Annual Report (final) - Osgoode Hall Law School - York University

Academic Programs
Report of the Office of the Associate Dean
During the 2007-08 academic year, the Office of the Associate
Dean continued with its responsibility for oversight of the LLB
teaching program, for matters of student conduct, and for fulltime
and adjunct faculty matters. This work overlaps with the
responsibilities of the Office of Student Services and the Office
of the Assistant Dean (First Year), and this report will not focus
on issues also described in those reports.
LLB PROGRAM AND CURRICULUM REFORM
A major concern of the Office was implementation of the First-
Year Curriculum Reforms that were adopted by Faculty Council
during the 2006-07 year, changes outlined in last year’s Annual
Report. The reforms posed significant administrative challenges
including new or revised courses, additional first-year
teaching requirements, complex scheduling of classes, and
monitoring of the multiple forms of evaluation. For example,
the new required course in Ethical Lawyering in a Global Community
involved an intensive teaching schedule, an innovative
substantive focus, and varied forms of assessment. As part of
implementation, planning meetings with faculty were held in
April 2007, updates were provided at Faculty Meetings and
through e-mail, and a follow-up First-Year Instructors meeting
was held in May 2008. In 2008-09, adjustments for the reforms
will continue, including as a result of consultations with faculty
colleagues, review of formal student course evaluations, and
communications from Student Caucus with respect to its survey
of students and other student feedback. The Academic Policy
Committee has responsibility to monitor the
implementation of the program, and is anticipated to do so during
the 2008-09 academic year.
The 2007-08 year also saw the implementation of the Osgoode
Public Interest Requirement (“OPIR”), another important
change passed during 2006-07. The OPIR requires that all Osgoode
students complete 40 hours of uncompensated, law-related,
public interest work before graduation, together with
some form of reflective exercise on that experience. Osgoode
was fortunate to appoint Visiting Professor Janet Leiper to direct
the OPIR Program, and she has, together with an OPIR
Committee, moved effectively to institute a structure to provide
both oversight and the necessary placements such that the
class that has now completed its first year (the Class of 2010)
will be able to complete their OPIR requirements.
In 2008-09, even as the faculty will continue to work on the
successful implementation of the first-year reforms, the focus
in curriculum will move to the upper-year curriculum and the
overall LLB experience. A Working Group on Curriculum Reform
has been constituted to consider the upper-year curriculum as
well as overall LLB degree objectives. This focus on degree objectives
is required by the University and provincial government
attention to university undergraduate degree level
expectations (“UUDLES”). Articulation of such objectives will
be important to the periodic Undergraduate Program Reviews
required at the University. This process of review is also occurring
in a context of the potential changes to the rules concerning
approved law degrees and professional training and
accreditation by the Law Society of Upper Canada and the Federation
of Law Societies.
The offices of the Associate Dean and of Student Services have
the continuing responsibility to assemble the varied mix of
upper-year offerings of courses, seminars, clinical offerings, directed
studies, exchange programs, and other learning opportunities
that Osgoode students have come to expect as part of
the almost completely elective nature of the upper-year LLB
Program. However, the work of the Working Group on Curriculum
Reform will offer an excellent opportunity to ensure that
these offerings are aligned with the basic objectives for the
LLB degree, accord with best practices in legal education, and
involve the best use of faculty resources.
TEACHING AND LEARNING
The process of curriculum reform highlights the continuing
focus at Osgoode on teaching and learning and ensuring student
engagement in the LLB academic program. As part of
that, a third Osgoode Course Design Institute was held in May
2008, organized by the Standing Committee on Teaching and
Learning and the Information Technology Committee. The
focus of this year’s Institute was on the role of technology in
the law school learning experience. The goal of the program
was to critically engage with some of the ways that technology
has changed both learners and learning possibilities in the contemporary
law school classroom. Osgoode’s emphasis on teaching
and learning was also demonstrated by the three recipients
of Osgoode Teaching Awards for 2007-08, each of whom exemplified
the commitment to excellence and innovation in the
learning experience of Osgoode students. This year’s recipients
were Professor James Stribopoulos, Professor Brian Slattery
and Adjunct Professor Janna Promislow, who is also a PhD candidate
at Osgoode.
GRADES REVIEW, ACADEMIC DISHONESTY,
STUDENT CODE OF CONDUCT, SAC APPEALS
The LLB examination and evaluation process is principally
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