Technology’s Role in Law Schools???

Image: Christopher Bing

Just came across a great article in The National Law Journal. The project referred in the article is a partnership between the Berkman Center for Internet and Society and LexisNexis in order to study legal education /training and how technology may be fundamentally changing both the practice for which law schools are training attorneys as well as the methods law school professors use to teach.  Gene Koo, the fellow, spearheading the project states:

“The intersection among law school, law practice, and technology points to many possible combinations; here are some ways to describe those intersections:

• How technology is changing legal practices / what law schools can do to prepare students for a new world of practice
• How technology is changing law students / how law schools and practice settings can better accommodate this new “millenial” or “digital” generation
• How the new market of legal practice is changing the way new lawyers are being trained / how technology can better meet this emerging field
• How technology is offering new capabilities for education and training / how law schools and training programs can better accomplish their mission using new technologies “

I am very excited to hear about the results of this study.

What I learned from NYSCATE Annual

Recently I spent 4 days at the NYSCATE Annual Conference in Rochester, NY. Although a conference for K-12 teachers, I was able to glean some ideas to use here at Albany Law. I perused the the exhibitor floor and among the 200+ vendors, I found many tools that would be useful to Law professors:

 
CPS Chalkboard – allows teachers walk around the room when using the clickers.

Mimio Interactive – turns any whiteboard into an interactive surface

Interactive touch panels – allows you to draw and annotate facing the students

At the workshops, Web 2.0 seems to be topic of the day.  So I attended sessions on blogging, wikis and podcasting – all of which I hope to implement here.   I also learned about the new features Adobe Acrobat Pro 8.0.

Of course, I networked with old and new friends and talked  a lot of “techie” talk.  Definitely a worthwhile conference.

Learn Something New Everyday

Reading an article in the latest issue of Learning & Learning With Technology , I learned about Gabcast.   Here what the web site says:

Gabcast.com is a podcasting and audioblogging platform that offers virtual communities, individuals and organizations an easy way to create and distribute audio content.

Over 300 years ago the famous philosopher John Locke wrote:”[Deity or Evolution], having designed man for a sociable creature, made him not only with an inclination, and under a necessity to have fellowship with those of his own kind, but furnished him also with language, which was to be the great instrument and common tie of society. Man, therefore, had by nature his organs so fashioned, as to be fit to frame articulate sounds, which we call words.”

Gabcast is the expression of Locke’s idea in the Digital Age.

With Gabcast, you use your phone to record.  It’s free for 200MB of space.

Good News and Bad News

The bad news:   I decided to test the Margi with my own Treo and had to perform the dreaded hard reset.  Apparently though it is supposed to work with the Treo, the Margi software appears to be incompatible with my Treo.   The professor was disappointed, of course.  He will have to bring that laptop to class.

 The good news:  eInstruction has just released CPS for PowerPoint:

“eInstruction introduces CPS for PowerPoint, a new product that integrates 100% into Microsoft® PowerPoint. Now you can run your existing presentations while asking questions and receiving instant feedback. It’s all the power of CPS and all the functionality of PowerPoint. “

I tried it and it’s easy.  You can create a new PointPoint presentation and insert different types of questions on the slides or add new slides with questions to existing presentations.  The most important reason to use this software is that if the professor uploads each session the the CPSwebsite, the students have access to a study guide with the questions and the correct answers (and their answers).  This was not possible in the past since in order to use PowerPoint and CPS, you had to use the verbal mode.

Another Day…

When I chatted with the professor using the overhead transparency on the ELMO, he explained that he could use his laptop to project the document but it’s too much to carry.  He wondered whether he could project from his Palm Treo which he carries with him always.

 Several years back, I purchased a Margi Presenter To Go but never used it since I always bring my laptop when I present.  After some research, I discovered that this device is no longer available except by ordering from a company in Australia.  So if mine still works, it’s all his to use.

New Job

New job … new challenges.  I am beginning my fifth week as the Instructional Technologist at Albany Law School. I am certainly learning a lot as I visit classes and talk to law professors and students.

Today I visited a  first year class where the professor was using a PowerPoint presentation and the CPS System (Clickers) to review and encourage discussion.   It was very effective in engaging students in active learning. 

   

I also observed a second class where the professor used the Elmo to allow students to focus on the 14th amendment of the Constitution (a small book that he carried in his briefcase) and an overhead transparency of a related document.