Judicial Education Techniques Get an Upgrade in India

We’ve all sat through seminars, conferences, and (more recently) webinars where a potentially fascinating topic is presented in the most boring, unengaging way possible. We leave those experiences frustrated and unlikely to retain as much of the content as we might have hoped. This issue persists throughout adult and professional-level education, especially when you are relying on non-education professionals to deliver presentations on their subject matter expertise.
 
In June, to improve the experience of the adult learners that make up the student body of the National Judicial Academy of India (NJA), and expanding on a multi-year partnership between the NJA, the Federal Judicial Center of the United States (FJC), and the CEELI Institute, we facilitated an online judicial education and curriculum development workshop for NJA staff and faculty. The program, which allowed for a role reversal for NJA Program Managers, Professors, and Legal Researchers, capitalized on an exceptional roster of education experts working at the FJC and led in this instance by Mira Gur-Arie, Director of the International Judicial Relations Office. These experts presented modern adult pedagogical techniques and strategies that NJA staff and faculty can use when running judicial education programs for judges from across India. With topics ranging from curriculum development to teaching in a remote environment, the workshop aimed to modernize the way NJA staff and faculty think about how to teach adult learners in a judicial environment.
 
By the conclusion of the workshop, NJA staff and faculty were equipped with new tools with which to both create their trainings and work with guest lecturers to prepare substantive presentations and activities in an interesting, engaging, and memorable manner for a judicial audience.