I am delighted that Commissioner Bud Selig now is a member of our sports law faculty. (See the University’s press release here.) His insightful lectures in our Pro Sports Law course enrich our students’ learning and offer an educational experience no other law school currently provides. This Thanksgiving I am thankful for having the unique and enjoyable opportunity to teach a sports law course with Commissioner Selig.
Recently, for the first time, I used video and audio technology to provide feedback on student papers in my first-year legal writing class. From my perspective, it was a terrific success. Giving live, oral feedback over video of each student’s paper allowed me to explain my questions, comments, and corrections more naturally and precisely, and also more quickly. I think that most students found the oral feedback useful as well.
The technology I used is TechSmith’s Jing. There may well be other free software products that offer something similar, but Jing is the one that was brought to my attention (by a student, actually–thanks, Priya Barnes). After viewing another educator’s blog post and video demonstrating his use of the product to give feedback, I thought I’d try it.
Here is how the video/audio method of commenting works:
Prologue: I’d like to thank Dean Bill Henk for inviting me to blog about a terrific project on which we collaborated. On Tuesday, the College of Education, the Office of the Provost’s Social Entrepreneurship Initiative, and the MU Law School sponsored a conference entitled “Urban Education Innovation and Reform Programs: High Success for High-Need Kids.” The event began with an engaging talk by Raj Vinnakota, Marquette’s 2010 Social Entrepreneur in Residence and the founder of The SEED Foundation (Schools for Educational Evolution and Development), and its nationally acclaimed boarding schools. A panel with local urban innovators and reformers next discussed their pathways to high success with high-needs students here in Milwaukee.
Over the lunch hour, National Teacher of the Year Rafe Esquith talked about his experience working with inner-city kids in Los Angeles, and some of his fifth grade students — the Hobart Shakespeareans — performed Shakespearean scenes and a couple of rock n’ roll songs. And, in the evening, Rafe and the Hobart Shakespeareans spoke to, and performed for, an audience of education students, faculty, local educators, and interested community members (thanks to all of those at the College of Education for making the evening such a great success). Cross posted at the Marquette Educator >>