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Pivoting with excellence: Law associate dean brings legal topics into focus through online instruction

Law
January 06, 2021

by Frank Garza

Colin Marks G&B_Web
Colin P. Marks, J.D.

Even before COVID-19 hit, Colin P. Marks, J.D., Associate Dean for Graduate and Summer Programs and Ernest W. Clemens Professor of Law, was certified to teach classes online.

So, when he pivoted his approach mid-semester last spring, his students continued to learn through short video lectures with quizzes and a once-a-week Zoom session to discuss learning objectives and questions.  

Using learning objectives, Marks said, has been the biggest teaching method he’s picked up during this time. By publishing them at the start of each chapter and assignment, it really helped focus the class and his teaching on the truly important topics. It also helped his students stay engaged.  

“The responses have demonstrated that the students are not just processing the material,” said Marks, who was also the 2019-2020 president of the Southeastern Association of Law Schools, “but have thought about the policy underpinnings of the law.” 

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In some ways, going virtual has made it easier for the Office for Law Student Affairs to meet with students, said Alan K. Haynes, J.D., Assistant Dean for Law Student Affairs. Setting up meetings with students before could be difficult, especially if they lived outside San Antonio. Even if it’s just a conversation, Haynes will use Zoom instead of the phone to talk to the student.

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Hustling to move the law school’s Externship Program online by summer, Amanda Rivas (J.D. ’09), Director of Externships, said her main focus was on supporting externship supervisors and externs as they switched to remote working environments, ensuring that students would continue to receive challenging work and feedback.

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This fall, Ramona L. Lampley, J.D., Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law, kept students engaged through a hybrid of synchronous and asynchronous components, coupled with multiple assessments and a flipped classroom model.

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Several St. Mary's Law students and alumni joined an effort by the San Antonio Legal Services Association (SALSA) to draft wills for health care workers battling COVID-19 on the frontlines in San Antonio this summer.

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