{"id":3597,"date":"2009-05-04T11:33:56","date_gmt":"2009-05-04T15:33:56","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2014-04-03T13:58:29","modified_gmt":"2014-04-03T17:58:29","slug":"stetson-uses-technology-to-transform-legal-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stetson.edu\/law\/news\/index.php\/2009\/05\/04\/stetson-uses-technology-to-transform-legal-education\/","title":{"rendered":"Stetson Uses Technology to Transform Legal Education"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Davina Y. Gould BA \u201997<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"stetson_lawyer_vol49_coverimage\"<\/a>This article was first published in Stetson Lawyer<\/em>, Vol. 49.
\u203a\u203a Download PDF<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

A second-year J.D. student doing a summer clerkship in Washington. A veteran elder law attorney practicing in Texas. A hurricane victim whose home law school is temporarily closed for repairs.<\/p>\n

These students from very different backgrounds are among the many who have benefited from Stetson\u2019s expanding electronic education curriculum.<\/p>\n

Compared to traditional \u201clive\u201d classes, online courses at Stetson University College of Law are not easier\u2014in fact, far from it. Students and professors are discovering that the advantages of distance learning extend beyond flexibility in time and location.<\/p>\n

In contrast to the correspondence courses of the past, electronic education<\/span> is bringing distance learning to mainstream higher education. Nearly all public universities offer distance learning courses, and some top universities require students to take at least one distance education course to graduate.<\/p>\n

Traditional Courses Transformed<\/h3>\n

Stetson electronic education courses<\/a> work through a system that combines video-on-demand broadcasts of lectures and PowerPoint presentations with discussion boards. To make the best use of the technology, professors must re-think their strategy for each course.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrying to replicate a live classroom doesn\u2019t work,\u201d explained Ellen Podgor, Stetson\u2019s associate dean of faculty development and electronic education. \u201cThe key is not replicating a live classroom, but making a classroom that\u2019s better. What we\u2019re doing here is unique and cutting-edge.\u201d<\/p>\n

All classes are asynchronous, as students may listen to lectures and contribute to discussions 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The recorded lectures are high-quality productions, with the vast majority filmed in a studio with professional lighting. Most classes average around 17 students.<\/p>\n

Even though Stetson has no intentions of offering required J.D. or bar-subject courses online, the law school has discovered that student performance in electronic classes has been identical, and sometimes better, than in the live classroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are no absences, no way to miss class, no way to avoid interaction,\u201d Podgor said, noting that a survey of one online class found that 70 percent of students reported investing more time into their electronic courses, with the remainder reporting that the workload was the same.<\/p>\n

Associate Dean of Academics Mark Bauer noted another major advantage of using new media: \u201cThey have the ability to replay material and listen to lectures at their own pace. We find that comprehension is higher, and students do better on exams.\u201d<\/p>\n

Total Class Participation<\/h3>\n

In lieu of calling on students to answer in class, all Stetson electronic education courses require students to submit a number of posts to discussion forums each week.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou get to hear from students who may be shy or intimidated and don\u2019t usually speak up in regular classes,\u201d said Professor Rebecca Trammell, who taught Advanced Legal Research electronically this summer.<\/p>\n

Students have been enthusiastic about the format as well. \u201cThere was total class participation during this summer\u2019s media law class. I was able to hear the views and thoughts of all my classmates on every week, during every topic we were discussing,\u201d said Claudine Duclos, who took the Media Law Seminar online. \u201cIf I would ever have the choice of an electronic or live class covering the same subject, I would have to choose the electronic class.\u201d<\/p>\n

Professor Catherine Cameron discovered that online format led to more in-depth, intellectual conversations among students. \u201cThere was robust discussion; students had more time to deliberate on what to write. They would bring in case law cites and interesting information you couldn\u2019t expect in a classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adapting Traditional Classes<\/h3>\n

Even though the online format allows for most of the same communication as traditional classes through video, handouts and discussion forums, Stetson\u2019s asynchronous classes require professors to carefully plan each semester and become more accessible to students.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t take the same course you\u2019ve been teaching for 20 years and put it straight online. You have to think about how you\u2019re going to communicate this, and make sure the students understand what you\u2019re saying.\u201d Trammell said. <\/p>\n

Trammell added that the online format usually results in more faculty\/student engagement. Instead of two days of class and a few office hours a week, most professors respond to their online students more often because of increased e-mail and off-campus accessibility. <\/p>\n

Because lectures are usually recorded early in the semester, some professors find that they must plan their schedules in more detail. \u201cLive classes are really malleable\u2014we can tell students what to read for tomorrow,\u201d Cameron said.<\/p>\n

Lecturing for a camera creates an interesting dynamic for new online instructors. \u201cYou don\u2019t get an immediate reaction from the classroom, which takes some getting used to,\u201d described Bauer. \u201cTeaching online requires a complementary set of skills, but there are also new ones involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

New Academic Horizons<\/h3>\n

Another advantage of electronic learning is the ability to expand the market of potential students for each class.<\/p>\n

Several summer seminar courses have been taught online, increasing access for students in internships outside the Tampa Bay area or from other law schools. In the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Stetson also offered distance education for students from New Orleans area law schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is never a replacement for the classroom experience; it\u2019s an adjunct for where there could be no class,\u201d Bauer said. He cited Stetson\u2019s new LL.M. in elder law<\/a> and M.J. in law and aging<\/a> programs as examples of Stetson extending its reach.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a remarkable amount of talent and experience here in regard to elder law. It was desirable to offer an LL.M. program, but how many people in Tampa Bay need an elder law degree? Even if it\u2019s several hundred, once we\u2019ve taught them, we\u2019re done.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough the online program, we\u2019re reaching the U.S., and the entire world, for everyone who desires advanced training in elder law, but can\u2019t take a year off and relocate to attend class. Distance learning allows us to bring education to attorneys wherever they are. We couldn\u2019t even conceive of offering this degree if it were held on campus, and that\u2019s exciting,\u201d said Bauer.<\/p>\n

The system also is used for Stetson\u2019s Advocacy Resource Center<\/a>, a free subscription service for public service attorneys nationwide, and for the Overview of the U.S. Legal System program, which is a 17-part lecture series that will be available for pre-law students, foreign lawyers and foreign government personnel in 2009. In addition to the online lectures, Stetson is publishing a book with LexisNexis to accompany the course.<\/p>\n

Stetson remains committed to the highest standards of legal education regardless of how courses are delivered, according to Dean Podgor. \u201cOur strategy is to do it better, or don\u2019t do it at all.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stetson electronic education courses work through a system that
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