Warren Binford, Willamette University College of Law: “How to Be the World’s Best Law Professor”
Warren Binford is an Associate Professor of Law at Willamette University College of Law. She presented “How to Be the World’s Best Law Professor,” in the Applying Learning Theory Pod at LegalED’s 2014 Igniting Law Teaching conference. Professor Binford notes that education research can be overwhelming, but her talk attempts to highlight a handful of learning techniques to improve learner outcomes. To do this she makes an effort to distill over 700 scientific articles that identify these techniques and show that they have been proven repeatedly. The results are surprising.
Professor Binford is also the Director of the Clinical Law Program at Willamette University College of Law. She holds a B.A. (summa cum laude with distinction) and an Ed.M. from Boston University and received her J.D. from Harvard Law School. She was recently selected as a 2012-2013 Fulbright Scholar to conduct research and teach in South Africa. Her primary research interests are children’s rights and legal education.
After her presentation at the 2014 Igniting Law Teaching conference, Professor Binford’s presentation was featured on Paul Caron’s blog as a great summary of the latest education research findings to increase retention and comprehension, and currently has over a thousand views: http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2014/10/how-to-be-.html.
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.