The Art of Law Teaching (SpringerBriefs in Law)

Written by an award-winning professor with over 25 years of experience, this book explains comprehensively the different facets of law teaching from the law teacher's perspective. It uniquely covers numerous topics which have been ignored by the legal education literature so far, but which are of immense importance for the success of law students, law schools and - last but not least - the day-to-day work of law teachers themselves. These topics include the goals of law teaching, the factors that lead to successful law teaching, special characteristics of good law teachers, different ways of preparing for in-class success, face-to-face versus online teaching, the in-class teaching experience, assessments, teaching evaluations, the design of new courses and programmes, the teacher-student and the teacher-teacher relationship, the importance of teaching administration as well as the future of law teaching in the digital age. The author approaches various themes from the viewpoint of his own experience. He tells his very personal stories of classroom success and failure, of enthusiasm, fun and disappointments when dealing with law students, of accomplishments and frustrations when considering learning outcomes and of surprises when dealing with red tape. He thus allows the readership to grasp different aspects of law teaching in a very hands-own way and facilitates the understanding of the underlying often rather complex human-to-human relationships. This book should be in the bookshelf of any law teacher. As it covers a wide spectrum of so far unexplored legal education issues, it is also an invaluable source at the start of a law teaching career, but also for established law teachers who wish to reflect on their own teaching approaches. A rich body of cross-references to the existing literature makes the book a powerful tool for research on any aspect of legal education. Last but not least, the authors ironic sense of himself and of the law teacher profession makes the book a very entertaining read for anybody who always wanted to know what law teaching really is (and is not) about Preface Contents 1 About This Book 2 Law Teaching as an Art or a Science? 3 The Goals of Law Teaching 3.1 General 3.2 What Motivates Law Teaching? 3.3 Learning Outcomes 4 Law Teaching and Research 5 Law Teaching and Skills Training 5.1 General 5.2 Important New Legal Skills 5.3 Skills Training for Substantive Law Learning 6 Law Teaching and Practical Legal Work 7 What Makes a Good Law Teacher? 7.1 General 7.2 Measuring Success in Law Teaching 7.3 Different Teaching and Learning Cultures 7.4 The Law Teacher Qualification 7.5 The Law Teacher Personality 7.6 Toughie versus Softie 7.7 Non-arty Characteristics 7.8 Helicopter Teaching versus Independent Learning Approaches 7.9 Motivating Law Teachers? 8 Law Teaching and Fitness 9 Preparing for Class 9.1 General 9.2 Selecting Topics 9.3 Teaching Modes 9.3.1 General 9.3.2 Modern Teaching Modes 9.3.3 In Particular: FCs 9.3.4 Co-teaching 9.3.5 Guest Lecturers 9.3.6 Distance Law Learning 9.3.7 Communicating the Teaching Mode 9.4 In Particular: In-Class Interactivity 9.5 Teaching Styles 9.6 Teaching Materials 9.7 Course Settings 9.8 Teaching Outfit 9.9 Structured Teaching 9.10 Preparing for the Entire Class Time 9.11 Teaching Assistants 9.12 Marketing and Teaching 10 The In-Class Teaching Experience 10.1 General 10.2 The Stress Factor 10.3 Speaking Freely versus Reading Out 10.4 Politically Correct Teaching 10.5 Class Attendance 10.6 Diverse Student Groups 10.7 Motivating Students 10.8 Teacher-Student-Teacher Communication 10.9 Ten Ways to Start a Teaching Session 10.9.1 General 10.9.2 The Formal Start 10.9.3 The Silent Start 10.9.4 The Angry Start 10.9.5 The Smiling Start 10.9.6 Reference to the Examination 10.9.7 The Bored Start 10.9.8 The Start with the Parcel 10.9.9 The Personal Start 10.9.10 The Professional Start 10.9.11 The Q&A Start 10.10 “Back Teaching” 10.11 Time Management 10.12 Unprepared Teaching 10.13 Grilling Law Students 10.14 Unwelcome In-Class Surprises 10.15 Difficult Students 10.15.1 General 10.15.2 Special Needs Students 10.15.3 Challenging Students 10.16 The “Why-Do-They-Cheat?” Problem 10.17 Teaching Gimmicks 10.17.1 General 10.17.2 RTFQ 10.17.3 Calling Upon Students 10.18 When and Why Do Classes Go Wrong? 11 Examinations 11.1 General 11.2 The Stress Factor Again 11.3 Setting Examinations 11.4 Class Attendance and Class Participation 11.5 Marking 12 Teaching Evaluations 13 Designing New Courses, Programmes, Law School Curricula 13.1 General 13.2 Why Setting up New Programmes and Courses? 13.3 Joint and Dual Degree Programmes 14 The Teacher-Student Relationship 15 The Teacher-Teacher Relationship 16 Teaching Administration 17 Law Teaching in Times of Crises 18 Game Over for Law Teaching? References