UAlberta law professors weigh-in on how the pandemic affected learning

Three instructors at the University of Alberta 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.

Law and Learning in the Time of Pandemic — A Collage 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 U of A’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.