The COVID pandemic has forced a change of mindset for most, if not all, people whether directly or indirectly affected by it. In the world of academia, lectures have pivoted from face-to-face classroom teaching to the world of online teaching. This comes with its own challenges, for both the lecturers and the participants. For the lecturers, the challenges include learning how to work with new technology, using predominantly their voices and (mostly) powerpoint presentations to keep participants engaged. Participants now find themselves staring at a screen, isolated in their own private space, a far cry from the classroom atmosphere.
We, the ILI-SACE faculty, were privileged to attend training earlier this month on “Teaching in a Virtual World” which addressed the most pressing challenges of presenting online, and provided tips on how to overcome and manage them.
The training was presented by a distinguished team, headed by the illustrious Judge Ann Claire Williams (Ret.) of Jones Day, who is also the chairperson of the ILI-SACE Advisory Board. https://ili-sace.org/about-us/leadership/international-advisory-board/judge-ann-claire-williams-ret/
Other team members included Judge Amy Hanley, a District Court Judge in Kansas, USA; Judge Michael Washington who is currently the Criminal Supervisory Judge in Vista, California, USA; Annie Deets, Managing Attorney in the Public Defender’s office in DeKalb County, Georgia, USA and Erin McGinley, of counsel at Jones Day who has extensive experience teaching training programs to international lawyers & judges.
The training session was recorded and will be shared with all ILI-SACE faculty, as it provides the baseline expectation for all our lecturers. Additionally, it will be shared with our academic partners in South Africa.