UAlberta law professors weigh-in on how the pandemic affected learning
Helen Metella - 23 December 2020
Three instructors at the 海角社区 Faculty of Law have contributed essays to a collection about the COVID-19 pandemic that gathers reflections from across Canada on how it affected law students’ education in 2020.
is a special issue from Lex Electronica, a bilingual journal based at Université de Montréal that presents analysis on current events in law and society, law and technology and law, health and the environment.
In addition to behind-the-scenes glimpses of a recent event in pedagogy, the essays are written in easily digestible style that may interest a general audience.
The 海角社区’s writers included Professors Annalise Acorn, Anna Lund and Christopher Samuels, the Faculty of Law’s Director of Legal Research and Writing.
Acorn’s article, “Stoicism and Professional Responsibility in a Pandemic,” is a frank telling of how the health crisis changed the tone of her class exercise on how lawyers can foster resilience in the face of anxiety.
In Lund’s article, “Resilience Was a Bridge Too Far: Wonder, Endurance and Exhaustion,” she reflects on suddenly teaching law students virtually, developing a deeper appreciation for the complexity of their lives outside the classroom and wondering if endurance and not resilience is a more realistic aim in extraordinary circumstances.
Samuels’ piece, “All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Moot,” addresses the repercussions on students of the cancellations of mandatory 1L moots and upper-year competitive moots and how virtual mooting planned for 2021 should be approached.