Allie Robbins and Ryan Dooley, City University of New York: “The Law School of a Classroom”
Ryan Dooley teaches in the Pipeline to Justice Program and Allie Robbins serves as the Assistant Academic Dean at the City University of New York. Dooley and Robbins presented as a part of the Beyond Traditional Law Subjects Pod at LegalED’s 2014 Igniting Law Teaching conference. Their talk, “The Law School as a Classroom,” explains that law school offers a myriad of opportunities for experiential learning, many of which exist beyond the classroom and clinical setting. By realizing the valuable role that every member of the community plays in the education of advocates, law schools can formulate a holistic pedagogy that views every member as both teacher and student. In so doing, they assert that we will educate more mindful, compassionate, and effective lawyers while simultaneously creating a more mindful, compassionate, and effective law school.
This video is part of a video collection from the Igniting Law Teaching, hosted by LegalED at American University Washington College of Law. Responding to the calls for legal education reform, the conference -- the first of its kind -- created a forum for professors experimenting with cutting edge technologies and techniques in law teaching with the goal of spreading their ideas to the broader community. The talks were modeled on TEDx Talks, with each speaker on stage alone, giving a well scripted and performed talk about an aspect of law school pedagogy. The goal of LegalED is to curate a growing collection of short, 10-minute videos on law school-related pedagogy that will inspire innovation and experimentation by law professors to bring more active learning and practical skills training into the law school curriculum. This videos, and others like it, are available on LegalED, a website developed by a community of law professors interested in using online technologies to facilitate more active, problem-based learning in the classroom, in addition to more assessment and feedback.
Ryan Dooley graduated from George Washington University and then served as an Americorps volunteer, a wild land firefighter, and a teacher in Mexico before attending CUNY Law School. Upon graduation, Ryan served as a clerk with the New Jersey Superior Court, and then with Catholic Charities Immigration Services, advocating on behalf of immigrant children in federal custody. Ryan returned to CUNY Law to teach in the Pipeline to Justice Program and work in Student Affairs.
Allie Robbins also received her BA from George Washington University and then went on to get her J.D. from CUNY Law School. After graduating from CUNY she served as an organizer and Assistant Counsel for the National Treasury Employees Union. Since returning to CUNY Law, she has provided academic support, helped coordinate bar support programs, served as Director of Student Affairs, and is currently Assistant Academic Dean. Prior to attending law school, Robbins worked for United Students Against Sweatshops.
LegalED aims to harness the power of the internet for legal educations. It facilitates blended or flipped learning – by migrating lectures to the web, LegalED frees up classtime for active learning that challenges students to learn the essential lawyering competencies while they are in law school. Professors may assign the videos in any combination for students to view outside of the classroom for active learning that challenges students to learn the essential lawyering competencies while they are in law school. LegalED seeks to develop and maintain a vibrant online community of teachers and students of the law, creating a central hub for the community. Through the video collection, teachers can be inspired to borrow, adapt, and bring great teaching moments into their own courses. With an internet platform, LegalED opens up formerly isolated classrooms by sharing showcasing, celebrating and inspiring innovative teaching. Simply put, the vision of LegalED is to inspire innovation in legal education. Join the movement!
The LegalED 2015 Igniting Law Teaching conference will take place on Friday, March 20th, from 9am to 6pm. Register to attend in person or live stream the event.