At Harvard Law School we made the decision fairly early on
that we would be all remote in the fall.
It wasn't a surprise, it was a huge advantage
We all knew our challenge,
our challenge was to deliver a first class
legal education to the most deserving audience
our Harvad Law students,
and we had the summer to do it.
So could we at scale transform the law school
for a once in a generation opportunity for students.
For many of us on the faculty we have been teaching for decades
and we've kind of learned along the way what works best for us
and all of that basically
had to be thrown into question, not out the window,
but definitely into question.
I analogize a bit to watching
the best ballet you've ever seen in your entire life
on the Lincoln Center stage
all of a sudden move to the deck
of a cruise ship.
Well our faculty
and everyone else in our community
have not missed a beat
in making this transition.
I'd never been more nervous
about any first day of class
with the exception of my first first day of class
which was now 35 years ago.
But in some ways it's never been
as exciting or fulfilling because it was all brand new.
Every faculty member got a set-up
and we got to tailor our set-ups to have
a kind of Zoom studio, if you will,
because the sense is
that people are at their best
when they are in their comfort zone.
And most of us are very comfortable in the classroom,
and for some faculty members that meant actually
getting their HLS podium to them
to them so they could have it literally
in front of them
so they could feel as though they were
just in the classroom again.
So the first thing I did is I set up
a table in the middle of a room in my house
and I put a podium on it just like I have
in the classroom.
and then I mounted two big TVs on the wall
in front of me
and I keep one of them on gallery view
that enables me to see about half the class.
And when you look at the different visuals
of peoples set-ups it really
suits their style.
I've got lights that I can adjust
actually on my phone
up or down as I am here.
Kind of very Hollywood, right?
My husband's a filmmaker, so it's an opportunity,
he said, "good lighting is really really important."
I moved down to the basement.
We made this a project over the summer,
for the family,
to try to create a Zoom studio for me
out of what is not perhaps
the most inviting space.
This is the sort of before shot
of what the basement looks like
We got some peel-and-stick wallpaper,
made me a sort of fake wall.
I had, as you can see, an ultra wide monitor
on the bottom where I could see all the students
in the class.
One of the things I really like
is that I have three screens set up
on which I'm running my
PowerPoints and videos,
where I can see all my students,
and then my notes.
In the physical classroom I'm a pacer
so that took some adjustment
because I don't think that would work very well
in a remote environment.
I've also constructed a massive bulletin-board
above my desk where I sort of again
keep teaching notes and little, actually, cards
and stuff that I've gotten from students
that sort of make it more homey.
I wanted my students to have precisely
the same intellectual opportunity
that students would get if they were sitting
in front of me in a classroom.
I aimed to try to find out
what were the added features
of this remote environment
that could make for a better
learning and teaching experience in some ways
I think what surprised me was that I was still able
to read body language
even with a tesserae of 70 faces
or 80 faces in front of me
on a particular day.
And that my jokes landed.
If you'd asked me what me what I was
the most worried about, it's that in person
you know, you get the feedback of the laughter
and stuff like that. Here everybody's on mute
and I was like, is this going to feel dead
and low energy.
1L year at Harvard Law School is a challenging
endeavor in the best of times,
and these students knowingly took on
1L at Harvard Law in a pandemic, online.
So a little bit like
Ginger Rogers doing everything backwards
and in heels
and they've just been so tremendous.
I was really floored
by the depth and engagement of students.
They have remarkably been good sports,
been conscientious,
perhaps been more attentive
in a Zoom environment
than they would have otherwise.
I love all my students every year, but this year
I am particularly impressed getting to see
how they work in this environment.
In the traditional classroom
there's a little bit of
"I'm responsible for teaching this course
and you're responsible for learning it."
And here I felt like everybody was responsible for
making the most of our time together.
The stamina, the resilience, the engagement
of the students.
And the message I got looking at them
was basically like this,
No g-ddamn pandemic is going to
take my future away from me.
I remember every student,
I think this is true,
from my first class.
I remember where they sat in the room,
I remember who they were.
Whenever I see them there's a kind of
special feeling between that class and me.
And I said to them,
"I think we're going to have the same thing."
And I promised them that one day
we would find some way
to have a reunion
where we can bring everybody together in person.