On December 13, Professors Kayonia Whetstone and Robin Boyle co-presented at the Legal Writing Institute One-Day Workshop held at Rutgers Law School Newark. The theme of the workshop was “The Pros and Cons of New Technology.”
The workshop drew legal writing scholars from around the country and helped to stimulate ideas about the effective use of technology in teaching legal writing. Professor Whetstone gave a multi-media presentation modeling her use of PowerPoint and videos to assist students in crafting, explaining, and applying criminal statutes related to a writing assignment. She also presented on how to effectively use an interactive polling platform to assess students’ learning.
Professor Boyle presented on making photographs and videos impactful. On the theme that a picture is worth a 1,000 words, she showed a photograph of upper-level students at work in our Child Advocacy clinic, previously shared with her 1Ls who were writing memos on a related topic. Professor Boyle also showed a video clip of a deposition, which she had previously shared with her first-year class, to impress upon first-year students the practice-side of the cases they were reading for their memos. To assist audience members, Prof. Boyle demonstrated time-efficient grading practices. The joint presentation garnered praise from the audience and initiated a fruitful discussion about the effective use of technology in today’s classroom.