Leah Wortham, The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law: “Graduating Them Whole Not Broken”
Leah Wortham is Professor Emerita at The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law. She explains the concept of college graduates being “whole” in her talk, “Graduating Them Whole Not Broke,” in the Applying Learning Theory Pod at the 2014 Igniting Law Teaching conference. Professor Wortham explains that we want graduates walking across the stage to have the motivation and confidence to forge a life they will find effectual, consistent with their individual compasses, and contributing to something that matters. Self-determination theory’s wisdom on human basic need for autonomy, mastery, relatedness and purpose and intrinsic motivation’s importance in engaged learning for complex and creative tasks offer templates to envision law school class pictures full of these “whole” graduates.
At Catholic University, Leah Wortham coordinated clinical programs, directed the externship program, and co-edited the first externship text. She taught Professional Responsibility and Criminal Law, was an Associate Dean, and chaired an eight-year effort for a new building. She now directs an American Law certificate program and LLM that CUA offers in cooperation with Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. Since 1996 she has worked in over 20 countries on legal ethics, legal profession reform, clinical education, and legal education reform.
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.