Online Teaching & Blogging

January 11, 2010

In addition to teaching Albany Law School’s first online course, Patty Salkin will be blogging about her experience.

lst Post: Getting Ready for On-Line Teaching

2nd Post: Organizing Technology to Teach On-Line

3rd Post:  Setting Goals and Evaluation for an On-Line Course

4th Post:   Course Design – Technology Meets Substance in On-Line Curriculum Development

5th Post:  On-Line Discussion Boards Create a New Arena for Engaged Learning Environments

6th Post:  Integrating Internet-Based and Teleconferencing Resources into On-Line Teaching

***************

Click HERE to read an article by Prof. Salkin about this course from the Spring 2010 Professional Responsibility Newsletter.

Leave a Comment » | Government Ethics, Legal Education, Online/Distance Learning, Social Networking (Blogs, Wikis, etc.), Technology | Permalink
Posted by Darlene

WestLaw ends free printing for students but LexisAdvance will not so…?

June 17, 2013

Students cannot print for FREE

All law schools have been notified that as of June 30, 2013, WestLaw will no longer offer FREE printing to students.

Therefore, in a course’s TWEN site, if a professor links to Westlaw or WestLawNext, students who want to print a case will have to pay the law school’s per page fee for printing.

lexis adv

through LexisAdvance  law students can still print for FREE

However, LexisAdvance will still offer FREE printing to law students.

To enable law students to print for free, there are THREE things that a professor can do in his/her course’s TWEN site:

1. Add a link to the LexisAdvance web site in the Left Navigation of the course page

  • In your TWEN course site, click on Modify Course on the bottom left navigation
  • Under TWEN | Course Elements, click on Create/Modify Web Link
  •  Under Step 1, check Display the web links in the left navigation
  • Under Step 2, add the name and URL (LexisAdvance   http://www.lexis.com/lawschool  )
  • Click Submit Web Link Changes on the bottom.
  • You will now see LexisAdvance displayed in the left navigation. (If you click on Manage Links, you can change the link order, etc.)

2. Add a LexisAdvance link to cases cited in your syllabus or other course document

  • Create a Syllabus or a Course Document with citations.
  • Email the Syllabus or Course Document to your school Lexis rep.
  • Your rep will link the citations to LexisAdvance (using a tool that Lexis has created.)
  • Your rep will then e-mail the document back to you.
  • In your TWEN course site, click on Syllabus or Course Materials in the left navigation.
  • Click on Add an Item from the Add drop-down menu
  • Add a Document Title and browse to find the linked document that your Lexis rep e-mailed to you.
  • UNCHECK “Mark citations in the attached file to link to Westlaw” AND
  • UNCHECK “Automatically mark citations in the message text to link to Westlaw.”
  • Then click Submit on the bottom.
  • Now the cases in the document are linked to LexisAdvance and the students can print them for FREE.

3. Add links to the cases from LexisAdvance to your TWEN course site.

    • In LexisAdvance, find the case that you want students to access and open it.
    • Click on “Copy Citation”
    • Right click on the citation and select “Copy Shortcut”
    • In your TWEN course site, click on Course Materials in the left navigation.
    • Click on Add a Link from the Add drop-down menu.
    • Add a Link Title and paste the link url to the case (from LexisAdvance) in the Link URL space.
    • Click Save.
    • Students will be able to print this case for FREE.
    • Repeat the above steps for other cases.

For any further questions regarding printing, law school professors should contact their Westlaw and/or Lexis reps.

Leave a Comment » | Legal Education, Lexis, Technology, WestLaw | Permalink
Posted by Darlene

Virtual Live Blogging from the CALI Conference – Day 2

June 14, 2013

danland_logo

Again I am watching the sessions via YouTube.

In this session, Smith discussed lessons learned from this year’s 1L Legal Research’s flipped classroom.

    • They used the tools below to create a varied and interactive set of classes:
      • Camtasia videos and quizzing,
      • review exercises using Blackboard’s “test” tool,
      • video narratives of former student experiences,
      • interactive clicker response slides in the classroom, (class set of TurningTechnologies)
      • CALI lessons (both homegrown and “official”),
      • and an early focus on print resources to introduce students to tools like indexes and tables of contents.
    • In class exercises were collaborative
    • They did not abandon the “Socratic” Method
  • One Less Textbook To Drag Around: Creating an Online Learning Experience for 1L Legal Skills Students - Lucie Olejnikova & Cynthia Pittson, Pace University School of Law
    • team taught legal research as part of legal skills course
    • already had created videos to teach some tech topics (available on youtube)
    • tried many legal research books but none fit the needs of their first year students
    • they decided to make their own and put it online
    • couldn’t do it in-house, had to outsource – used LibGuide bySpringShare – inexpensive & easy to use (about $100 per year)
    • platform must be easy to use, accessible at all times and from any device
    • must appeal to all learning styles, incorporating text, graphics, audio, video & self-testing options.
    • They used a wide variety of tools, information, and websites already available – Westlaw, CALI
    • Each module must have a consistent look and be easy to navigate
    • private online course pack – only for their students
    • used Google analytics to track its use
    • next – link videos, add more content for moot court and writing competitions
    • add Bloomberg Law in the fall

 In this presentation, Ginsberg, Barney & Farrell  discussed what they saw at the April 2013 ABA TechShow such as:

    • the Cloud
    • going Paperless
    • Trial Tech
    • social media to market their practice
    • Mac lawyers
    • in the courtroom – AppleTV
    •  social media and geolocation technologies (sometimes in unexpected places) to uncover evidence
    • mobile technologies to “practice on the go
    •  iPad apps – Dropbox, Docstogo, Evernote, Goodreader, iThoughts
    • opening statements
    • predictive coding

1 Comment | Conferences, Legal Education, Technology | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Darlene

Virtual Live Blogging from the CALI Conference – Day 1

June 13, 2013

danland_logo

I call it “virtual” because I am NOT actually at the conference.  I am watching the sessions live on YouTube.

    1. Mobile users are rushed and distracted.
    2. Mobile = Less
      • Don’t confuse context with intent
    3. Complexity is a dirty word
      • Simple is not simplistic
      • Complex is not complicated
      • Clarity trumps density
    4. Extra taps and clicks are evil.
      • Progressive disclosure
      • Quality is more important than quantity
    5. Gotta have a mobile website
      • There is no mobile web
      • The web experience must be good
      • One web? Yes, do it with one web site
      • Don’t avoid hard decision decisions
      • Start with the mobile look and edit, edit, edit
      • This is only the beginning… (many devices, platforms…)
      • Content (and API) run the show
    6. Mobile is about apps.
      • It is about website.
      • Apps is not a strategy.  It is just an app.
      • Presentation deprecates.
      • Build from the content out.
      • We are ALL cloud developers.
    7. CMS & API are for database nerds.
      • Metadata is the new art direction.
      • Repurpose content NOT design

In this session Quentel discussed how creating an authentic learning environment for students in an online course is more than simply posting videos of the professor online. She also shared some of the learning theory and best practices behind effective online learning courses, and explored some of the tools that schools can use other than a full-blown learning management system.

    • Interaction – students must be required to participate such as threaded discussions
    • Use existing CMS
    • Video is the same as “Sage on the stage” – encourage students to use the pause button…so that it mimics class
    • Students need to be engaged
    • (Talking Head) Video is perfect for “guest speakers”
    • Include CALI Lessons
    • Offer an LLM, offer it online
    • NYS Bar has strict requirements – no asynchronous credit for JD courses
In this session, Bohl & Tausend shared tips that they have found to be successful in moving faculty forward in the effective use of technology in order to enhance student learning outcomes.
    • 50% of their faculty are comfortable with technology
    • role of the Instructional Expert
      • builds relationships
      • advocacy
      • support educational mission
      • accommodate, redirect and compromise
      • never say “no”
    • Challenge: getting faculty to think about innovation without invoking resistance
    • Motivational communication
      • simple, specific, visual
      • move forward with familiar terms
    • Get faculty to share what they do
    • Craft your nomenclature carefully ex: “Coffee talk” vs. “training session”

This presentation offered several models for a flipped classroom in a law school setting.  Then, presenters shared their experiences in running a flipped classroom for a Bar Exam prep course.

  • Flipped classroom began in K-12 with classroom time being used for hands-on activities rather than teaching concepts.  Concepts were presented in chunks via short videos that students watched at home.  They can watch at their own schedule as long as they are watched before class.
  • Several ways to flip:
    • blended classroom – short lecturettes to introduce basic material and guide student reading
    • some lectures occassionally and some assigned videos at home with classroom activities
    •  full lectures online with all class time devoted to hands-on work
  • use Clickers or Response software
    • gauge student understanding
    • use without giving correct answer, have discussion and then re-poll
    • perfect for skills classes
  • grade class activities so students take it seriously
  • case study – Bar Prep
    • course teaches bar exam skills
    • focuses on 6 concepts that appear on bar exam
    • only multiple choice questions
    • required for students whose gpa was 3.0 and below
    • 2 credits – 2x a week, each class was 1.5 hours
    • BarBri already offers video lectures
    • students were able to watch them on their own time
    • all of class time was spent on dissecting multiple choice questions
    • clickers were used also
    • in the future, Sangchompuphen plans to index the lectures so students don’t have to watch a 2 hour video

*** Unfortunately, all the presenters used PowerPoint slides which were very difficult (or impossible) to read. As a result, my notes are a little sketchy.

Look what else I missed:
cali shake
Click HERE to watch.

Leave a Comment » | Conferences, Legal Education, Technology | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by Darlene

CALI Conference for Law School Computing

June 11, 2013

I have been fortunate to attend several CALI conferences (2008, 2009, 2011).  I have always learned a lot from the presentations and from networking with fellow IT law folks.

danland_logo

This weekend,  the 23rd Annual CALI Conference for Law School Computing will be held at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law.

This year’s conference will feature several sessions devoted to the flipped classroom such as:

There also will be other sessions that deal with changing how law is taught:

If you are not able to attend, all the sessions are recorded and will be available (along with videos of past conferences) on the CALI Youtube channel.

cali stream

The sessions will webcast live, as well.  (Complete list here)

Leave a Comment » | CALI, Conferences, Legal Education, Technology | Permalink
Posted by Darlene

Interested in Clickers?

June 10, 2013

Articles, Briefs and Reports

  • GoSoapBox Classroom Response System Engages Students EDUCAUSE Review Online. November/December 2012.  This case study explores the use of a classroom response system in Spanish language classes that seemed too small to benefit from the approach.
  • Clickers in the Classroom: Transforming Students into Active Learners, ECAR Research Bulletin, 2011. This research bulletin discusses a program at the University of South Carolina to implement SRSs in the classroom and to study the impacts that the technology has on student outcomes. In our research, we also looked at the challenges that SRSs pose, both to students and to faculty members, and investigated best practices for using this technology.
  • Clicker Implementation Models, EDUCAUSE Quarterly, 2011. Clickers require a significant economic investment; deciding who pays is a key issue that gives rise to two implementation models: institution-pays and students-pay.
  • Clicker Resource Guide: An Instructors Guide to the Effective Use of Personal Response Systems (Clickers) in Teaching, 2010. This guide was written to help instructors understand the answers to these questions, and to help them use personal response systems (“clickers”) in their classes in the most comfortable and pedagogically effective manner.
  • 7 Things You Should Know About Open-Ended Response System, January 2011. An open-ended student response system is an electronic service or application that lets students enter text responses during a lecture or class discussion. Open-ended systems give faculty the option of collecting such free-form contributions from students, in addition to asking the true/false or multiple-choice questions that conventional clicker systems allow.
  • Move Over Socratic Method, ‘Clicker’ Offers Law Profs New Option to Monitor Student Progress, November 2010. As some law profs and law school administrators bemoan or ban the electronic devices that make it easy for today’s students to sit in the back row and text and e-mail during class, a growing number of educational innovators are adding new wireless technology to their arsenal of teaching tools and monitoring devices.
  • Teaching with Clickers in Law, March 2012. A presentation by Derek Buff at the Lincoln Memorial University Duncan School of Law in Knoxville, Tennessee on teaching with clickers.
  • Clickers, March 2010. Douglas Whaley blogs about his use of clickers at Ohio State Law School.

Clickers, Mobile and Web App Polls

Adapted from: http://www.educause.edu/library/clickers/

Leave a Comment » | Assessment, Engagement, Legal Education, Student Response Systems, Technology | Permalink
Posted by Darlene

TWEN Multimedia Options Help Professors Flip the Classroom

May 28, 2013

On May 23, 2013, law school professors were given new functionality within TWEN and no longer need to upload large files to Law School Exchange (LSE) for the purpose of importing back into their TWEN course.

This will make it so much easier to integrate multimedia into their teaching.

  • Simply “Add an item” from your Document Page (like any other document) and browse to your desired audio or video file.

1

  • All MP4, WMV, MP3, WMP, MPG, AVI, MOV, 3GP, M4A, WAV, and AAC are supported.

2

  • File Size Limits for each Multimedia file is 1.25 GB!!! (Previously 15 MB) “All Uploads count again your school’s multimedia document storage pool” just means that you should not use TWEN to store multimedia files. (Limit for each standard document that is not Multimedia (eg Word, PDF) remains the same at 50 MB and files larger than 15 MB count against online file directory limits.)
  • TWEN will detect whether or not professors are uploading multimedia. If a supported multimedia file type is detected they will see a different set of permissions and options. For mulitmedia, a Permission’s box MUST be checked. If professors do not check it, they will see error:

3

  • Professors control whether to allow students to download the Multimedia:

4

  • Depending on what professors select, when students click on “Options” they will see one of these menus. AGAIN, this is controlled by the ADMIN when they upload multimedia. This is not an option available for regular documents, only multimedia:

5   OR

6

 This exciting new TWEN feature will allow professors to add and assign videos for students to view or audio for students to listen to at home, leaving more time in class for other activities…in other words, flipping the class!

2 Comments | Assessment, Engagement, Legal Education, Podcasting/Digital Audio Recording, Technology, TWEN, Video | Permalink
Posted by Darlene

Teaching the “Smartphone Generation”

May 23, 2013

Re-posted from Best Practices for Legal Education blog:

You have experienced a scenario like this:  your students come to class with laptops, Ipads and phones.  They text and email during class. They giggle at something on their screens while you’re lecturing. They’re typing too fast to be taking notes on your lecture.  You walk around the room and see Facebook or other social media sights on their screens.  If you’ve experienced any of this, or just generally wonder about your students’ ability to focus and concentrate when they are used to this kind of constant stimulation, you’re not alone.

Our students grew up on computers, are used to googling the answers to questions, and are not in the habit of reading.  Rather, they read in bits and starts, often clicking on hyperlinks before they read one document front to back.  They often do at least two things at once. Research shows that this constant multitasking affects the brain and its ability to learn. Learning happens when we pay attention and process information.  Multitasking prompts the wrong part of the brain to fire up (the part once used by cavemen to sense danger and flee) as opposed to the front of the brain used for deep focus and concentration.  Some ideas as to how we can change this:

  1. Teach students how to learn.  They think they know, but they likely have never heard the term metacognition (“awareness and knowledge of one’s own cognition”).  They should be instructed in the steps of learning and that law school involves the highest levels of learning—levels they may not have approached prior to law school.
  2. Instruct students on the perils of multitasking.  While they likely think they can do many things at once, that’s not true unless the two things are like reading and chewing gum.  They should know that science has proven that we’re actually task “switching”, jumping from task to task, and that we leak a little mental efficiency with each “switch”.
  3. Teach students about successful learning methods. Many are used to highlighting and rereading to “learn” material.  Cognitive educational theory shows that those are the two least successful study techniques.  Study techniques involving self-questioning, self-explanation, intermittent study of topics, and testing are more successful.
  4.  Teachers should design their courses by first considering the learning objectives and goals and working backwards to ensure they are met.
  5.  Teachers should use more visual aids and visual exercises so as not to overtax any one learning “channel”.  Straight lecture can overburden the verbal channel.  Visual aids and exercises engage more of the students’ learning channels and promote higher levels of learning, particularly where those exercises engage students’ higher order thinking skills.
  6.  Teachers should use more assessments so students can determine early and often whether they are learning the material.  These assessments should mimic the type of assessments on which students’ grades will be based.

Posted by: Shailini Jandial George, Professor at Suffolk University Law School.

And yes, technology tools can help the professor teach the “smartphone” generation.

 

Leave a Comment » | Assessment, Engagement, Legal Education, Technology | Permalink
Posted by Darlene

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