Clinic Students Teach & Use Technology

The Low Income Taxpayer Clinic (”LITC”) and Family Violence Litigation Clinic (”FVLC”) students were asked to prepare and present an interactive class to share the knowledge that they had gained throughout the semester. During the first hour of class, the LITC students discussed issues.  Throughout the second hour of class, the FVLC students presented a Power Point presentation entitled Domestic Abuse and Financial Abuse for Tax Professionals.

According to the professor, Debbie Kearns: “If you ask the students, it was the best class of the semester and they snicker because they taught it.  Little do they know, by encouraging collaboration we taught them a thing or two as well.”

Of course, it was great to see students using technology in the classroom.

The Future of Legal Education

In the wisdom of a Chinese proverb: “Tell me, I will forget. Show me, I will remember. Involve me, I will understand.”

I have heard this quote before, but I was reminded of it, reading about Washington and Lee Law School’s new curriculum.  They are entirely re-inventing the third year to make it a year of “professional development through simulated and actual practice experiences.”

Other law schools are working on changes to their first year curriculum.  (3/21/08 Conference details)

How does technology in legal education fit into the Chinese proverb (“… Involve me, I will understand.” )?

• Students self-assess their skills (for interviewing techniques, negotatiating, trial practice, etc.)
  • MediaNotes software and CALI space will facilitate that
  • Podcasting and/or Digital webcam video will also make it easier
• Students participate in discussions and give their view on critical topics
  • Discussion forums in TWEN
  • Class blogs and/or wikis
• Students actively participate in class
  • CPS (clickers) make this possible
  • Faculty/Student web response pages are available
  • Customized polling in TWEN
  • Install poll through CALI
• Students practice difficult concepts using simulations and/or interactives
  • CALI lessons are great
  • other software similations
• Students use the technology they will use when they practice law
  • be familiar with case management software
  • be able to use PowerPoint during a trial
  • be able to display evidence using a Document Camera during a trial

“Legal Education in the Age of Cognitive Science and Advanced Classroom Technology”

Interesting article by Deborah Merritt at Ohio State U Moritz College of Law that focuses mainly on the use of PowerPoint but can be applied to other technolgies.

 Link: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1007800

Abstract:  Cognitive scientists have made major advances in mapping the process of learning, but legal educators know little about this work. Similarly, law professors have engaged only modestly with new learning technologies like PowerPoint, classroom response systems, podcasts, and web-based instruction. This article addresses these gaps by examining recent research in cognitive science, demonstrating how those insights apply to a sample technology (PowerPoint), and exploring the broader implications of both cognitive science and new classroom technologies for legal education. The article focuses on three fields of cognitive science inquiry: the importance of right brain learning, the limits of working memory, and the role of immediacy in education. Those three areas are fundamental to understanding both the effective use of new classroom technologies and the constraints of more traditional teaching methods.

The Power of PowerPoint

As second semester is just around the corner, I sent out a call to professors asking them if they would like to learn PowerPoint to use in their classes.  At the same time, I sent them a link to a blog post entitled: Rethinking PowerPoint in the Law School Classroom.  The purpose was not to deter them from using PowerPoint but to think about how and why they will use it.

One professor emailed me back saying: “Ater the article on PowerPoint, I’m not sure I want to use it!”

So with my good intentions gone awry, I looked back at the results of a survey that I did with some of the student here in the Fall   Here are some of the things they had to say about how PowerPoint enhanced their learning:

“ It has definitely proven to be an asset to the course.” 

“The main points are already laid out in an intelligible form on the slides.  In my other classes, I am typing constantly in order to take notes and then sort everything out later in the form of outlines.  With the slides, I only need to take supplemental notes.  The class involves a lot of subjective interpretation so I can spend that “freed up” time actually thinking about the cases and issues discussed in class, rather than worrying about writing everything down and sorting it out.“

 ”It has greatly enhanced my learning.  It is much easier to follow his lecture and effectively take notes when he utilizes PowerPoint.”

“The slides are clear and assist understanding of complexities of law.” 

 ”I think it would be helpful if the professor did use PowerPoint slides. When the professor draws diagrams on the board, it is usually very helpful.”

“It’s helpful and it’s nice to see the material on the big screen.“

When I looked at the comments to this Blog to see why this blog caused this law school professor to change her mind about powerpoint, I felt renewed.  Here are some positive excerpts:

“While discussing a case about whether a commercial could be an offer, the professor showed the commercial via PowerPoint. It was very effective” (Jeremey Masten)

“… I’ve used hyperlinks in my Powerpoint slides to create non-linear presentations. Basically, I put hyperlinks in the slides so I can jump around and show the slides outof order. ..I’m usually happy with the results, and I’ve had many students say they prefer these sorts of things to traditional, bullet-point oriented slides.” (Jonathan Adler)

“Putting up a single question for students to answer is very powerful. And if students don’t like being “wrong” when the next slide has a different set of “answers” — why put in a slide of answers at all? I can easily imagine a class being organized around a series of questions, which also subtly conveys an emphasis on inquiry and creativity.I wouldn’t underestimate the psychological power of PowerPoint as a visual aid, even if it’s “supposed” to be used as an outliner.” (Gene Koo)

There IS Power to PowerPoint and I hope to continue to encourage professors to learn it!

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