When I began working at the Federal Judicial center ten years ago, I first heard of a learning conference concept called “open space.” You may have heard of it or even used it. It seemed so odd to me! Basically, learners come together with a predetermined, overarching topic for a specific amount of time with no specific agenda topics predefined at all. Some people call this an “unconference” or “open conference.”
Created in 2012, the Missouri Court Management Institute brings together judges, clerks, administrators, and juvenile officers six times a year to explore the purposes and responsibilities of courts, measurement of court performance, case flow management, and managing technology projects, judicial finances, and human resources.
How do courts deal with issues such as the disproportion of minority representation in the criminal and juvenile justice systems? How can court employees and judges act to overcome the perception that the criminal justice system is biased towards minority populations, as shown in research at ProceduralFairness.org and elsewhere? Pima County courts chose to tackle implicit bias training as one facet of their efforts to combat these and related issues in courts in Tucson, Arizona.
In 2004, judicial education became mandatory for Nebraska judges, probation, and Court staff. Carole McMahon-Boies set out to build the education program on a budget.
Judicial educators create opportunities for transformative education that strengthens the administration of justice. One of the most important and valuable transformations we can facilitate is that from new hire to supervisor, manager, executive and beyond. It is just this sort of defined career pathway that attracts bright and justice-oriented individuals to a career in the courts.
The NASJE Communications Committee will endeavor to periodically feature a spotlight on a NASJE member who has demonstrated tremendous efforts while “Navigating Judicial Education in Great Change.” The Committee members have voted to highlight NASJE member Diane Cowdrey (CA) who led the restructuring of the Center for Judiciary Education and Research (CJER) during the meltdown of the economy and the fiscal crisis for California’s judicial branch beginning in early 2008. Diane is the Director of CJER, in the Operations and Programs Division, Judicial Council of California.
We are excited to announce the completion of NASJE’s newest curriculum design! The history of this effort began when NASJE undertook, with support from State Justice Institute (SJI), the task of developing a comprehensive set of curriculum designs to advance the profession of judicial branch education based on core competency areas.
Court employees must provide good customer service, especially in light of the link between funding and how citizens feel about their courts. Good customer service translates into better overall feelings about the courts, and better overall feelings can translate into adequate funding.
The impact of turnover within a judicial education organization may be amplified by the small size of a judicial education staff, or the scarcity of qualified judicial educators.
Law and literature courses are common offerings in law schools across the country and are a regular feature in many judge trainings. In these instances, literature is used as a way of understanding the complex issues that are faced in the justice system. This serves a purpose, but there is also benefit in extending the study of literature to judicial staff beyond the bench.
According to The Nation’s Report Card, the official site for results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, high school seniors are falling behind in their understanding of government and civics, scoring less than 50% on national tests. And unless you pursue a career in law, government, or politics, it doesn’t get any better after high school.
Educating and training court personnel is every bit as important as educating our judges, but often it gets less airtime. So NASJE News is launching a new feature category exclusively dedicated to education for court personnel, starting with this article.
What constitutes blended learning? According to the Sloan Consortium, blended learning consists of courses or programs in which 30%-79% of the learning is offered online while the rest is face-to-face.
We have all heard of the law of unintended consequences…an adage or idiom that warns that an intervention in a complex system invariably creates unanticipated and often undesirable outcomes. It is a basic principle of economics, and governments struggle with unintended consequences to the policies that are set in place on a daily basis.
