Charles Brainerd received a Faculty Innovation in Teaching Award for his Memory and Law Technology Enhancement Project. The Memory and the Law course he teaches, HD 3190/6190; LAW 7582, is currently offered in a traditional classroom setting. This project envisions adapting and developing course materials to: enrich the classroom experience of the current course through technology enhancements, create a distance education course in Memory and the Law offered to an expanded student population, and ultimately repurpose the modules and materials for continuing education for attorneys and other professionals. Specifically, the project will: 1) enhance the current course with online materials and activities suitable for both online and hybrid learners; 2) provide distance learning students with course content similar to the materials that those enrolled in the traditional course are provided and 3) make it possible for a self-guided lawyer/judge or other professional learner to choose and benefit from an individual module from the course.
The Faculty Innovation in Teaching (FIT) program is designed to allow faculty to develop innovative instructional technology projects that have the potential to improve the educational process. The program provides faculty with the technical staff and other resources necessary to plan and implement their projects, thus allowing faculty to focus on their pedagogical objectives.
The proposed course technology enhancements will make cutting edge research on memory and the law accessible to a wider student population including students in other universities as well as lawyers, judges, and other professionals. The topic is critical and timely. Most legal testimony and evidence is based on information from human memory, yet legal professionals and others who work with children and adults involved with the legal system are often unaware of the findings from the scientific study of memory. This course translates basic and applied research on memory into recommendations for preserving and evaluating the integrity of evidence in legal settings.
This interdisciplinary project represents collaboration between the Department of Human Development and the Law School and builds on the strength of Cornell’s Law, Psychology, and Human Development Program. Cornell is a leader in a major new pedagogical trend in law to bring empirical evidence into training. Cornell’s Law, Psychology, and Human Development (LPHD) program is at the forefront of the movement toward empirical law and has wide support.
The LPHD program is a trans-disciplinary program for the integration of research and outreach in the social sciences, legal studies, and public policy. It is unique in the country for its emphasis on research. Included are scholars from the fields of developmental psychology, social psychology, organizational behavior, cognitive psychology, anthropology, sociology, and law.
For Further Information
Karene Booker, ktb1@cornell.edu