consider forming a study group with colleagues at your law school, faculty you know at other law schools, or people you meet in the opening session of this mini-course. Study groups often naturally form in traditional law school classrooms based on proximity in seating, shared law school clubs, people from your undergrad school, and assorted other reasons. 

There are suggested methods for forming an effective study group. Professor Nicole Lefton was a CALI Law School Success Fellow in 2019-2020 and wrote a lesson to guide students through the systematic formation of a study group. Please use your CALI credentials to login and work through the lesson here.

Note, this link (and all links in this mini-course) will take you to a version of the lesson using LessonLink. LessonLink creates a unique URL for the lesson that allows the faculty member (in this case, Deb at CALI) to see that you ran the lesson. And yes, we will see your score! Don’t worry, we’re not sharing your score. Later in the mini-course we will look at lesson analytics. All your personally identifiable information will be removed. 

A word about CALI’s online resources: this mini-course is not going to be about pointing you to every CALI tool or resource that exists. True, we have podcasts, lessons, OER casebooks, a course platform, and a growing bank of quiz questions. This mini-course is more than just CALI’s tools and resources. We are focusing this mini-course on the online teaching techniques and tips that you need to move from emergency remote to online teaching and to create an online course for your students successfully. And, where we have a CALI resource or tool that is useful, we will include it. 

One final word about grades, and then let’s start on the course materials. While we are trying to provide a learning experience that places you in the role of the student, we are taking a gentle tact on grading. The goal is that you attend and learn. None of us needs the pressure this summer of a grade. We ask that you go through the online material and take the assessments.