Associate Professor Mystica Alexander has won the prestigious Charles M. Hewitt Master Teacher Award, granted by the Academy of Legal Studies in Business (ALSB), the international organization of professors who teach law in business schools. The competitive process for this Award involves submission of a proposed Master Class to a group of accomplished business law professors, who review submissions and select four finalists to compete in a live Teach-Off at the annual ALSB conference, this year held in Savannah. The international competition highlights the best classroom teaching as it incorporates new or evolving course subject matter, cultural shifts, advances in pedagogy, and/or advances in teaching technology -- all of which strive to encourage students to become engaged in the learning process and learn from their own efforts and from each other.
Alexander’s Master Class involved the use of a flipped classroom to teach the topic of product liability law in a "Legal Environment of Business" course, such as Bentley’s GB110. Her presentation effectively illustrated the use of technology (voice-over PowerPoint slides posted to Blackboard as part of an out-of-class assignment) and interactive student teamwork (preparation and presentation of a group analysis of assigned product liability fact patterns). Using props (an inflated exercise ball) and colleagues role-playing students, Professor Alexander demonstrated how her techniques facilitate student understanding of how to apply US law to real business situations.