Adaptive Learning Environments: Interactive Outlining?

Posted on February 28, 2008 by Steven Friedland

After recently having numerous discussions with teachers and students about the value of students outlining a course, one thing is clear — the age-old practice of outling is thriving.  One thing that is not as clear is the value of a practice that does not involve any teacher-student interaction. So, I thought it would be fun and interesting to ask, “What if….?”  As an experiment, I have started an interactive outline on my class Blackboard site.   Students can post their outlines on this Web platform — anonymously if they want — and I can post comments.   This type of mutual access might allow information to flow in different directions — to the student who posted, to the prof as formative feedback, and to other students who read the posts.  The site is intended to help visual students, give profs an understanding of how students are learning and permit mid-course corrections and fill-ins.   Will this idea crash and burn?  I will keep you posted.

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Adaptive Learning Environments

Posted on February 20, 2008 by Steven Friedland

The theme of the CALI conference this year is transforming legal education, picking up on the Best Practices theme and the Carnegie Foundation Report, Educating Lawyers.  One area where the horse already has left the barn involves learning environments.  In the 20th Century, the environment was entirely linear:  teachers taught, students learned, students studied in the library and then returned to class to learn some more.  In the 21st Century, that linearity has disappeared and a multidimensional set of environments has taken its place.  Learning is not so much a function of place anymore.  Students learn on the go — have laptop or Ipod, will travel.  Law school should adapt to the portability of learning in the 21st Century, encouraging TWEN, CALI, laptops and Ipod learning — because while these adaptive environments may be uncomfortable for us 20th Century dinosaurs, 21st Century students learn in this fashion.

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Getting from here to there: how are we going to implement Best Practices?

Posted on February 8, 2008 by Robert Dinerstein

As someone who has been involved in the Best Practices project and its predecessors more or less from the beginning (though my longevity is more impressive than my substantive contributions), I am extraordinarily pleased by the publication of the book and the buzz that is creating. The essentially contemporaneous publication of Best Practices with the Carnegie Foundation report, along with the recently publicized efforts of schools such as Harvard, Stanford, Georgetown and Vanderbilt (to name but a few) to address curricular issues, and the proliferation of conferences (the Crossroads conference at University of South Carolina in November; the Stanford Carnegie conference in December; the AALS meeting in January; and the upcoming conference at Georgia State), has created an environment in which it is more possible to think about thorough-going changes in law school curriculum and pedagogy than ever before. Continue reading →

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The Chronicle of Higher Education Takes Note of Best Practices

Posted on January 28, 2008 by Margaret Moore Jackson

Two recent articles by Katherine Mangan promote Best Practices and some of the law schools that are working to implement reform. Her January 11th story, “All Rise. Welcome Law School,” describes Touro Law Center as creating change in legal education by “emphasizing practical skills from Day 1.”  Requiring all first-year students to observe courtroom sessions and promoting opportunities for students to watch trials at the nearby courthouses are small steps, but potentially meaningful ones. The article also recognizes Continue reading →

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ABA Sets Groundwork for Change

Posted on January 18, 2008 by Peter Joy

Possible changes are afoot with the ABA, and anyone interested in legal education will want to take note.  These changes are important because of the ABA’s influence on U.S. law schools.  Continue reading →

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Save the Date: Best Practices Conference at U of Washington

Posted on January 18, 2008 by michaelhunterschwartz

The University of Washington School of Law has agreed to host a Conference addressing efforts to implement the insights from Best Practices and Educating Lawyers: Legal Education at the Crossroads: Ideas to Accomplishments to be held September 5-7, 2008.  Continue reading →

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Empiricist Needed

Posted on January 5, 2008 by joanhowarth

The current misguided efforts by the Department of Education to pressure the ABA to create accreditation standards that more firmly establish bar exam pass rates as the measure of the quality of a law school (by changing Standard 301-6) inspire me to suggest a study.  Let’s take a sample set of people who scored very well on the LSAT, say the entering class of Yale (or your favorite elite law school), give them bar review materials and a week to cram, and then administer the multistate bar exam.  I’m guessing that many, if not most would pass, without the inconvenience of law school…  Perhaps this is the next logical step, moving from licensing lawyers who have never met a client to licensing lawyers who have never met a law professor…  Or maybe I should have saved this idea for a Worst Practices blog…..

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Concerns, Critiques and Challenges Welcome!

Posted on January 2, 2008 by Mary A. Lynch

Many of the current posts on this Blog support the implementation of Best Practices recommendations as well as the recommendations made by the Carnegie Foundation in Educating Lawyers.  Do not be dissuaded, however, from posting your concerns and  critiques.  Let us know if you disagree with the recommendations.

Nor should you hesitate to point out the obstacles or challenges to implementing Best Practices.  Let us know what you think!

 For example, a faculty member at  my school during a curriculum committee meeting questioned the statement that current law graduates are not adequately prepared for practice.  How would you respond?

Will implementing Best Practices result in a “checklist” approach to legal education instead of encouraging rich and varying experiences?

Currently, legal education has not created nuanced outcome measures for our teaching.  Without such tools, how can we even begin to discuss implementing Best Practices? 

What are other concerns you have? Please post a reply (below).

Mary Lynch, Albany Law School

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Lawyers Appreciate…

Posted on December 26, 2007 by Antoinette Sedillo Lopez

I got this e-mail from from Victoria Pynchon:

“I know everyone is busy with shopping, family and wrapping up year-end.  I’ve nevertheless taken the liberty of tagging each of you with the “Lawyer’s Appreciate” meme tag started by Stephanie West Allen of Idealawg and Julie Fleming Brown of Life at the Bar. Continue reading →

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Carnegie Foundation and Law Schools Join to Promote “Legal Education Project”

Posted on December 17, 2007 by Peter Joy

          The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and Stanford Law School have recently joined together to sponsor “The Legal Education Study Project” as a follow-up to the Carnegie Report, Educating Lawyers.  The Study Project has started with ten law schools that have made curriculum change a major focus in recent years, and the Study Project’s goals are to promote curriculum changes in law schools.  A major focus is for law schools to do a better of job of addressing issues of professional identity lawyering skills, and to Continue reading →

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Who Has Been Using Best Practices?

Posted on December 17, 2007 by Roy Stuckey

When Best Practices for Legal Education was published in March, 2007, a box of 32 copies was shipped directly from the printing company to most law schools.

Subsequently, the following law schools requested enough copies for their entire faculties to have a copy: Continue reading →

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