Effective Classroom Teaching: Identifying the Challenges and Implement Solutions

I teach a small health law curriculum at U.C. Davis School of Law.  The syllabi of four courses (Bioethics, Health Care Law, Public Health Law, and Reproductive Rights, Law & Policy) include issues and material addressing social, political, ethical and legal aspects of genetic knowledge.  I also co-teach the CIRM-funded, 10-hour bioethics course in the U.C. Davis Stem Cell Training Program.  My comments will focus on my experience teaching the Bioethics course.  The bioethics course syllabus includes introductory material, followed by specific topics.  In Fall 2010, we discussed informed consent, human subject research, end of life issues, issues in emerging genetic technologies, and assisted reproductive technology use.  I use the introductory and informed consent discussions to initiate critical analysis of normative content in “science,” “human,” “health,” “disease, “law,” and “ethics,” and associated concepts and frameworks.  Discussion of genetic and reproductive technologies emphasizes how the development and use of these technologies form important sectors of the biotech industry.  My goal is to develop a classroom discourse in which the students can use and challenge critical theory in settings that mix individual and industry interests.