professional education and ICT: two case studies from Law

1. professional education and ICT:two case studies from Law Professor Paul MahargGlasgow Graduate School of Law

2. Key issues Examples of ICT in action: simulation learning & discussion forums Multimedia, knowledge & professional learning Questions & discussion presentation

3. How can we best use ICT in professional legal education? How can we use ICT to help students > professional lawyers? How can professional lawyers best use ICT in CPD? key issues

4. Students… Help students learn skills & knowledge Support identity change: student > practitioner Give students practice in developing professionalism Staff… ICT can be… loss of power, control & authority distrusted because it is disruptive of normal routines … and always is a re-negotiation of professional practice How can we best use ICT in professional legal education?

5. 276 students divided into 70 firms of 4 per virtual firm Students & tutors see: student virtual firms – passworded office environments virtual community -- Ardcalloch discussion forums FAQs Tutors are given: assessment web pages administration environments example 1: web-based simulations at the ggsl

6. Are close to the world of practice, but safe from the (possible) realities of malpractice and negligent representation. Enable students to practise legal transactions, discuss the transactions with other tutors, students, and use a variety of instruments or tools, online or textual, to help them understand the nature and consequences of their actions Facilitate a wide variety of assessment, from high-stakes assignments with automatic fail points, to coursework that can double as a learning zone and an assessment assignment Encourage collaborative learning. The groups in multi-player online games can be replicated for very different purposes in legal education. Students begin to see the potential for the C in ICT; and that technology is not merely a matter of word-processed essays & quizzes, but a form of learning that changes quite fundamentally what and how they learn. simulations in legal learning…

18. Administration: 276 students, 70 firms, 7 anonymous information sources 70 document sets, 35 transactions students have 11 weeks to achieve settlement introductory & feedback lectures discussion forum voluntary face-to-face surgeries with PI solicitor & commercial lawyer re negotiating strategies transactional learning: personal injurynegotiation project

19. We require from each student firm a body of evidence consisting of: fact-finding – from information sources in the virtual community) professional legal research – using WestLaw + paperworld sources formation of negotiation strategy – extending range of Foundation Course learning performance of strategy – correspondence + optional f2f meeting, recorded PI project: assessment criteria

20. extended team working real legal fact-finding real legal research process thinking in the project setting out negotiation strategies in the context of (un)known information writing to specific audiences handling project alongside other work commitments structuring the argument of a case from start to finish keeping cool in face-to-face negotiations more effective delegation keeping files taking notes on the process... PI project: (some of) what students learned

21. ‘In tackling this project I think that our group made two main mistakes. The first mistake we made was in approaching the task as law students as opposed to Lawyers. By this I mean we tried to find the answer and work our way back. Immediately we were thinking about claims and quantum and blame. I don't think we actually initiated a claim until a week before the final settlement. I think the phrase "like a bull in a china shop" would aptly describe the way we approached the problem. […] Our group knew what area of law and tests to apply yet we ended up often being ahead of ourselves and having to back-pedal The second mistake we made was estimating how long it would take to gather information. We started our project quite late on and began to run out of time towards the end. None of us appreciated the length of time it would take to gather information and on top of this we would often have to write two or three letters to the same person as the initial letter would not ask the right question.’ PI project: what students would have done differently…

22. ‘At the beginning we thought we perhaps lost sight of the fact that we had a client whom we had a duty to advise and inform. On reflection we should have issued terms of engagement and advised the client better in monetary terms what the likely outcome was going to be.’ ‘[…] unlike other group projects I was involved in at undergraduate level I feel that I derived genuine benefit from this exercise in several ways: 1. reinforcing letter-writing, negotiation, time-management and IT skills 2. conducting legal research into issues of quantum 3. working effectively in a group as a group - not delegating tasks at the first meeting and then putting together pieces of work at the second meeting.’ PI project: what students would have done differently…

23. Transactional learning: Transactional learning is active learning. Learning to do legal transactions. Transaction + reflection. Collaborative learning. Holistic process learning. transactional learning

29. place of the discussion forum? Diploma in Legal Practice

30. Three questions: Multimedia is a highly effective learning tool – but how can it best be used in professional legal education? Can simulation and multimedia be combined? Can simulation, multimedia and knowledge management be leveraged to provide a powerful professional training environment? example 2: multimedia and knowledge management

31. Interviewer: […] do you think the webcast environment helped or hindered your exam study? Student: I think they helped Interviewer: Why? Student: Because you have just got more explanation when you are going over things that you can never get down in lecture notes or in handouts, to understand it. I think you learn better when you are sitting listening as well, instead of sitting reading, because you have a tendency just to skim through things when you are reading. You’ve done it all before and you should know it, but if you haven’t listened to something you can speed it up a bit. But you are still having to listen to it all, you can’t just skip big bits out. So I think it definitely helped. quality of learning

32. Interviewer: Do you think the webcast environments helped or hindered your study for the exams? Student: Definitely helped. It was very, very positive. I know some people have complained that they found it hard to work and all the rest of it. But I just thought in comparison – I have sat four years of exams before I came here, I am an expert as far as exams are concerned, and this has really, was two of the easiest exams I have sat, in terms of revision for them. I felt that I came in well prepared – maybe my results will show that this was not the case! I definitely felt that I was really learning the material. I understood it better. quality of learning

33. VLE research… http://www.ggsl.strath.ac.uk/ltdu/research/default.htm

34. … the learning organisation

35. Four principles: Integration: All technologies (electronic, paper, vellum, clay tablets…) should integrate to support learning across the curriculum Convergence: electronic technologies need to converge seamlessly to provide an integrated learning environment. Communication is the heart of a VLE Creativity (sustaining or disruptive) is essential to re-design further developments…

36. … to become a flexible immersive environment… For: • professional & commercial e-learning • Inter-professional simulations • Global simulations within a professional body, eg global law firm • International commercial applications • Use of shell applications for range of users • Use of 3-D environments & avatars

37. Other professions & commercial bodies WS Society College of Law in England & Wales Large law firms Universities of Rotterdam & Leiden, Netherlands (KODOS Project) New York Law School and Cardozo Law School, USA … in partnership with others

38. Professor Paul Maharg Glasgow Graduate School of Law Lord Hope Building 141 St James’ Rd Glasgow G4 0LT E: paul.maharg@strath.ac.uk Blog: http://zeugma.typepad.com T: 0141 548 4946 F: 0141 552 4264 contact details