From Fenway Park to the Mall of America: A Multi-Collaborative Approach to Teaching and Learning

In 2011, three professors taught two courses in public health law at two law schools in Massachusetts and Minnesota. Rather than teach upper-level courses in the usual way, they engaged in a unique partnership intended to foster collaborative learning, interaction between the students at the two law schools, and appreciation for the real-world relevancy and impact of public health law.Over the course of the semester, the students engaged in collaborative learning across three different dimensions. First, students worked with other students in their own classes to research and prepare presentations about specific public health laws. Second, students collaborated (via teleconference) across the law schools to teach each other about the public health laws they had studied. Finally, after researching these subjects further and developing their own policy proposals, the students presented their findings to public health practitioners and advocates in their own communities.This article describes this unique, collaborative class in detail, offering a blueprint for law professors interested in offering a similar interactive teaching experience. It examines the pedagogical rationale for this form of collaboration and recommends areas for improvement.