Demonstrating its nimbleness in program design and delivery, Osgoode Professional Development (OsgoodePD) has launched a series of complimentary webinars to help professionals and organizations navigate the uncertainty associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Five COVID-19 webinars have been created since mid-March with more webinars planned for future weeks. The first five webinars deal with virtual communication; ongoing risk and crisis management; lawyering and social distancing; oral advocacy in a virtual world; and conducting remote hearings and mediations.
While the live webinar sessions quickly filled to capacity, OsgoodePD opted to record the webinars and is now offering them free to the public. Preregistration is available free of charge for a mobile-friendly recording and access is available for 120 days. As an added boost, lawyers can count the webinars toward their Continuing Professional Development (CPD) hours.
Victoria Watkins
“We wanted to do something to help the broader community,” said Victoria Watkins, OsgoodePD executive director and assistant dean. “We came up with the webinars idea right after we started working from home on March 16. The response has been tremendous – 1,500 people registered in the first two days. We essentially tapped out our livestream capacity. Luckily, the full series of webinar recordings is also available to the public.”
Watkins said the OsgoodePD program development and information technology teams are producing the webinars in addition to running regular programs and Professional LLM courses online. “They are fitting the webinars in around that, which is pretty remarkable because we’re already operating at over-capacity since everything has gone online,” she said.
She added that it has also been great to see so many OsgoodePD instructors come forward and volunteer to teach the webinars.
To learn more, visit https://www.osgoodepd.ca/upcoming_programs/osgoodepd-covid-19-webinar-series/.
Do you have a story to share about how you are coping, or what you are doing differently, during the COVID-19 pandemic? Email us at yfile@yorku.ca.