Monday, October 28, 2013

The Futures of Legal Education and the Legal Profession 2013 CEPLER Conference - The Perfect Storm of Legal Education

On Friday 18th October I gave a talk at CEPLER 2013 in which I outlined the work I have done in legal education, along with ideas and views I have on the topic.

Here are the slides from the talk:




You can also see the Twitter back channel feedback from the talk here.


I covered many aspects within my talk about higher education bubbles, student zeitgeist, learning design etc, etc. As promised what follows is a list of recommended resources to widen knowledge on these topics.

I have found Sfard (1998) On Two Metaphors of Learning an extremely useful paper on thinking about and opening discourse about learning not being uni directional from the tutor.

I think seeking out student opinion and listening to the zeitgeist of that experience is important, I often use the Youtubers videos on education to illustrate this, particularly Dan Brown's An Open Letter to Educators and Suli Breaks I Will Not Let An Exam Result Decide My FateMessage to Those Struggling in Education and Why I Hate School But Hate Education

Books about Higher Ed bubble, marketisation and failings that are recommended reading:

Molesworth et al The Marketisation of Higher Education and the Student as Consumer
Arum & Roksa Academically Adrift
Harlan Reynolds The Higher Education Bubble
Christensen & Eyring The Innovative University
Siemens How Large Systems Change
Leadership Foundation The New HE Climate: Disruptive Inovations
Ernst & Young University of the Future
Barber, Donnelly & Rizvi The Avalanche is Coming

Also be wary of the totality of the "education is broken" meme prevalent in education, predominantly pushed by publishers and venture capitalists all ready with a "solution" - most of these themes are brilliantly pulled apart by Martin Weller at: Broken Education Tumblr and it's also worth keeping an eye on The MOOC Research Initiative to avoid the MOOC Hype.

I first experienced MOOCs by attending Connectivism and Connective Knowledge (2008) which was where the term "MOOC" was first coined, it opened my eyes to the work of Stephen DownesGeorge Siemens and Dave Cormier - pioneers of new pedagogic approaches such as Connectivism and Rhizomatic Education. This course ignited a fire of exploration about education that no traditional model could have achieved, it opened up a great discourse with global educators along with connecting me to further interesting work in educational technology and innovation. That year I started an annual mind map of the things I learned. I strongly recommend doing it and using it for reflection. It also got me thinking about object orientated design with my colleague:




Around the same time as I absorbed and processed all of this I made a video of stats for legal education that was kind of a meme in education at the time, whilst the stats have evolved, as have some of the thinking, the message remains fairly strong still.

This all then lead to studying an MA in Online Education and Distance Learning (which I strongly recommend the modules of for anyone interested in educational innovation and development) and reading further about Learning Design:

Open University Learning Design Initiative
Learning Design for 21st Century Curriculum
Learning Design Support Environment

Laurillard (2001) Rethinking University Teaching
Laurillard (2012) Teaching as a Design Science
Wiliam (2011) Embedded Formative Assessment
Schell The Art of Game Design
Gray, Brown & Macanuffo Gamestorming

When you mix learning design, pedagogic theory and neuroscience together, you start to get a compelling picture of techniques, strategies and approaches that are effective.

Mayer & Moreno (2003) 9 Ways to Reduce Cognitive Load in Multimedia Learning
Saljo (2010) Digital Tools and Challenges to Institutional Traditions of Learning
Krashen Comprehensible Input
Dror  Making Learning Memorable
Clark (2010) Don't Lecture Me
Borden (2009) What Learners Need
Schell Learning is Beautiful
Hellinger 5 Essentials of Personalised Learning
Betts The 2 Sigma Problem
Mitra School in the Cloud
Siemens Intro to Learning Analytics

I strongly believe the world of work is changing at a radical pace and will do for our children. That requires us to really engage with what education they need, be it legal or general.

PSFK The Future of Work Report
Snowden The Cynefin Framework
Lima The Power of Networks
Betts Learning Locker
Robinson Changing Education Paradigms

I hope these resources and readings are helpful. I try to bookmark interesting articles etc on Delicious and need to update links again soon, if you want to delve deeper, dive into the Rabbit Hole

Here are some examples of the work done at The University of Law on the LLB:





The next educational adventures are working on Law Without Walls new LWOWx and a MOOC that embraces the ideas of Wayseeing amongst other exciting challenges. I'll keep the blog posted.

For more coverage of CEPLER2013:

Law Sync CEPLER Pt 1 Law Sync CEPLER Pt 2

Ed Lines CEPLER Reflections Pt 1 Ed Lines CEPLER Reflections Pt 2

Law Sync Storify of CEPLER Twitter Back Channel

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