Trying
to do the right thing:
experiential learning,
e-learning
and employability skills in
modern legal education
Craig
John Newbery-Jones[1]
Cite
as Newbery-Jones C., “Trying to do
the right thing: experiential learning, e-learning and employability
skills in
modern legal education”, in European Journal of Law and
Technology, Vol 6, No
1, 2015.
This article draws upon the author’s own
experience of acting as e-learning and digital resource coordinator at
the
University of Exeter Law School in order to provide an evaluative
approach to
the projects undertaken, namely the Excel@Law and Virtual Board Room
(VBR). In
this role, the author was personally responsible for the design,
development,
implementation and management of a number of innovative educational
projects
and these form the basis of this paper. This article examines both the
theoretical literature alongside the author’s own experiential
reflection on
these projects to conclude upon the existing interrogations of legal
education
in the post-LETR environment.
Since
the publication of the Legal
Education and Training Review (LETR) in June 2013, the legal world is
currently
in a period of flux. Not because of the far-reaching consequences for
undergraduate legal education, but for the profession as a whole. In
fact, to
legal educators at the undergraduate level the findings of the report
were
rather, well, underwhelming.[2]The
comprehensive recommendations expected for the academic stage of legal
training
did not fully materialise, instead it was the profession that was in
the
‘dock.’ However, the changes being mooted towards entry to
the profession
(including a complete overhaul or abolishment of the professional
postgraduate
qualifications[3]
and the revival of post-school legal apprenticeships) poses a
significant
threat to the continued survival of undergraduate legal education in
its
present paradigm.[4]
The changing market for legal services is also a cause for concern in
contemporary legal education. Since 2007 and the introduction of the
Legal
Services Act,[5]
the traditional model[6]
for the delivery of legal services has been challenged by the
introduction and
growth of the Alternative Business Structure (ABS).[7] These innovations are both a blessing and a
curse. For access to justice and the provision of legal services for
all, these
effectively remove the monopoly from the existing legal service
providers and
deliver alternative structures and organisations to offer legal advice
and
representation. However, this provides a new challenge to higher
education. It
is envisaged that the projected increase in employment for law
graduates will
not emerge out of the traditional legal markets, but from these
alternative
business structures.[8]
Therefore, the task of the law school is to prepare graduates for this
shifting
delivery model and to give graduates a significant advantage in the
changing
legal market.
The
principal issues with undergraduate legal education that were raised by
LETR[9]
have
encouraged educators and educational theorists to consider the delivery
and
design of legal curricular.[10]
The
LETR has outlined within its recommendation that “there is strong
support for
properly and sensitively integrating equality and diversity training
into LSET
as a part of both initial and continuing education. Skills gaps in
commercial
awareness, legal research skills, and communication – in
particular writing and
drafting and, in some contexts, advocacy – were identified in
respect of the
initial stages of training.”[11]These
issues included deficiencies based around transferable
employability skills, subject-specific legal skills and legal ethics.[12]
Specifically, the LETR outlined how “a number of gaps and deficiencies are identified
in
the knowledge, skills and attributes currently developed…The
centrality of
professional ethics and legal values to practice across the regulated
workforce
is one of the clearest conclusions to be drawn from the LETR research
data, and
yet the treatment of professional conduct, ethics and
‘professionalism’ is of
variable quality across the regulated professions…”[13] This
has inevitably prompted renewed discussions around the more
substantial incorporation of experiential learning,[14]
to
firmly embed employability skills in the undergraduate curriculum.[15]
This
has also provoked debate around the assimilation of technology in
skills
delivery, [16]
and the author has begun
to consider how technology can facilitate a more insightful and
reflective
approach to experiential learning in legal curricular. However, the
overriding
concern amongst educational technologists in the contemporary
educational
discipline is that technology is being incorporated to merely update
traditional, often out-dated approaches to learning and teaching in
higher education.[17]As
Resnick has stated, “in
most places where new technologies are being used in education today,
the
technologies are used simply to reinforce outmoded approaches to
learning.”[18]This
naturally raises questions around the suitability of e-learning
tools and technology-enhanced curriculum delivery, but also the more
holistic
approaches to legal curriculum.[19]
During this article, the author will draw upon
his own experience of acting as e-learning and digital resource
coordinator at
the University of Exeter Law School in order to provide an evaluative
approach
to the research that has been undertaken. This research will examine
both the
theoretical literature alongside the author’s own experiential
reflection to
conclude upon the existing interrogations of legal education in the
post-LETR
environment. As e-learning and digital resource coordinator, the author
was
personally responsible for the design, development, implementation and
management of a number of innovative educational projects and these
will form
the basis of this article.
One such project was the Excel@Law transition
project. This was an innovative educational project that used social
media
technology and interactive resources to prepare students for university
and to
aid the transition to studying law. Transition has been an important
issue in
recent years,[20] and
this project sought to enhance the student experience by giving
students who
had selected Exeter Law School as their firm choice through UCAS the
opportunity to enhance their study skills pre-enrolment and prepare for
university life.
The second project that the author was
responsible for was the design and implementation of the VBR (Virtual
Board
Room) as a companion to the VLF (Virtual Law Firm) project. The
‘virtual
boardroom’ is an online collaborative environment that gives
students the
opportunity to work together and prepare casework by researching tasks
using
specific legal resources and the internet. This ELGG environment allows
each of
our virtual law firms to collaborate online. The VBR was designed as an
online
collaborative space, which would act as a bridge between social media
and
collaborative cloud-based software. All the features that were included
were
related to employability skills and collaborative working, a feature of
modern
employment.[21]
This
article will explore the realities facing legal education and advocate
the
importance of curriculum innovations based around experiential learning
in
undergraduate legal education and embedding transferable employability
skills
in legal curricular. It will examine how the development of
skills-based
syllabi can develop legal and transferable skills in our students,
whilst also
exploring a new conception of employability skills education for the
legal
sphere to challenge the existing paradigm. This research will draw upon
the
author’s previous experience of conceptualising, developing and
incorporating
experiential innovations, e-learning tools and technology-enhanced
programmes
into legal programmes and will evaluate the success of such
innovations. This
article will explore how technology can align with practical
‘real-world’
employability skills and will advocate the importance of developing
e-learning
tools using a sandbox approach, to ensure that the aims and objectives
of legal
courses are constructively aligned to the proposed tool, interface or
platform
being developed to directly address the issues highlighted by Resnick
in 2002.[22]
Finally, this research will demonstrate how in the changing legal
world, legal
education needs to actively embrace experiential learning that is
facilitated,
even led, by more widespread engagement with technology and
custom-designed
e-learning tools.[23]
This article will begin by outlining
experiential learning, e-learning and the notion of employability in
order to
establish the definitions for these concepts that will be drawn upon
later.
These definitions will place pertinent academic literature related to
these
concepts in situ to the aim and objectives of this article in order to
explore
these definitions in the context of contemporary legal education in
England and
Wales.
Saddington
has outlined a succinct definition of experiential learning. He
outlined how “experiential learning is a
process in which an experience is reflected upon and then translated
into
concepts which in turn become guidelines for new experiences.”[24]
Yet, as a
definitive concept, experiential learning is
difficult to define. This is especially true when the work of Jenny
Moon is
considered. She outlines that the definition of experiential learning
can be
difficult ascertain “as all learning, in effect, is learning from
experience.”[25]
Considering Moon’s assertion it is clear that simply placing a
learner in a
lecture theatre or library can create an experience through which they
may
learn. However, it is the specific construction of curriculum and the
development of inventive teaching innovations, which are purposely
intended to
place an experiential methodology at its core that delineates the
disparity
between learning from experience and experiential learning.[26]
It is
the author’s contention that the definition of experiential
learning goes
further and this section will define experiential learning by
positioning
itself within the pertinent literature of the subject, and will
succinctly
explain how the author views experiential learning in legal curricular.
At its
simplest level, “the
fact that the learner, not the educator, must be able to apply the
knowledge
gained from the teachings is the bottom line.”[27]
All learning is an experience, be it attending a lecture or seminar,
preparing
for class through reading recommended texts or undertaking exercises,
and even
attending tutorial sessions with their tutor. However, what sets apart
the
experience of learning is the ability to reflect upon that experience.[28]
As Hutton outlined in 1989 “experiential learning is learning
that is rooted in
our doing and our experience. It is
learning which illuminates that experience and provides direction for
the
making of judgments as a guide to choice and action.”[29]The
experience of learning can only become experiential once it is
reflected upon,
once it has been appreciated and lessons have been learned. In higher
education
this can be a symbiotic process. Both the educator and the student can
reflect
on the learning experience. It can inform practice and guide new
experience.
Saddington neatly surmised this in 1992. “Experiential learning
is a process in
which an experience is reflected upon and then translated into concepts
which
in turn become guidelines for new experiences”[30]
It is this process of reflection that is vital in embedding
experiential
learning into legal curriculum.[31]
For a teaching activity or curriculum project to be truly experiential
there
must be an element of reflection, but this element must go beyond the
reflective stage of Kolb’s learning cycle.[32]
It must go beyond mere observation and include an in-depth reflection
on one’s
practice. This is particularly important when experiential processes
can be
used to teach employability, skills education and professional/social
responsibility (for example, legal ethics).[33]
Since the widespread accessibility to computing,
the general student reliance on information technology, and the
exponential
growth of the internet during the last two decades, e-Learning is a
phrase that
has firmly established itself in the lexicon of all educators. JISC,
the
champions of digital media in education,[34]
define e-learning as:
…learning facilitated and
supported through the use of information and communications
technology'. It can
cover a spectrum of activities from the use of technology to support
learning
as part of a ‘blended’ approach (a combination of
traditional and e-learning
approaches), to learning that is delivered entirely online. Whatever
the
technology, however, learning is the vital element.[35]
As this definition outlines, it can cover a
broad spectrum of activities, but the phrase ‘e-Learning’
covers an extensive
range of user behaviors, teaching methods and levels of technological
engagement to facilitate and expedite learning, while encouraging
learner
interaction. At this point in time, most e-learning tools are commonly
being
used to update traditional models of learning, rather than being used
to
develop new modes of educational practice.[36]
This relates in some way to the blended approach advocated by JISC, and
is
evidenced by the widespread use of e-learning tools and digital
resource
platforms to support students, something that has become far more
prevalent in
the last decade. All universities now use digital platforms (sometimes
referred
to as Virtual Learning Environments) to host course content and
encourage
student engagement with educational materials.[37]
However, this does vary from institution-to-institution,
department-to-department and even between the lecturers themselves.
These
virtual learning environments are most often used as a ‘dump
site’ for course
materials, such as lecture handouts and presentation slideshows, or as
a means
of encouraging student engagement, such as discussion forums or wikis.
This in
know way attempts to divert attention away from the standards of good
practice
or innovative delivery of such learning exercises being undertaken by
some
lecturers throughout higher education, but instead highlights the main
criticism with e-learning that exists in contemporary scholarship.
Specifically, the lack of innovative development designed at
challenging
traditional educative modes of practice. Yet, these substantial changes
will
take time as old paradigms continue to be updated and new archetypes of
digital
education and engagement are developed. This was acknowledged by the
Government
Department for Education and Skills in their report and strategy
document on
e-learning in 2003. The report outlines:
Embedding e-learning will
not happen fast. This is a long-term strategy that looks ahead to years
when
the technology will probably have evolved further. That is all part of
the
strategy - how we prepare ourselves, through our education system, to
cope with
an ever-changing world. Most importantly, this is a unified e-learning
strategy
for the whole of England. There are e-learning strategies being
developed at
every level - in the four countries of the UK, in local authorities,
institutions, agencies, and departments, as well as in private sector
organisations. E-learning does not recognise these physical boundaries.
Coming
together to consider how best to blend e-learning with our existing
systems
will benefit all partners.[38]
This strategy acknowledges the developmental
nature of embedding e-learning in education, something that is apparent
in
contemporary legal education. Other than a few poignant examples, for
example
the JISC SIMPLE project[39]
and the work undertaken by Maharg outlined in his book Transforming
Legal Education,[40]
there has not been a substantial move to challenge the paradigm and
even less
of a focus on adapting the manner through which law is taught to align
more
with the changing nature of legal practice or the renewed effort to
place
skills and employability in legal education.
Harvey outlined a
widely accepted definition of the concept of employability in his 2003
briefing
paper on the transition between higher education and work. He explains:
Employability is not just about getting a job.
Conversely,
just because a student is on a vocational course does not mean that
somehow
employability is automatic. Employability is more than about developing
attributes, techniques or experience just to enable a student to get a
job, or
to progress within a current career. It is about learning and the
emphasis is
less on ‘employ’ and more on ‘ability’. In
essence, the emphasis is on
developing critical, reflective abilities, with a view to empowering
and
enhancing the learner.[41]
This definition
demonstrates the importance of employability existing as a holistic
approach to
legal employability education, something that is often forgotten since
the
recent changes to the higher education landscape. The establishment of
the £9k
fee environment has added additional pressures to both law schools and
students, and as a result, both have become more focused on the end
product,
not the degree, but the job. Institutions have become focused on
employability,
but in a misguided and ill-informed manner. Law schools have become
more
concerned with the statistical outlook, rather than the student’s
experience.
This misguided approach can be evidenced by the on-going initiatives
within law
schools, which are very often based around the acquisition and
development of
tangible employability skills, not on developing reflection and
critical
personal development.[42]
That is not to say that these initiatives are futile, but instead a
more
holistic approach to development and acquisition of skills should be
utilised.[43]
Yet,
even
a definition of employability skills is a difficult one to outline when
considered in a more rounded manner. The HEA[44]
gives a
general definition of employability skills as
“a
set of achievements, - skills, understandings and personal attributes
– that make graduates more likely to gain employment and be
successful in their
chosen occupations, which benefits themselves, the workforce, the
community and
the economy.”[45]
The
author of this article contends that when examining employability
skills for
legal education these skills, understandings, and attributes can be
categorised
into three interchangeable groupings, and then can be further divided
into
practical skills and attitudes.[46]
These
groupings are:
·
General
Skills and Attitudes
·
Subject-Specific
Skills
·
Collective
Attitudes
This
division is imperative for the categorisation of employability skills
for law,
and these individual groupings and the relevance of this division will
now be
explained.
General
employability skills and attitudes are those skills and attitudes that
are
applicable to any sphere employment in any industry or profession.
Conversely,
subject-specific skills are those that are prevalent in that particular
industry, profession or sphere of employment. Finally, collective
attitudes are
those that are beneficial to the collective existence of wider society.
This
division is important in the changing legal market and the current
diversifying
of the profession, as lawyers will be expected to have a more
substantial and
varied skill set, moving beyond subject-specific skills to have a more
general
employability ‘toolbox’ from which to draw from. This has
been argued by
Richard Susskind in his recent work ‘Tomorrow’s
Lawyers.’[47]
In this
work, it is outlined how the lawyers of the future will not only be
expected to
be a lawyer (and therefore possess the subject-specific legal skills)
but also
a technologist, an accounts manager, a marketing executive, an
accountant, a
project manager and more.[48]
As the
legal profession adapts, legal education must adapt in order to give
our graduates
a general skills and attitudes base to complement their
subject-specific
skills. That is in no way highlighting that the current training around
subject-specific legal skills is in anyway adequate.
The
LETR
highlighted the “skills gap… at the initial stage of
training”[49]
recommending a reconsideration not just of general skills, such as
commercial
awareness, but also subject-specific skills, such as legal research,
legal
writing (often called drafting) and advocacy. However, it is the main
thrust of
this recommendation that is poignant to contemporary legal education
and the
author’s conception of catergorising employability skills.
Another
recommendation made by the LETR is the disjunction between the
‘lofty’ values
of the profession and the ‘debased’ realities of legal
education.[50]
The
LETR reported that despite “the centrality of professional ethics
and legal
values to practice across the regulated workforce is one of the
clearest
conclusions to be drawn from the LETR research data, and yet the
treatment of
professional conduct, ethics and ‘professionalism’ is of
variable quality
across the regulated professions.”[51]
It is clear from the findings of LETR that the legal profession highly
prizes
its ethics and core professional values, yet this is something that is
devoid
from legal education. Although there is an argument to suggest that
legal
ethics and professional regulation exists as a substantive subject
within
itself, the author contends that the subject of legal ethics also
exists within
the concept of employability skills. Legal ethics can fit within this
concept
of collective skills, attitudes or obligations due to its benefits to
the
workforce, the community and the economy.[52]
The
importance of ethical education to the collective community is also
reflected
in the representation of the legal profession in popular culture. Any
study of
law and lawyers in popular culture or an appreciation of cultural texts
that
depict legal culture often reveals a less than favourable cultural
perception
of lawyers.[53]
Lawyers are nearly always
represented as morally questionable, greedy and dishonourable
individuals, both
in their professional pursuits and their personal existences. Popular
culture
has the ability to reflect and create public opinion and
“although it is often
individuals who create a piece of popular culture it is social groups
that give
meaning and definition to a piece, meanings that the original author
may not
have intended.”[54]This
continual negative
representation of the lawyer in cultural sources demonstrates a public
concern
over the adequacy of legal services and the quality of justice in the
modern
era. MacNeil has outlined:
contemporary pop culture
has something important to say to and about jurisprudence, above and
beyond
what the mainstream legal academy has to offer…The various
media… not only
reach a much larger audience than standard legal texts, but
potentially, and
even more democratically, they also help restore topics of
jurisprudential
import - justice, rights, ethics - to where they belong: not with the
economists, not with the sociologists, not even with the philosophers,
but
rather with the community at large.[55]
These
public questions (and questions from within the profession itself)
around the
ethics of the legal profession can be addressed, and should be
addressed, in
light of the recent LETR recommendations.[56]
However, professional (and legal) ethics should not be considered as an
academic subject, but should be embedded within the legal curriculum as
collective attitudes in the same way that general and subject-specific
employability skills can be.[57]
The
ability to highlight specific values to students, and encourage them to
reflect
upon these in the context of employability will assist in their own
wellbeing
and the further wellbeing of society.[58]
In
order for legal education to be fit-for-purpose in an ever-changing
legal
profession, embedding skills and professional, social responsibility is
vital,
and this integrated approach would benefit legal education and law
students.[59]
Yet,
more importantly, it would begin to improve the public image of the
profession
within the social consciousness and would perhaps give popular culture
a new
story to tell.[60]
The
manner in which these employability skills are categorised and the
needs of
wider society must be considered holistically when designing
employability
curriculum in legal education, and certainly a more substantial
understanding
of these intricacies where employability skills are intended to be
embedded
into existing curriculum. The incorporation of these skills into the
undergraduate curriculum is not only important for students and their
professional development, but for the profession, justice and the
community
more generally. As the fundamental initial stage of legal training,
undergraduate students should be given a conception of legal ethics,
access to
justice, the quality of the legal process and professional social
responsibility. Students should also be made to consider, acquire,
develop and reflect[61]
their
own general employability skills in order for them to have a broad and
general
transferable skill set, alongside more subject specific skills.
This
article will now consider how employability skills can be embedded into
the
existing undergraduate legal curriculum in the post-LETR environment
using a
focus on innovative curriculum design that places experiential learning
at its
core, facilitated by innovative development of e-learning tools. This
article
will then evaluate three educational innovations that the author has
developed
in order to critically appraise the approach taken in ‘trying to
do the right
thing.’
Legal education in the contemporary UK has often
had a conservative approach to the delivery of qualifying law degree.
It is one
contention that this emerged following the findings of the Report of the Committee on Legal Education (Ormrod Report)[62]
and the subsequent recommendations made, but it can be argued that it
has always
lacked focus on what is beneficial to the profession and, more
importantly,
society.[63] The
Ormrod Report significantly changed the key entry route to the
profession,
placing the law degree as the initial stage of entry to the profession,
but
resulting in the compartmentalisation of legal education into academic,
vocational and continuing stages.[64]
The historical resistance by the legal professions to the growth of the
university law school[65]
and the collective monopoly on legal training that the profession has
achieved
throughout its evolutionary history, has led to the academic stage of
training
being preoccupied with the transmission of the foundations of legal
knowledge,
rather than practical skills, ethical understandings and wider
employability needs.[66]
Sherr has outlined how this compartmentalisation of legal education
since the
changes encouraged by the Ormrod report has been problematic for the
existing
educational system in England and Wales.[67]
Legal
education in England and Wales involves a mixture of both
approaches and in some ways misses the advantages of each. Formal legal
education cannot be as theoretical or conceptual as intended because of
the
bulk of legal knowledge, which seems to have to be imparted.
Apprenticeship
systems have been regularised and regulated in order to ensure a more
standard
experience of the fire, enthusiasm and wisdom transmitted from
journeyman to
apprentice in a different period.[68]
This has a basis in the traditions of
substantive legal education[69]
embodied in the history of the English legal institution, and the
distinct lack
of focus in more theoretical questions around justice, ethics, and
professional
conscience. This focus has not changed, and is evidenced by the
recommendations
in the LETR.[70] The
desire for appropriate skills education and for a wider graduate
awareness of
ethical considerations has always been prevalent during any period of
educational scrutiny that the profession has faced. The model for the
cultivation
of employability skills that is proposed above can begin to address
this issue
and, coupled with experiential, innovative and technologically-informed
curriculum can begin to address the current skills deficit and ethical
shortfall that is so prevalent in law graduates.
This
article will evaluate the author’s methods of embedding these
skills in the
undergraduate legal curriculum and will explore the importance of
innovative,
experiential perspectives on employability education. The first project
is the
Excel@Law transition project.
The Excel@Law project was a multimedia platform
to aid student transition between school or previous study and studying
law at
university. In 2012, this project (stage 1) created a blog portal that
students
holding a place at Exeter could access from the 14/8/13 (A-level
results
day). The blog included a multimedia platform, which included written,
audio
and visual content[71]
that was released every 2 days between results day and arrivals
weekend. In 2013,
this project built upon this core content and introduced tasks that
students
were expected to complete to prepare them further for the challenges of
the
first year curriculum. Stage 2 focused more directly on learning skills
that
related to the study of law. Furthermore, the project also expanded its
current
sources to include focus pieces on the city, including its local
business,
amenities and attractions, to better prepare home, EU and international
students on coming to Exeter.[72]
Although the goal of this project was not to
transmit or develop employability skills, it provided thought-provoking
themes
of reflection and evaluation. The goal of this project was to
communicate and
prompt a consideration of study skills and interpersonal skills,
especially
considering the transitional challenges with coming to university, and
to this
end it achieved its aims and objectives. However, there were some
distinct
lessons to be learnt in regards to the incorporation of technology and
the development
of media tools.
While the central platform was a blog portal and
engaged students using social media, the manner in which the
information was
communicated to the students was merely an updated approach to
traditional
learning. When Resnick’s criticism is considered,[73]
the Excel@Law project was clearly an exploitation of social media and
e-learning tools to update outdated teaching methodologies. The
didactic
method, through which the content and core messages were delivered, was
no
different to the delivery of content via written handbooks or
traditional
learning modalities, such as lectures. This project merely drew upon
established platforms for static content delivery.
Furthermore, this project did not focus
sufficiently on sustaining user engagement through appealing to a
variety of
learning styles and methods. The unidirectional characteristics of
these
sources also allowed little-to-no scope for student engagement and
essential
personal reflection. This element of personal reflection would have
supported
students to evaluate their own skills and their own transition to
university.
This element of reflection is fundamental to the process of
experiential
learning and, subsequently, the on-going review, development and
acquisition of
employability skills.
Additionally, more substantial methods for
student engagement, such as interactive video pieces and specific tasks
related
to the static content, would have encouraged student engagement and
appealed to
a wider demographic of learning styles. This is closely linked to this
process
of reflection and in order to improve student engagement with the
content, the
project should have encouraged students to consider their strengths and
weaknesses from previous education, employment or experience, and place
these
in the context alongside transition materials to university education.
Interactive exercises would demonstrate and allow students to test
their skills
prior to arrival and provide the incoming student the opportunity to
evaluate
their own levels of preparedness and previous skills. This should also
draw
upon the development of more general and subject-specific employability
skills
in order to focus student consideration of skills for employment early
in their
university education.
These negative points of reflection in no way
detracted from the transmission of the intended messages. The core
intended
content was broadcast and addressed the most substantial issues
concerning
student transition to university. 69.2% of students used Excel@Law
before they
arrived at the university, and specific feedback was related to
assisting
students in feeling ‘more prepared’ and ‘settling
pre-university nerves.’ The
project also appealed to students by engaging them through a form of
media that
they are well-acquainted, social media. The principal values of using
social
media to engage students in such a way is that it can seem less
intimidating or
overwhelming than using VLE’s (Virtual Learning Environments)
during this
delicate process of transition. It also engages with a large student
demographic in a manner that is (very rapidly) becoming a way of life.
This
project sought to exist alongside the existing social media habits of
the
contemporary law student in the twenty-first century.
This paper will now explain, reflect upon and
evaluate two distinct components of an innovative experiential
curriculum
redesign, namely the VLF (Virtual Law Firm) and the accompanying VBR
(Virtual
Board Room).[74]
While undertaking the role of e-learning and
digital resource coordinator, the author was responsible for the
design,
development and implementation of the VLF project under the direction
of
Associate Professor Susan Prince, former Director of Education at the
University of Exeter Law School.[75]
The VLF project was a holistic curriculum redesign[76]
of the first year of the LLB programme. The aim of this project was to
embed
employability skills and concepts of professional social responsibility
in the
first year curriculum, through an experientially informed concept. The concept behind the VLF was to act as a
vehicle for learning in a group, with ten students placed in each law
firm, a
total of thirty-one law firms in total. Each law firm had its own
‘case load,’
which was based on the subject matter of lectures and tutorials in each
of the
core foundations of legal knowledge.[77]
Due to the experiential nature of the project
and the importance placed on the acquisition and development of
employability
skills, the focus of these was on problem-based learning (PBL). The
students
were given research projects, client briefings and other legal tasks in
order
to work together to undertake these using subject-specific skills such
as legal
research, legal problem solving, legal analysis, legal writing,
alongside more
general employability skills such as time-management, group working,
task
allocation and management, and presentation skills. (These are examples
and not
exhaustive of the type of work undertaken and skills developed.) This
ensured
that alongside the traditional delivery of legal knowledge a particular
focus
was placed on the roles and challenges of working in a professional
collaboration, with additional emphasis being placed on
objective-setting,
organisation and timeliness. This sought to focus the groups and
maintain their
attention on the employability/transferable skills embedded in legal
education,
in order to make out students more employable, with a greater level of
experience to take into the workforce. The firms were instructed on
their team
development day to design an identity for their firm, including a name,
a
tagline and overall ethos. It was the consideration of these
professional
values to develop a firm ethos that exposed students very early in
their legal
education to collective attitudes and values for legal practice,
beginning the
process of engagement with ethics and access to justice. This also
allowed the
leading staff to outline how different firms often had different client
bases,
business models and operating methods, and also gave staff the
opportunity to
instruct how different members of the group could hold different legal
positions within the firm, for example communication directors,
administrators,
webmasters and team leaders.
The VLF project also facilitated further
learning experiences and experiential opportunities through a more
dynamic
interaction with law staff and the local legal profession. Each of the
thirty-one virtual law firms had a non-executive director who mentored
their
firm and each of the directors were solicitors who had volunteered from
four
local law firms, with a variety of experience, from trainees to
partners. This
exposed the students to further experience beyond the traditional
delivery of
the law degree, and allowed the students to engage directly with the
practicalities of the profession and measure their own practise against
the
realities of legal practice. The students were asked to reflect upon
their
experience by constructing a termly report that was sent to their
mentor and
asked them to focus specifically on their organisation and
professionalism.
This allowed them to reflect on their working methods and their
experience,
highlighting their individual and collective strengths and weakness in
comparison to the realities of the profession.
As a companion to the VLF project, the author
was responsible for designing and implementing the VBR (Virtual Board
Room) to
allow all ‘law firms’ to create an identity and work
together with
greater ease and efficiency. The ‘virtual boardroom’ is an online
collaborative environment that
gives students the opportunity to work together and prepare caseload
work by
researching tasks using specific legal resources and the internet. It
also gave
students the opportunity to
work ‘smart’ through workload management and
reflect on their learning, while sharing relevant information and
resources.
The
VBR was
hosted on the University of Exeter’s web space[78]
for
ease of access and was built using the
ELGG social media platform. ELGG is “an
award-winning
open source social networking engine that provides a robust framework
on which
to build all kinds of social environments, from a campus wide social
network
for your university, school or college or an internal collaborative
platform
for your organization through to a brand-building communications tool
for your
company and its clients.”[79] This platform was selected
following a large amount of research into various collaborative
environments,
including Microsoft SharePoint and Collanos, which were found to be too
complicated for students and the nature of the project. Therefore, the
VBR was
designed as a bridge between social media and collaborative cloud-based
software and constructed by my colleague, Mike Jeffries-Harris
(e-learning
manager for the college of Social Science and International Studies).
The
rationale behind this construction was to
provide a
framework with which the students would be familiar and not
intimidated, using
a bespoke tool on a social media platform such as this seemed like the
best
solution. All the features that were
included were related to employability and collaborative working, a
feature of
modern employment.[80]
These included: -
·
Discussion - Within each Firm page
there was a discussion tool where students could continue conversations
they
may have started face-to-face and work remotely using an Adobe Connect
Room to
videoconference.
·
Messages – Allowed students to
communicate directly, one to one, or to all the firm members.
·
File Upload and Editor – Students were able to
upload and share important documents and resources. All the
firm’s members
could also edit these online.
·
Bookmarks – Allowed students to
share bookmarks and relevant materials with their firm.
·
Twitter and RSS Feeds – Appeared on the students
individual dashboards to assist in them remaining up-to-date with news
and
social media.
·
The Wire – Student were able to
keep friends and colleagues up-to-date with what they were working on.
·
Blog – Students could complete
their own personal blog or learning journal space.
·
Answers - Students
could post questions to the whole Boardroom and receive answers.
·
Links to Team Match
Software - So students could
identify their skills and maximise their roles within the firm.
In order to ensure that all students found the
VBR and would engage with it, during Induction week, week 1 of term,
all law
firms were timetabled a session with Mike Jeffries-Harris where they
were
talked through setting up their profile and how the VBR worked. This
included
planning how best to work together, considering their roles within the
firm and
emphasising the importance of their presence on social media platforms.
They
were also instructed to consider their firm’s identity and values
again during
this induction process. The nature of the legal profession in the 21st
century
means that cloud-based collaborative applications (e.g. Microsoft
SharePoint)
and virtual client management software are a stark reality of
professional
practice and the VBR was developed to provide and experiential model to
introduce students to this world of online collaboration in a
professional
sphere. Furthermore, the online nature of legal resources and the
characteristics of law as a subject, an online environment where
students can
share resources and information was important. The VBR also acted as a
personal
space for the students, as individuals and as collective firms. This
took
collaboration away from the tutor-led Moodle learning environment and
allowed
students to develop their own skills and methods within their law firms
and
under their own initiatives. This allowed the students to have a
unique, yet
bespoke experience upon which to reflect when corresponding with their
non-executive director mentors. It also provided them the opportunity
to allow
them to consider their online presence and social media exposure. This
was
encouraged by the inclusion of non-executive director mentors who were
invited
to join the firms in the VBR and conducted meeting via the discussion
forums
and connect rooms.
On a
more
considerate and careful consideration of experiential learning, it is
clear
that these projects, although innovative and engaging, did not
sufficiently
incorporate a process of reflection. Although these projects provided
the
students a new and novel experience, alongside an unrivalled exposure
to the
legal profession, they did not encourage the students to consider their
learning, their experiences and the skills acquired in sufficient
depth. It is
this critical reflection element that was lacking. Without this vital
component, it cannot be viewed to be a truly experiential learning
approach.
This element of reflection needs to be made a central component of
future
projects. This is not to say that these projects would not have allowed
students to reflect upon their practice, as all students reflect to
different
levels, but it would be more suitable to incorporate elements of
reflection
into the assessment of the foundations of legal knowledge or to align
more
closely departmental professional development programmes. This will be
undertaken through reflective journals or study logs[81]
with a
clear set of learning outcomes to direct student reflection upon
specific
criteria.[82]
Since
his
time at Plymouth Law School, the author has been redesigning and
updating the
Dispute Resolution Module. It has recently been agreed that the
students will
collaborate in an online virtual environment, hosted on the SANSspace
platform.[83]
A key
competent of the assessment of this module, there will be both group
and
individual reflection, which will contribute to an overall assessment
portfolio.[84]
The author has already
designed a guide to reflective writing adapted from a guide created by
Natasha
Bellinger[85]
during her time at the University
of Exeter that will be further updated and specified to this module.
The author
will ensure that pedagogic literature is also consulted in guiding the
students
in their reflection[86]
and the
module is also being linked more closely to the student GEAR (PDP)
process in
an attempt to allow these two distinct parts of the legal curriculum to
act as
a symbiotic process.
Finally,
this article will evaluate the conclusions of these projects within the
context
of the pedagogic theory outlined earlier, to highlight some
considerations for
scholars during the on-going redesign of legal curricular in the
post-LETR,
technologically enhanced academic environment.
Following the LETR,[87]
it is clear that there is a skills gap in the legal academy that needs
to be
addressed in modern undergraduate education. In particular, the review
raised
issues around deficiencies in
commercial awareness, legal
research skills and communication abilities.[88]It
also
outlined concerns around the development of particular skills, such as
writing,
drafting and, in some contexts, advocacy.[89]
Although these skills are clearly linked to employability within the
legal
profession, they are evidential of a wider problem across other
disciplines
within the modern higher education sector. Universities, especially law
schools, need to consider the skill deficiencies within their graduates
and
attempt to develop such skills for their future success. This is where
a more substantial
understanding of employability ‘skills’ is of vital
importance, in order to
remodel employability education for a changing legal world.
While
these legal skills can be delivered in a traditional educational
paradigm, it
is far more effective to design practical, skills-based experiential
curriculum
that allows the students to develop their skills through transactions
or
problem solving, with the opportunity to reflect at appropriate points
throughout the programme. The Virtual Law Firm (VLF) project provided
students
with the opportunity to engage in an experiential mode of delivery that
was
designed specifically to develop a large number of practical skills. To
this
end, the projects were successful. However, the distinct lack of guided
reflection is clearly a shortcoming of this model. Students were not
given
adequate guidance or encouragement to conceptualise their personal and
practical development, and were not encouraged to feed-forward for
their future
progress. It is important that the VLF sought to develop practical
skills, but
to return to Saddington’s definition, [90] it is
clear that the VLF did not provide a sufficiently reflective
experiential process. To some extent, all students may undertake such reflection themselves,
but to ensure that individuals and student groups truly understand the
process
of personal development they undergo, they must be guided and
encouraged to
reflect at crucial points throughout the programme. It is only through
reflection can students discover, or be guided, as to the skills
developed and
the employability toolkit they can draw from.
The reflective elements of experiential
curriculum can also encourage individual students to be critical of
their own
practice, which is a vital attribute for the modern workplace and a
valuable
skill for ethical practice. In the modern age, professional development
and
critical practice are a fundamental part of employment. It is upon this
reflection that we can create a more substantial engagement with
professional
values and encourage future legal professionals to be reflective
practitioners.
The LETR also outlined the importance of ethics and professional
values,
stating “that the centrality of professional ethics and legal
values to
practice across the regulated workforce is one of the clearest
conclusions to
be drawn from the research data, and yet the treatment of professional
conduct,
ethics and ‘professionalism’ is of variable quality across
the regulated
professions.”[91]The
ability to reflect on one’s individual practice, contextualise
this in relation
to professional guidelines and improve or adjust behaviour is a
valuable skill
for any employee. This is also echoed in Harvey’s briefing paper
on transition
from university to work, who states that employability “is
about learning, and the emphasis is less on ‘employ’ and
more on ‘ability’. In essence, the emphasis is on
developing critical,
reflective abilities, with a view to empowering and enhancing the
learner.”[92]
Yet, more could be done to embed ethical practice and reflection of
professional values in accordance with the recommendations of the LETR.
This
was only a minor part of the VLF, and in future projects more could be
done to
encourage a substantial focus on professional and ethical values in
working.
Regardless of its lack of experiential focus,
the VLF did encourage individual students and their ‘law
firms’ to consider
general employability skills, subject specific skills and collective
attitudes,
while creating situations through which to develop and contribute to
their
existing employability skill-set. Upon
consideration of the more expansive definition of employability that
was
outlined earlier, the VLF gave students the ability to engage with
numerous
facets of employability that were outlined earlier. The time-keeping,
project
management, interpersonal, and group working skills that were developed
amongst
students, were key general skills that were of value for all spheres of
employment, while the problem solving, legal research and drafting
skills were
specific skills encouraged for the practice of law. Finally, the
ability to
consider workflow and the ethos of their firm encouraged, in some way,
an
engagement with collective attitudes for ethical and professional legal
practice. The VLF can provide a model of practice to embed a full range
of
employability skills in the legal curricular.
These
collective attitudes are important and should be paramount
to all curriculum redesign in legal education. While there is no formal
requirement of ethical education in the undergraduate legal academy,
there is a
current trend towards a more substantial consideration of ethics in
education.[93]
These collective attitudes are important, not only for potential
lawyers, but
for society in general. Issues such as access to justice, equality,
diversity,
theories of justice, concepts of professionalism and the importance of
self-regulation are valuable for future lawyers, any potential
employment
sphere, while also benefitting society through a more widespread
understanding
of pseudo-legal themes. These are far more valuable than regulatory
codes and
practical professional codes of conduct. Teaching regulatory codes
should be
the preserve of the professional stage but any and all future
curriculum
redesign in England and Wales needs to position collective attitudes at
the
centre of their undergraduate education.
Both of the aforementioned projects used
e-learning technology to reinvigorate the mode of delivery, with the
intention
of enhancing student engagement with legal and pedagogical concepts.
However,
their design and value as e-learning tools were vastly different. While
both
were a valuable addition to the school’s education portfolio, the
static
delivery of the Excel@Law transition project clearly demonstrates a
stumble
into Resnick’s trap. [94] Excel@Law merely used
social media platforms to host video content, updating an outdated mode
of
delivery rather than reconceptualising and delivering truly innovative
content.
This didactic mode of delivery neither challenged the student nor
encouraged
engagement, which was counter-intuitive considering the medium used -
social
media. Although the information was deemed valuable in the user
analysis, this
form of static content is stark example of Resnick’s statement,
the cart
leading the horse, technology for the sake of technology. But social
media and
the blog portal did provide a public forum through which to engage
students
that had yet to enroll and provided a place for students to feel part
of the
academic community before officially arriving.
Conversely,
the Virtual Board Room
(VBR) was a custom-designed platform that was bespoke to the learning
outcomes
and task required. The development team was able to create a
fit-for-purpose
bridge-platform[95]
to facilitate student collaboration, using a social media platform and
specifically chosen feature and plugins. The sandbox-nature of this
design
demonstrates the importance of custom-designed development of
e-learning tools
that are specific to the task required. While the author does
acknowledge that
most curriculum enrichment is good enrichment, especially where
technology is
concerned, the ideal approach is a sandbox-approach.
Finally,
the VBR allowed students to
develop specific employability skills in a simulated online
environment, while
exposing them to a model of common workplace software. In modern
employment,
the majority of daily tasks are completed in virtual offices using
online
collaborative software. Even where an individual attends a place of
work daily,
much of what is done is undertaken in a digital environment. The legal
profession is no different, especially in a period of client management
software, digital billing programmes and real-time document editing.
The VBR
gave students an introduction to online workplace collaboration and
gave them
the experience of using a new technological platform to simulate their
interactions. Microsoft SharePoint is a common example of online
workplace
collaborative software, but this may seem intimidating to some students
who
lack technological experience or high digital literacy levels. Using a
bridge-platform allows students to gain valuable experience on engaging
with a
virtual workspace and gives the individual knowledge of online
collaboration, a
common reality of modern employment.
Our
students are the future of the profession, and to ensure that they are
prepared
legal education needs to invest in designing innovative and original
curricular
that embeds skills at the heart of programmes while reflecting modern
legal
(and business) practice through technological engagement.[96]
This
can be achieved through experiential learning, in conjunction with a
more
profound conception of employability. By understanding more fully what
skills,
attitudes and values that graduates will need, we are able to modify
existing
curricular and develop innovations in syllabus design to allow
graduates to vie
for opportunities in the ever-increasing competitive market place. By giving our students the opportunity to
engage
in experiential curriculum, we can expose our students to the
challenges of
clinical legal education, commercial practice and the wider collective
attitudes to legal practice. This can enrich the learning experience
and ensure
that law students can draw from a substantial skill set with wider
conceptions
of justice, ethics, professionalism and access to legal services.
Experiential
learning can be sufficiently comprehensive if it provides learners the
appropriate opportunity to reflect upon the challenges, skills and
proficiencies needed for professional practice. Experiential curricular
can
also provide students with a familiarity to self-assessment and the
ability to
continually assess their own performance is vital in all spheres of
employability. Furthermore, the development of digital working,
cloud-based
collaboration and virtual client relationships, demonstrates the
importance of
student engagement with digital learning tools that develop and assist
in the
acquisition of these vital employability skills.
The
importance of bespoke e-learning tools developed using a sandbox
approach is
paramount to engaging fully in skills education and employability.
Although
technological tools, e-learning resources and social media platforms
can
provide an innovative manner through which to deliver content, specific
tools
need to be developed with the aims, objectives and learning outcomes
clearly
outlined from the beginning. The Excel@Law project merely conveyed
traditional
messages in a new medium, whereas the Virtual Board Room incorporated
the
learning outcomes and overall objectives of the learning experience
into the
overall design. It is this sandbox approach to development that is
paramount in
constructing e-learning tools that are designed specifically to enhance
a
student’s learning experience, and in this case, their
employability.
These
projects have provided the
author the opportunity to reflect upon the process of incorporating
employability programmes within university educational practice, and
this work
has allowed the author the chance to position these curriculum
innovations
within the wider debates in legal education and the profession. This
article
has also allowed the author to develop a novel and unique paradigm for
employability skills in legal education. This has allowed the author to
ensure
that the continuing redevelopment of Plymouth Law School’s
curriculum is
undertaken with this model of employability is considered.
Ames,
J. Revealed at Last: details of the Legal
Education and Training
Review,
Thelawyer.com –
http://www.thelawyer.com/news/people/education-and-training/revealed-at-last-details-of-the-legal-education-and-training-review/3006372.article
(accessed 24/5/2014)
Asimow,
M. ‘Bad Lawyers in the Movies’ (2000) 24 Nova
Law Review 533
________,
& Mader, S. Law and Popular Culture:
A Course Book (New York: Peter
Lang, 2007)
Beetham, H. & Sharpe, R. (eds.) Rethinking Pedagogy for a Digital Age:
Designing and Delivering e-learning (London: Routledge, 2007)
Biggs, J. Teaching
for Quality Learning at University (Buckingham: SRHE and
Open University Press,
1999)
Bolton, G. E.
J. Reflective
Practice:
Writing and Professional Development,
3rd ed. (London:
Paul Chapman Publishers 2010)
Boon,
A. & Webb, J. ‘Legal Education and Training in England and Wales:
Back to the Future?’ (2008)
58(1) Journal of Legal
Education, 79-121
Boud. D., Keogh, R. & Walker, D. Reflection:
Turning Experience in to
Learning
(London: Kogan Page, 1985)
Briggs, A. R. J., Clark, J. and Hall, I.
‘Building bridges: understanding student
transition to university’
(2012) 18(1) Quality in Higher Education pp.
3-21
Brockbank, A. and McGill, I. Facilitating
Reflective Learning in Higher
Education (Buckingham:
SHRE/Open University Press, 1998)
Chou,
S-W, and Liu,
C-H, ‘Learning
effectiveness in a Web-based virtual
learning
environment: a learner control perspective’
(2005) 21(1)
Journal
of Computer Assisted Learning, 65-76
Co-operative
Legal Services
- <http://www.co-operativelegalservices.co.uk>
accessed
30 May
2014
Department for Education and Skills, “Towards a
Unified e-Learning
Strategy”,
(Nottingham:
DfES Publications, 2003), 6
Dougiamas, M, ‘Moodle: A virtual learning
environment
for the rest of us’
(2004)
8(2) TESL-EJ, 1-8
Economides, K. ‘Anglo-American
Conceptions of Professional Responsibility
and
the Reform of Japanese Legal Education: Creating A Virtuous
Circle?’ (2007) 41 (2) The Law Teacher
155
Executive
Summary
for the Careers Education Benchmark Statement,
acgas.co.uk,<http://www.agcas.org.uk/assets/download?file=199&pare
nt=127> accessed 1 June 2014
Fallows, S. & Steven, C. ‘Building
employability skills into the higher education
curriculum: a
university-wide initiative’ (2000) 42 Education
and Training 2, pp. 75 – 83
Gibbs,
G.
“Implications of ‘Dimensions of Quality”
in a Market Environment,
HEA
Research Series (York: HEA, 2012)
Harvey,
L. Transitions from Higher Education
to Work: A briefing paper, online
publication
<http://bit.ly/oeCgqW> accessed
30 May 2014
Holmes,
T., Blackmore, E. & Hawkins, R. Common
Cause Handbook
(Machynlleth:
PIRC, 2011)
Hutchinson,
F. J. & Paulucy, B. ‘Introducing Personal Transferable Skills
in
the
Business School Curriculum Using a Personal Development
Portfolio’
Unedited
contribution to the HEC conference on
Developing Capability of Business and Management Courses, 1996,
Hutton, M. 'Learning from action: a conceptual
framework', in S. Warner Weil
and M. McGill (eds) Making Sense of
Experiential Learning
(Milton
Keynes: SRHE/Open
University Press, 1989), pp. 50-59
JISC,
‘About us’ jisc.ac.uk <http://www.jisc.ac.uk/about>
accessed
29 July
2014
JISC,
‘Introduction to e-Learning,’ jiscgigitalmedia.ac.uk
<http://www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/guide/introduction-to-elearning>
accessed 28 July 2014
JISC,
‘Simulated Professional Learning (SIMPLE)’ jisc.c.uk
<http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearninginnovation/simple.aspx>
accessed 29 July 2014
Kenny, N. What
is Critical Reflection? (Centre for Open Learning and
Educational Support 2010)
<http://www.coles.uoguelph.ca/pdf/Critical%20Reflection.pdf>
accessed 30 May 2014
Kolb, D. A. Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of
Learning and
Development. (Englewood Cliffs, N. J:
Prentice-Hall, 1984)
Koskela, M, Kiltti, P, Vilpola, I,
and Tervonen, J, ‘Suitability of a virtual learning
environment for higher education’ (2005) 3(1) The
Electronic
Journal of e-Learning,
21-30
Legal
Education and Training Review (LETR) –
http://letr.org.uk/thereport/index.html
(accessed 24/5/2014)
Legal Services Act (2007) c. 29
MacNeil,
W. P., Lex Populi: The Jurisprudence of
Popular Culture (Stanford,
California:
Stanford University Press, 2007)
McGill, TJ, and Hobbs, VJ, ‘How
students and instructors using a virtual
learning
environment perceive the fit between technology and task’ (2008) 24(3) Journal
of Computer
Assisted Learning, 191-202
Maharg,
P. Transforming Legal Education: Learning
and Teaching the Law in
the
Early Twenty-First Century (Aldershot:
Ashgate, 2007)
Michaelson,
J. Measuring Well-being” A Guide for
Practitioners (Centre for
Well-Being,
the New Economics Foundation, NEF, 2012)
Moon, J. A. A handbook of reflective and
experiential learning theory
and
Practice (London: Routledge, 2006)
_________, Learning journals: a handbook for reflective
practice and
professional development, 2nd ed. (London:
Routledge, 2006)
Mukerji,
C. & Schudson, M. Rethinking Popular
Culture; Contemporary
Perspectives
in Cultural
Studies
(London: University of California
Press,
1991)
Murphy,
M. Hiring for Attitude (New York,
McGraw-Hill, 2012)
Newbery-Jones,
C. J. & Prince, S. ‘Preparing First Year Law Students for a
Changing
Legal World’ HEA Social
Sciences Blog (June 24, 2013) –
<http://blogs.heacademy.ac.uk/social-sciences/2013/06/24/preparing-first-year-law-students-for-a-changing-legal-world/>accessed
24/5/2014
Newbery-Jones,
C. J. & Travis, M.
‘Clone Wars: Past, Present and Future
Representations
of
the Law Graduate’ (Forthcoming)
O' Halloran, D. ‘Task-based learning: a way of
promoting transferable skills in
the curriculum’ (2001) 53 Journal of
Vocational Education &
Training 1
Pegg,
A.,
Waldock, J., Hendy-Isaac, S. and Lawton, R. Pedagogy
for
Employability
(York:
HEA, 2012)
Piccoli, G, Ahmad, R, and Ives, B,
‘Web-based virtual learning environments:
A
research framework and a preliminary assessment of effectiveness in
basic IT skills training’ (2001)
25(4) MIS Quarterly, 401-426
Posner,
R. Law and Literature
(London: Harvard University Press, 1998)
Pue,
W. W. and Sugarman, D. Lawyers
and Vampires: Cultural Histories of
the Legal Profession (London: Hart Publishing, 2003)
Race, P. Evidencing
Reflection: Putting the ‘W’ into Reflection (2002)
<http://escalate.ac.uk/resources/reflection>
accessed 30 May 2013
Report of the Committee on Legal Education, Cmnd. 4595,
27-28
(London, 1971)
Resnick,
M. ‘Rethinking Learning in the Digital Age’ Kirkman, G. S.
et al, The
Global
Information
Technology Report 2001-2002 (Oxford:
OUP,
2002)
Saddington, J. 'Learner experience: a rich
resource for learning', in J. Mulligan
and C. Griffin (eds) Empowerment through
Experiential Learning (London:
Kogan Page, 1992), pp. 37-49
Saddington, T. The Nuts and Bolts of
Experiential Learning
<https://www.academia.edu/913251/The_nuts_and_bolts_of_Experiential_Learning>
accessed 24 July 2014
Schon, D. The
Reflective Practitioner How Professionals Think in Action
(London: Avebury, 1991)
Sherr, A. ‘Legal Education – Where Do We
Begin?
Starting Again…Again’
(July 1, 2005). Australasian
Law Teachers
Association (ALTA)
Conference
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1883524>
accessed 28
July 2014
Sherwin,
R. K., When Law Goes Pop (London:
University of Chicago Press,
2000)
Susskind, R. Tomorrow’s
Lawyers (Oxford: OUP, 2013)
The
Law Society Practice Advice for Alternative Business Structures -
<http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/advice/practice-notes/alternative-business-structures/>
accessed 30 May 2014
UK Quality Code for Higher Education, Part B:
Assuring and enhancing
academic quality, Chapter
B4: Enabling student development and
achievement (2013) –
<http://www.qaa.ac.uk/Publications/InformationAndGuidance/Documents/B4.pdf>
accessed 1 June 2014
UK Quality Code for Higher Education, Part B:
Assuring and enhancing
academic quality, Chapter
B6: Assessment of Students (2013) –
<http://www.qaa.ac.uk/Publications/InformationAndGuidance/Documents/B6.pdf>
accessed 1 June 2014
Vicary, I. The
Rise of the ABS, weightmans.com –
http://www.weightmans.com/library/newsletters/corporate_focus_may_2012/the_rise_of_the_abs.aspx
(accessed
24/5/2014)
Yorke, M. & Knight, P. Embedding Employability into the Curriculum (York:
HEA, 2006)
[1] Craig John
Newbery-Jones ([email protected]
&
@CJNewberyJones) is a Lecturer
in Law at Plymouth University Law School and is a Part-time PhD
Researcher at
the University of Exeter Law School. His PhD thesis is examining how a
detailed
public image of the bar was constructed in the nineteenth century
through an
examination and analysis of the representation of the bar in the
mainstream and
popular press of the period. While lecturing at the University of
Exeter Law
School, Craig acted as the schools e-learning and digital resource
co-ordinator
and was responsible for incorporating numerous projects and initiatives
into
the undergraduate curriculum. He is currently undertaking a similar
role at
Plymouth University Law School and is examining how experiential
learning and
skills-based legal education can be embedded into the legal curriculum.
[2] J.
Ames, Revealed at Last: details of the Legal
Education and Training
Review,
Thelawyer.com
–
http://www.thelawyer.com/news/people/education-and-training/revealed-at-last-details-of-the-legal-education-and-training-review/3006372.article
(accessed 30/5/2014)
[3] The
LPC (Legal
Practice Course) for Solicitors and the BPTC (Bar Professional Training
Course)
for Barristers.
[4] By present paradigm, I am referring to the traditional
delivery of the Qualifying law degree based around the completion of
the
Foundations of Legal Knowledge and a number of elective, substantive
legal
modules. The
Foundations of Legal Knowledge are the core subjects that a student
must
complete in order to achieve a Qualifying Law Degree (QLD) as outlined
by the
Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and Bar Standards Board (BSB).
These
include Contract Law, Constitutional and Administrative Law, Criminal
Law, The
Law of Torts, European Union Law, Land Law, and the Law of Trusts and
Equity.
In contemporary legal education very little attention has traditionally
been
paid to the development of legal skills beyond what is expected of the
student
while undertaking these modules.
[5] Legal Services Act (2007) c. 29 or its full title ‘An Act to make provision for the establishment
of the Legal Services Board and in respect of its functions; to make
provision
for, and in connection with, the regulation of persons who carry on
certain
legal activities; to make provision for the establishment of the Office
for
Legal Complaints and for a scheme to consider and determine legal
complaints;
to make provision about claims management services and about
immigration advice
and immigration services; to make provision in respect of legal
representation
provided free of charge; to make provision about the application of the
Legal
Profession and Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 2007; to make provision about
the
Scottish legal services ombudsman; and for connected purposes.”
[6] The
traditional
model here is the delivery of legal services by Solicitors and
Barristers. This
includes the existence of solicitors in solo practice and co-operative
firms,
and barristers in chambers.
[7] The Alternative
Business
Structure (or ABS) is An ABS is
a firm where a non-lawyer: is a manager of
the firm, or has an ownership-type interest in the firm. A firm may
also be an
ABS where another body: is a manager of the firm, or has an
ownership-type
interest in the firm and at least non-lawyers control 10 per cent of
that body.
A non-lawyer is a person who is not authorised under the Legal Services
Act
2007 to carry out reserved legal activities. See generally, The
Law Society Practice Advice for Alternative Business Structures,
lawsociety.org.uk
<http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/advice/practice-notes/alternative-business-structures/>
accessed 30 May 2014
[8] It is projected that
in the next
5-10 years, co-op could be one of the most substantial legal employers.
They
may very well employ a significant number of law graduates but most
probably
not in the traditional model of solicitor services. For more
information see –
Co-operative Legal Services, cooperativelegalservices.co.uk,
<http://www.co-operativelegalservices.co.uk>
accessed 30 May 2014
[9] Legal Education and
Training
Review (LETR)
[10] For a business
perspective see –
F. J. Hutchinson & B. Paulucy, ‘Introducing Personal
Transferable Skills in
the Business School Curriculum Using a Personal Development
Portfolio’ Unedited
contribution to the HEC conference on
Developing Capability on Business and Management Courses, 1996, p. 2
[11]Legal
Education and Training Review – Executive
Summary,
letr.org.uk,
<http://letr.org.uk/the-report/executive-summary/executive-summary-english/index.html>
accessed 30 May 2014, See also - “Recommendation
6:
LSET
schemes
should include appropriate learning outcomes in respect of professional
ethics,
legal research, and the demonstration of a range of written and oral
communication skills.”
[12] Ibid
[13] Legal Education and Training Review –
Executive Summary, letr.org.uk,
<http://letr.org.uk/the-report/executive-summary/executive-summary-english/index.html>
accessed 30 May 2014,
[14] D. A. Kolb, Experiential
learning: experience as the source of learning and development.
(Englewood
Cliffs, N.J: Prentice-Hall, 1984)
[15] M. Yorke & P.
Knight, Embedding Employability into the Curriculum
(York: HEA, 2006), S. Fallows
& C. Steven ‘Building
employability skills into the
higher education curriculum: a university-wide initiative’ (2000)
42 Education and Training 2, pp. 75 – 83
& D. O' Halloran ‘Task-based learning: a way of promoting
transferable
skills in the curriculum’ (2001) 53 Journal
of Vocational Education & Training 1
[16] H. Beetham
& R. Sharpe, (eds.) Rethinking
Pedagogy for a Digital Age: Designing and Delivering e-learning
(London:
Routledge, 2007) p. i –
http://nashaucheba.ru/docs/19/18479/conv_1/file1.pdf
[17] G. Gibbs, Implications
of ‘Dimensions of Quality” in a Market Environment, HEA
Research Series (York: HEA, 2012) p. 31 –
<http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/documents/evidence_informed_practice/HEA_Dimensions_of_Quality_2.pdf>
accessed 30 May 2014
[18] M. Resnick,
‘Rethinking Learning
in the Digital Age’ G. S. Kirkman et al, The
Global Information Technology Report 2001-2002
(Oxford: OUP, 2002) p. 32 –
<http://hasp.axesnet.com/contenido/documentos/harvard%20global%20it%20readiness.pdf#page=48>
accessed 30 May 2014
[19]Ibid
[20] A. R. J. Briggs, J. Clark & I. Hall, ‘Building
bridges: understanding student
transition to university’
(2012) 18(1) Quality in Higher Education pp.
3-21
[21] Ibid
[22] M. Resnick,
‘Rethinking Learning
in the Digital Age’ G. S. Kirkman et al, The
Global Information Technology Report 2001-2002, p. 32
[23] Ibid
[24] T. Saddington, The
Nuts and Bolts of Experiential Learning
<https://www.academia.edu/913251/The_nuts_and_bolts_of_Experiential_Learning>
accessed 24 July 2014
[25] J. A. Moon, A
handbook of reflective and experiential learning theory and practice
(London; New York: Routledge, 2006) p. 105
[26] D. Boud, R. Keogh and D. Walker, Reflection:
Turning Experience in to Learning (London: Kogan Page,
1895)
[27] S. Saunders, 'Experiential
learning theory: is it valid or hype?’ <http://
www.usd.edu-knorum/learningpapers/experiential.html> no longer
active but
cited in J. A. Moon, A handbook of
reflective and experiential learning theory and practice (London;
New York:
Routledge, 2006) p. 105
[28] N. Kenny, What is
Critical Reflection? (Centre for Open Learning and Educational
Support
2010)
<http://www.coles.uoguelph.ca/pdf/Critical%20Reflection.pdf
> accessed 30 May 2014
[29] M. Hutton, 'Learning from action: a conceptual
framework', in S. Warner Weil and M. McGill (eds) Making
Sense of Experiential Learning (Milton Keynes: SRHE/Open
University Press, 1989) p. 51
[30] J. Saddington, 'Learner experience: a rich resource for
learning', in J. Mulligan and C. Griffin (eds) Empowerment
through Experiential Learning (London: Kogan Page,
1992) pp. 37-49
[31]A. Brockbank and I. McGill, Facilitating
Reflective Learning in Higher Education (Buckingham:
SHRE/Open University Press, 1998)
[32] D.
A. Kolb, Experiential learning: experience as the
source of learning and development. (Englewood Cliffs, N.J:
Prentice-Hall,
1984)
[33] D. Schon, The
Reflective Practitioner How Professionals Think in Action (London:
Avebury,
1991)
[34]
JISC, ‘About
us’ jisc.ac.uk <http://www.jisc.ac.uk/about> accessed 29
July 2014
[35]
JISC,
‘Introduction to e-Learning,’ jiscgigitalmedia.ac.uk
<http://www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/guide/introduction-to-elearning>
accessed 28 July 2014
[36] M.
Resnick,
‘Rethinking Learning in the Digital Age’ G. S. Kirkman et
al, The Global Information Technology Report
2001-2002, p. 32
[37] See
generally,
S-W Chou and C-H Liu, ‘Learning effectiveness in a Web-based virtual learning
environment: a
learner control perspective’
(2005) 21(1) Journal
of Computer Assisted Learning, 65-76, G Piccoli, R Ahmad, and B Ives ‘Web-based virtual
learning environments: A research framework and a preliminary
assessment of
effectiveness in basic IT skills training’ (2001) 25(4) MIS
Quarterly,
401-426, M Dougiamas, ‘Moodle: A virtual learning environment for
the rest of
us’ (2004) 8(2) TESL-EJ, 1-8, TJ McGill and VJ Hobbs,
‘How students and
instructors using a virtual learning environment perceive the fit
between
technology and task’ (2008) 24(3) Journal of Computer
Assisted Learning,
191-202 and M Koskela, P Kiltti, I Vilpola, and J Tervonen,
‘Suitability of a
virtual learning environment for higher education’ (2005) 3(1) The
Electronic Journal of e-Learning, 21-30
[38] Department for Education and Skills, “Towards a
Unified e-Learning Strategy”, (Nottingham: DfES Publications,
2003), p. 6
[39]
JISC,
‘Simulated Professional Learning (SIMPLE)’ jisc.c.uk
<http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearninginnovation/simple.aspx>
accessed 29 July 2014
[40] P.
Maharg, Transforming Legal Education: Learning and
Teaching the Law in the Early Twenty-First Century (Aldershot:
Ashgate,
2007)
[41] L.
Harvey, Transitions from Higher
Education to Work: A briefing paper, online
publication, 2003 <http://bit.ly/oeCgqW>
accessed 30 May 2014, p. 3
[42] J.
A. Moon, A handbook
of reflective and experiential learning theory and practice
(London:
Routledge, 2006)
[43] G. Gibbs, Implications
of ‘Dimensions of Quality” in a Market Environment, HEA
Research Series (York: HEA, 2012) p. 31 –
<http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/documents/evidence_informed_practice/HEA_Dimensions_of_Quality_2.pdf>
accessed 30 May 2014 & The UK Quality
Code for Higher Education, Part B: Assuring and enhancing academic
quality,
Chapter B4: Enabling student development and achievement (2013) p. 4
–
<http://www.qaa.ac.uk/Publications/InformationAndGuidance/Documents/B4.pdf>
accessed 1 June 2014
[44] HEA is the Higher Education Academy
[45] A.
Pegg, J.
Waldock, S. Hendy-Isaac and R. Lawton, Pedagogy
for Employability, (York: HEA, 2012) p. 3
[46] M.
Murphy, Hiring for Attitude (New York,
McGraw-Hill, 2012) pp. xii-xiii
[47] R. Susskind, Tomorrow’s
Lawyers, (Oxford: OUP, 2013)
[48] See
generally, R. Susskind, Tomorrow’s
Lawyers, (Oxford: OUP, 2013)
[49] Legal Education and Training Review –
Executive Summary, letr.org.uk,
<http://letr.org.uk/the-report/executive-summary/executive-summary-english/index.html>
accessed 30 May 2014
[50] W.
W. Pue and
D. Sugarman, ‘Introduction’ in W. W. Pue and D. Sugarman, Lawyers and Vampires: Cultural Histories of the Legal
Profession (London:
Hart Publishing, 2003)
[51] Legal Education and Training Review –
Executive Summary, letr.org.uk,
<http://letr.org.uk/the-report/executive-summary/executive-summary-english/index.html>
accessed 30 May 2014, See also - “Recommendation
6:
LSET
schemes
should include appropriate learning outcomes in respect of professional
ethics,
legal research, and the demonstration of a range of written and oral
communication skills.”
[52] A. Pegg, J. Waldock,
S.
Hendy-Isaac and R. Lawton, Pedagogy for
Employability, (York: HEA, 2012) p. 3
[53] M.
Asimow, ‘Bad
Lawyers in the Movies’ (2000) 24 Nova Law
Review 533 and M. Asimow, and S.
Mader, Law and Popular Culture: A Course
Book (New York: Peter Lang, 2007)
[54] C. Mukerji, & M.
Schudson, Rethinking Popular Culture; Contemporary
Perspectives in Cultural Studies, (London: University of California
Press,
1991)
[55] W. P. MacNeil, Lex Populi: The Jurisprudence of Popular
Culture, (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2007) p.
1-2
[56] Legal
Education and Training Review – Executive Summary,
letr.org.uk,
<http://letr.org.uk/the-report/executive-summary/executive-summary-english/index.html>
accessed 30 May 2014, See also - “Recommendation
6:
LSET schemes should
include
appropriate learning outcomes in respect of professional ethics, legal
research, and the demonstration of a range of written and oral
communication
skills.”
[57] See generally M.
Yorke & P.
Knight, Embedding Employability into the
Curriculum (York: HEA, 2006), S. Fallows
& C. Steven ‘Building
employability skills into the
higher education curriculum: a university-wide initiative’ (2000)
42 Education and Training 2, pp. 75 – 83
& D. O' Halloran ‘Task-based learning: a way of promoting
transferable
skills in the curriculum’ (2001) 53 Journal
of Vocational Education & Training 1
[58] See
generally
T. Holmes et al, Common Cause Handbook
(Machynlleth: PIRC, 2011) – A very interesting examination of
values and trends
in values. See also J. Michaelson, Measuring
Well-being” A Guide for Practitioners (Centre for
Well-Being, the New
Economics Foundation NEF, 2012)
[59]
Executive
Summary for
the Careers Education Benchmark Statement, acgas.co.uk, p. 1
<http://www.agcas.org.uk/assets/download?file=199&parent=127>
accessed 1 June 2014
[60] However, R. Posner, Law and Literature (London: Harvard
University Press, 1998) p. 22 does criticise the representation and
lack of
legal specialism found within the producers of cultural texts.
[61]See generally, J. A. Moon, A handbook of
reflective and experiential learning theory and practice
(London; New York: Routledge, 2006) p. 105 and J. A. Moon, Learning
journals: a handbook for reflective practice and professional
development, 2nd ed. (London: Routledge, 2006). More
specifically, Hutton, M. 'Learning from action: a conceptual
framework', in S.
Warner Weil and M. McGill (eds) Making
Sense of Experiential Learning (Milton Keynes: SRHE/Open University
Press,
1989), pp. 50-59
[62] Report of the Committee on Legal Education, Cmnd.
4595, 27-28 (London, 1971) (hereinafter Ormrod Report)
[63] C.
J.
Newbery-Jones and M. Travis, ‘Clone Wars: Past, Present and
Future
Representations of the Law Graduate’ (Forthcoming)
[64] A.
Boon and J.
Webb, ‘Legal Education and Training in England and Wales:
Back to the Future?’ (2008)
58(1) Journal of Legal Education, p. 90
[65] K. Economides,
‘Anglo-American Conceptions of Professional Responsibility
and the
Reform of Japanese Legal Education: Creating A Virtuous Circle?’
(2007) 41 (2) The Law Teacher 155
[66] A. Sherr, ‘Legal Education – Where Do We Begin?
Starting
Again…Again’ (July 1, 2005). Australasian Law Teachers
Association (ALTA)
Conference
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1883524>
accessed 28 July 2014
[67] Ibid, p. 18
[68] Ibid
[69] See
generally
A. Boon and J. Webb, ‘Legal Education
and Training in England and Wales: Back to the Future?’ (2008)
58(1) Journal of Legal
Education, 79-121 – It is clear that throughout history, the
professions have ensured that there was a distinct focus on
professional
education and substantive legal rules.
[70] Legal Education and Training Review –
Executive Summary, letr.org.uk,
<http://letr.org.uk/the-report/executive-summary/executive-summary-english/index.html>
accessed 30 May 2014, See also - “Recommendation
6:
LSET
schemes
should include appropriate learning outcomes in respect of professional
ethics,
legal research, and the demonstration of a range of written and oral
communication skills.”
[71] All
video content
was produced and edited by Elliott Richard Morgan
([email protected]) and was funded by the University of
Exeter
Technology-Enhanced Learning Fund and the University of Exeter Annual
Fund.
[72] C. J. Newbery-Jones
& S.
Prince, HEA Social Sciences Blog (June 24, 2013) – Preparing
First Year Law
Students for a Changing Legal World –
http://blogs.heacademy.ac.uk/social-sciences/2013/06/24/preparing-first-year-law-students-for-a-changing-legal-world/
[73] M.
Resnick,
‘Rethinking Learning in the Digital Age’ G. S. Kirkman et
al, The Global Information Technology Report
2001-2002, p. 32
[74] C. J. Newbery-Jones
& S.
Prince, HEA Social Sciences Blog (June 24, 2013) – Preparing
First Year Law
Students for a Changing Legal World –
http://blogs.heacademy.ac.uk/social-sciences/2013/06/24/preparing-first-year-law-students-for-a-changing-legal-world/
[75] Ibid
[76] G. Gibbs, Implications
of ‘Dimensions of Quality” in a Market Environment, HEA
Research Series (York: HEA, 2012) p. 31 –
<http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/documents/evidence_informed_practice/HEA_Dimensions_of_Quality_2.pdf>
accessed 30 May 2014
[77] The
Foundations
of Legal Knowledge are the core subjects that a student must complete
in order
to achieve a Qualifying Law Degree (QLD) as outlined by the Solicitors
Regulation Authority (SRA) and Bar Standards Board (BSB). These include
Contract Law, Constitutional and Administrative Law, Criminal Law, The
Law of
Torts, European Union Law, Land Law, and the Law of Trusts and Equity.
In the
University of Exeter Law School the Level 1 Foundational subjects were
Contract
Law, Constitutional and Administrative Law and Criminal Law. The
students also
undertook a compulsory Introduction to Law module and an elective
module in
Advocacy, Negotiation or Work Experience. These were also incorporated
in the
VLF project.
[78] VBR,
socialsciences.exeter.ac.uk/law, <http://socialsciences.exeter.ac.uk/law/vbr/>
accessed 30
May 2014
[79]
ELGG, About Us, elgg.org
<www.elgg.org/about.php> accessed 30 May 2014
[80] C. J. Newbery-Jones
& S.
Prince, HEA Social Sciences Blog (June 24, 2013) – Preparing
First Year Law
Students for a Changing Legal World –
<http://blogs.heacademy.ac.uk/social-sciences/2013/06/24/preparing-first-year-law-students-for-a-changing-legal-world/>
accessed 30 May 2014
[81] See generally, J. A. Moon, Learning
journals: a handbook for reflective practice and professional
development, 2nd ed. (London: Routledge, 2006)
[82] J. Biggs,
Teaching for Quality Learning at
University (Buckingham: SRHE and Open University Press, 1999) p. 27
[83] SANSspace Demonstration Site, sansspace.com,
<
http://www.sansspace.com> accessed 30 May 2014
[84] This
will be
developed in accordance with the UK Quality
Code for Higher Education, Part B: Assuring and enhancing academic
quality,
Chapter B6: Assessment of Students (2013) –
<http://www.qaa.ac.uk/Publications/InformationAndGuidance/Documents/B6.pdf>
accessed 1 June 2014
[85]
Natasha
Bellinger is a barrister at Magdalen Chambers, Exeter –
<http://www.magdalenchambers.co.uk/barrister-details/natasha-bellinger/>
accessed 18 September 2014
[86] For example, J. A. Moon, Learning journals:
a handbook for reflective practice and professional
development, 2nd ed. (London: Routledge, 2006)
[87] Legal Education and Training Review –
Executive Summary, letr.org.uk,
<http://letr.org.uk/the-report/executive-summary/executive-summary-english/index.html>
accessed 30 May 2014, See also - “Recommendation
6:
LSET
schemes
should include appropriate learning outcomes in respect of professional
ethics,
legal research, and the demonstration of a range of written and oral
communication skills.”
[88] Ibid
[89] Ibid
[90] T. Saddington, The
Nuts and Bolts of Experiential Learning
<https://www.academia.edu/913251/The_nuts_and_bolts_of_Experiential_Learning>
accessed 24 July 2014 - “experiential learning is a process in
which an
experience is reflected upon and then translated into concepts which in
turn
become guidelines for new experiences.”
[91] Legal Education and Training Review –
Executive Summary, letr.org.uk,
<http://letr.org.uk/the-report/executive-summary/executive-summary-english/index.html>
accessed 30 May 2014,
[92] L.
Harvey, Transitions from Higher
Education to Work: A briefing paper, online
publication, 2003 <http://bit.ly/oeCgqW>
accessed 30 May 2014, p. 3
[93] Legal Education and Training Review –
Executive Summary, letr.org.uk,
<http://letr.org.uk/the-report/executive-summary/executive-summary-english/index.html>
accessed 30 May 2014 – “that the centrality of professional ethics and
legal
values to practice across the regulated workforce is one of the
clearest
conclusions to be drawn from the research data, and yet the treatment
of
professional conduct, ethics and ‘professionalism’ is of
variable quality
across the regulated professions.”
[94] M. Resnick,
‘Rethinking Learning
in the Digital Age’ G. S. Kirkman et al, The
Global Information Technology Report 2001-2002
(Oxford: OUP, 2002) p. 32 –
<http://hasp.axesnet.com/contenido/documentos/harvard%20global%20it%20readiness.pdf#page=48>
accessed 30 May 2014 - “in
most places where new technologies are being used
in education today, the technologies are used simply to reinforce
outmoded
approaches to learning.”
[95] The
term
Bridge-Platform refers to the VBR acting as a transition platform
between
social media software (to which most undergraduate students are
accustomed) and
cloud-based collaborative working software (such as Microsoft
SharePoint). The
function of this as a bridge-software was to ease the transition
between
familiar and unfamiliar platforms, something that the VBR did
exceptionally
well.
[96] D. Schon, The
Reflective Practitioner How Professionals Think in Action (London:
Avebury,
1991)