On October 6, 2023, Professor Robin Boyle presented at Emory Law School’s Eighth Biennial Conference on the Teaching of Transactional Law and Skills.

Now the transcription of her presentation has been published as Having Fun While Learning: Pedagogical Techniques for Teaching Contract Drafting, Vol 25, Special Report, Tenn. J. Bus. L. 751 (2024). It is also available on SSRN here.

Here is the abstract:

This article transcribes Professor Robin Boyle’s one-hour workshop presentation at the Biennial Conference held at Emory University School of Law, Center for Transactional Law and Practice, in Atlanta, Georgia, on October 6, 2023.  Prof. Boyle presented on four topics.

First, she opened her presentation with a summary of the work of cognitive scientists, which is that learning requires a foundation of prior knowledge.  In order for students to have prior knowledge and foundation, teachers are advised to present course material and follow up with frequent testing.  The teaching goal is to stimulate brain neurons through frequent retrieval of information, spacing out the retrieval, and by interleaving the retrieval.

Second, she presented on topic of the benefit of a flipped classroom in which the bulk of reading material is done prior to class so that students can spend class time engaged with each other in structured exercises.

Third, differentiated learning is closely related to learning-style theory.  Learning preferences are equated with culture.  Culture is how we interact with our family or social groups, and students bring their culture to class. Our mission is to engage all students in various ways, by teaching to diverse learning preferences, and, accordingly, achieving multiculturalism.

And fourth, Prof. Boyle presented on the benefits of growth mindset.  For all of these topics, Prof. Boyle showed the connection between the theory and its practical application in a course on contract drafting.