Harnessing the Storm: Responses to the “New Normal”
Call for Proposals
The 28th Annual Midwest Clinical Conference will be held at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis, MN from November 1-3, 2013. Sessions will be 75 minutes in length. Please forward your proposals by JULY 15, 2013 to IPCLAW@stthomas.edu.
We are seeking proposals for both plenary sessions (broadly related to the conference themes) and concurrent sessions in the three tracks further described below.
We strongly encourage interactive methods, but we also welcome a broad range of presentation styles, including working sessions on new ideas; demonstrations; sessions requiring role-play and feedback; and scholarly works-in-progress.
In particular, we welcome newer clinicians to consider submitting proposals. We very much want to hear new voices at the conference.
We will assess proposals for the clarity of their focus, the novelty or creativity of the proposed topic, the interactivity of the proposed presentation methods, and the extent to which the proposal will contribute to the success of the overall conference. You should not feel limited in making your proposals, except that they should pertain generally to the conference themes.
Concurrent Track A: Revolutionary Practices
Much has been written and discussed about a “new normal” in legal education.
- How are you responding to the new normal in legal education?
- How can clinic expansion in an era of scarcity be accomplished without clinical education devolving into “clinic on the cheap”?
- How can traditional classroom teachers be incorporated into clinic while maintaining high standards and without eroding advances made for clinicians in recent decades?
- What are innovations that have worked?
- How have tested approaches (such as fellows and adjuncts) been utilized in recent years to best effect for students?
- How are clinics tying their efforts to employment outcomes for students?
- How can clinical education continue to spark revolutions in training students to advocate for social justice in the new law school climate?
Concurrent Track B: Clinical teaching for connoisseurs and converts
We are looking for presentations about best practices for clinical teaching and supervision. We hope that this track can be of use to new and long-time clinicians alike, whether full-time or adjunct, tenure track or limited term fellows.
- What are techniques that are tried and true?
- What new approaches are proving effective?
- How do you measure effectiveness?
- What techniques for supervision are well suited for in-house or hybrid clinics?
- How are seminars, simulations, and rounds utilized to the best effect?
Concurrent Track C: Innovations in Interprofessional Practice.
Many clinics train students to work with professionals from other disciplines. We are seeking proposals that fall broadly into four categories. We welcome proposals from other educators and professionals engaged in multi-disciplinary practice.
(1) Ethics/Roles/Best Practices/Competencies.What can we learn from cross-disciplinary educational collaborations? How can we find convergences between the movement in legal education to train students to meet the changing needs of the profession with developing interprofessional education competencies coming out of the health professions and medical-legal partnerships?
(2) Interprofessional Communication and Teamwork. What works in training students to work and communicate with other professionals? How do professional cultures help and hinder collaboration? What is the impact of physical location, power imbalances, client/patient needs and preferences, and other factors on effective team work? Are teams even necessary for successful interprofessional collaboration?
(3) Social Justice and Advocacy. What are the benefits and perils of interprofessional teams created to address injustice? What partnerships have energized communities and students?
(4) Measurement and Evaluation. What and how do we measure successful outcomes of interprofessional education? Of interprofessional collaboration?
Poster Session
We are also soliciting proposals for posters related to any of the three tracks listed above for presentation. A poster session will be scheduled during the conference and all posters will be on display throughout the conference.
Travel expenses and complimentary registration information
Presenters for plenary sessions will receive a waiver of the $125 registration fee, plus travel expenses. Presenters for concurrent sessions will be expected to pay for their own registration and travel expenses.
2013 Midwest Clinical Education Conference: Call for Proposals
Submission Guidelines
Please email your submission to ipclaw@stthomas.edu no later than JULY 15, 2013. Please include the following information:
Primary Contact (all communication about the submission will be sent to the primary contact, who will then be responsible for informing other presenters):
- First Name
- Last Name
- Title
- Affiliation
- Email Address
Other Presenters, for each:
- First Name
- Last Name
- Title
- Affiliation
Session Title(s): In some cases, your proposal might incorporate more than one presenter. If each presenter will speak on a particular topic, please submit a title for the proposal and a subtitle for each presenter.
Description: Please submit a brief (no longer than 3 paragraphs) description of the session. Please indicate if this is a poster session.
Please let us know if you will need audio visual (a/v) equipment or a particular kind of room for your presentation.
We look forward to receiving your proposals, and to seeing you in Minneapolis in November.
Virgil Wiebe
Director of Clinical Education and Professor of Law
Interprofessional Center for Counseling and Legal Services
30 South 10th Street
Minneapolis, MN 55403
vowiebe@stthomas.edu
651-962-4960
For information about the University of St. Thomas Law School’s clinical programs, go to http://www.stthomas.edu/ipc/.