West Virginia University College of Law librarians Nicholas Stump and Stephanie Miller and Director of the Law Library, Professor Caroline Osborne, presented in multiple sessions at annual meeting of the Southeastern Chapter of the American Association of Law Libraries (SEAALL). The meeting took place in Richmond, Virginia on March 9-11, 2023.
Professor Osborne and librarian Stephanie Miller presented "The Evolution of the Flipped Classroom: Lessons Learned Through a Pandemic."
From the program description:
A discussion of the evolution of an introduction to legal research course at WVU College of Law from a flipped classroom to an asynchronous course, to a new hybrid model and the lessons learned through the process. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, many legal research instructors were compelled to make immediate changes to their course structure and mode of instruction. At WVU that meant adapting a 1L legal research course from a flipped classroom model to a completely asynchronous course. While the change was challenging, it also served as a pathway to a stronger, more effective, course when we returned to the classroom. This program will focus on course elements and teaching methods that were adapted from the original flipped classroom course and/or the asynchronous course to formulate a new hybrid model that integrates the best of both based on our experience.
Professor Osborne and Stephanie Miller, with Pamela Brannon of Georgia State University College of Law, presented "Building an Advanced Scholarly Communications Program."
From the program description
A discussion of service offerings in an advanced scholarly communications program. A fully developed scholarly communications program supports scholars through the lifecycle of their scholarship - from the inception of the research project, through the research and writing process, to placement and publication, by promoting, disseminating, and archiving the work, and finally measuring its long-term scholarly impact. This program focuses on how combining quantitative scholarly impact metrics with qualitative measures can offer scholars context/insight on how their research is being cited and whether it is reaching the intended audience which may lead to opportunities for collaboration or new ideas of scholarly interest for further research and writing. Panelists will also discuss how to communicate about advanced service offerings with law faculty and administration including deans, associate deans, and marketing and communications professionals, in multiple modalities for the greatest buy-in.
Librarian Nicholas Stump spoke on a panel, "Designing a Critical or Social Justice Module in a Legal Research Course" with Ellie Campbell of UNC School of Law, Latia Ward of UVA School of Law, Laura Wilcoxon of the University of Missouri School of Law, and Olivia Smith Schlinck of Cardozo School of Law.
From the program description:
This panel provides an overview on designing a critical module in a legal research course. Critical modules are an emerging trend for law librarians seeking to embed social justice frameworks within legal research curricula. Panelists first will provide a synopsis of the relevant pedagogy, as grounded in critical information literacy and the critical law librarianship tradition of Delgado and Stefancic. Next, we will cover the much-debated topic of how and where to incorporate a critical module in often-crowded syllabi. Panelists will then discuss other aspects of designing a critical module, which may include recommended course readings, lecture topics, active-learning activities, non-hierarchical classroom approaches, and potential guest lecturers like public interest lawyers that have adopted critical research techniques. Panelists lastly will unpack the challenges of incorporating politically sensitive content within research courses. Central student takeaways include the limitations of the dominant legal information paradigm for those seeking to research for justice and the corresponding need to consider alternative information resources, approaches, and diverse sites of collaboration. Speakers' presentations will be informed by their multi-year experience in designing and revising critical modules within advanced legal research curricula.
Lastly, Professor Osborne spoke on the topic of "Preparing for the NextGen Bar Exam" with Kristina Niedringhaus of Georgia State University College of Law and Austin Williams of Georgetown University Law School.
From the program description:
In jurisdictions that adopt the NextGen Bar Exam, full-time law students who entered law school in the Fall of 2022 will be sitting for the new test. A member of the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) Research Skills Committee will talk about the process used by the Research Skills Committee and their work on the prototype questions. The speakers will present some ideas for approaches librarians can take to help prepare students for the new legal research bar testing. This will be followed by an open brainstorming session where attendees will be asked to share ideas centered on teaching, training, and programming to support student development of legal research skills for the new bar exam.