PROFESSOR AMY C. GAUDION ORGANIZES WORKSHOP ON TEACHING NATIONAL SECURITY LAW
November 2023 — Professor Amy C. Gaudion organized and presented at a Workshop on Teaching National Security Law, hosted by the AALS Section on National Security Law. The field of national security law is one that lacks a classic black letter law doctrinal structure. It is a field that is currently experiencing tectonic shifts in coverage and substance in the post-War on Terror era. It also, at times, has been a field and discipline that has been under-inclusive, if not alienating, to diverse groups of students, teachers, and scholars. In light of these considerations, legal educators (both experienced and new teachers) might be significantly challenged when called to prepare a course or seminar on national security law or a related topic. The workshop was designed to unpack these challenges and to equip legal educators with the pedagogical tools, analytical frameworks, and skills to effectively navigate and explore these important topics with their students.
Session topics included:
Deciding What to Cover (and Omit) in a National Security Law Course with Emily Berman of the University of Houston Law Center, Jeffrey Kahn of SMU Dedman School of Law, and Shirin Sinnar of Stanford Law School. This session considered questions of coverage (making difficult choices as to what’s in and what’s out), offered guidance on selecting course materials that reflect a variety of voices and perspectives, discussed how to identify learning objectives for national security law or related courses, and explored different approaches to teaching this varied and dynamic subject matter.
Creating Engaged Classroom Environments and Effective Assessments with Amy Gaudion of Penn State Dickinson Law and Asaf Lubin of Indiana University Bloomington Maurer School of Law. The second panel discussed how to create inclusive learning spaces and how to handle challenging classroom dynamics, while considering ways to frame discussions about difficult topics and ways to engage disparate perspectives in an effective exchange. In addition, panelists discussed how to design and use assessments (both traditional and innovative) that reflect the objective of an engaged classroom and that support the course’s learning objectives.
Bringing the Practice of National Security Law into the Classroom with Dakota Rudesill of the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law and Amy Gaudion of Penn State Dickinson Law. The third session considered how to bridge the path from classroom to practice, including guidance on experiential learning activities (from small scale in-class exercises to multi-day simulations) and connecting students with alumni and practitioners in the field. It also explored how to develop interdisciplinary connections and cross-disciplinary exchange in national security courses.
Building a National Security Law Teaching Community. This final short session gathered ideas about how legal educators can support one another through both formal and informal mentoring networks, and also gathered feedback on topics and ideas to be covered in future teaching workshops.
The workshop recording and materials are available here.
Amy C. Gaudion is an associate professor of law at Penn State Dickinson Law as well as the founder of Dickinson Law’s annual cyberspace simulation with the U.S. Army War College. Her scholarship focuses on national security law, cyberspace, and civilian-military relations, and she leads Dickinson Law’s national security and cyberspace programs.