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Teaching Outside of the (Classroom) Box: Lessons Learned While Teaching Remotely During the COVID-19 Pandemic BY KIA HARDY VERNON Assistant Dean of Academic Success & Associate Professor of Law
“We are the sum total of our experiences. Those experiences—be they positive or negative—make us the person we are, at any given point in our lives. And, like a flowing river, those same experiences, and those yet to come, continue to influence and reshape the person we are, and the person we become. None of us are the same as we were yesterday, nor will be tomorrow.” - B.J. Neblett 42
| NCCU SCHOOL OF LAW • OF COUNSEL MAGAZINE
In March 2020, law schools around the country quickly transitioned to remote teaching due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Law school professors were suddenly faced with an unprecedented challenge: teaching classes remotely in the middle of a global pandemic. As the virus spread, devastating communities around the world, professors sought to strike a delicate balance between assisting students with the transition to living and learning during one of the worst catastrophic events in one hundred years and ensuring that the students received instruction critical to their success in law school, on the bar exam, and in the legal profession. While teaching remotely has been—and still is—a tremendous challenge, it has also been transformative. I learned about resilience and adapting and my role in not only helping my students to understand the rules and how to apply them, but to assist them to understand their roles and responsibilities as lawyers. The experience had a
