Ms. Sophie M. Sparrow
Grant Category: | Fulbright-Nehru Visiting Lecturer |
Field of Specialization: | Law, Legal Education and Pedagogy |
Name: | Ms. Sophie M. Sparrow |
Official Address and Designation: | Professor Franklin Pierce Law Center School of Law Concord, New Hampshire |
Host Institution in India: | National Law University Jodhpur, Rajasthan |
Duration of Grant: | 6 months December 2011 |
Brief Bio: | |
Professor Sophie Sparrow is a Professor of law at the University Of New Hampshire School Of Law. She was also the Director of Legal Skills. She teaches remedies, torts, legal writing, and writing for law practice. Before working in legal education, Professor Sparrow practiced law and served as Assistant Dean for Career Services. She is recognized as a leader in legal education and pedagogy through the US. She is a graduate from the Harvard College and Harvard Law School. She co-authored several books on teaching law, including "Teaching Law by Design" (2009), and "Techniques for Teaching Law 2" (2011), and is currently working on a project with Harvard University Press, "What the Best Law Teachers Do". Professor Sparrow has conducted over 70 presentations, workshops, and faculty development sessions on topics including active learning techniques, team-based learning, collaborative and group teaching, assessment, metacognition, professionalism, legal education, law licensing, and legal writing to professors, administrators, lawyers, and judges. She has co-organized conferences on teaching, and conducted workshops for law professors from Mexico, Afghanistan, and Chile. In 2004, Professor Sparrow won the Inaugural Award for Innovation and Excellence in Teaching Professionalism sponsored by the American Bar Association and the Conference of Chief Justices. During 2003-2005 she helped design New Hampshire's alternative to the bar exam, the Daniel Webster Scholar Honors Program, and served as one of the founding members of Phoenix School of Law from 2005-2006. In 2008 became an approved candidate on the Fulbright Specialists Roster.
As a Fulbright-Nehru scholar Professor Sparrow intends to work with and learn from legal educators in India, focusing on developing innovative teaching and learning techniques. She will teach courses using a wide variety of active learning techniques, including team-based learning. Applying the current research about teaching and learning, she will engage law professors in interactive workshops on topics such as active learning, teaching metacognition, self-regulated learning, team-based learning, assessment, and developing student professionalism. |