Professor Jamie Abrams, School of Dentistry faculty, honored by Blackboard for innovative teaching

From left, Professor Jamie Abrams, Dr. Valerie Harris Weber, Dr. Marija Sasek

Professor Jamie Abrams, along with Dr. Marija Sasek and Dr. Valerie Harris Weber of the University of Louisville School of Dentistry, has been awarded the 2021 Blackboard Catalyst Award for Teaching & Learning.

The international award recognizes those who have adopted flexible, distance and online delivery, including using mobile technologies to positively impact the educational experience.

Abrams, Sasek and Weber partnered to develop an original dental malpractice case file. They then launched a deposition simulation featuring competing experts testifying on how medical standards of care and causation issues apply in the case. This large-scale online simulation brought campuses and disciplines together to build professional identity and apply fundamental course concepts actively and collaboratively.

The simulation was the result of years of collaboration between the law and dental schools and is based on Abrams's book Tort Law Simulations: Bridge to Practice from West Academic.