If Socrates Only Knew: Expanding Law Class Discourse
Socratic Method: There are no right answers!
Law School Computer Committee
Socrates: Never Stop Searching
Brother Ty’s Sixth Law of Spiritual and Financial Growth
Lawyering Skills
Role of Technology: What we did
Pedagogical Justification
Active and Collaborative Learning Theory
MacCrate: Fundamental Skills Every Lawyer Needs
The Lawyering Skills Experiment
What we had: J. Reuben Clark Law School
Demographics--who were these students?
Technical Requirements
Microsoft Word97: Collaborative Editing Features
Daimon: Socrates only knew in hindsight
Assessment and Student Response
The Questions
“It was wonderful to get edits from other members of the class and be able to integrate their changes so easily. The editing of other’s work and your own online makes for a very different writing experience. The comment and highlight features allow you to insert questions, notes to yourself, things to do, etc., that stay with the document through various drafts so nothing is forgotten. I found it easier to E-mail a document that to print it out and deliver it.”
“I had never used Word before and found it relatively easy to figure out without much training.”
“It was very helpful because: 1) feedback response time was prompt; 2) we received more feedback than usual and from many different people; 3) we were able to edit different people’s work, which helped us note our own mistakes; 4) no paper and printing hassle; 5) it was much easier to make comments on other’s papers; and 6) it was much easier to incorporate other people’s corrections into my own paper. When you have a lot of paper to deal with, most people don’t bother. This was virtually hassle free and more effective.”
Closing Thoughts: Do something!
Kristin Gerdy Lawyering Skills Program J. Reuben Clark Law School Brigham Young University gerdyk@lawgate.byu.edu (801) 378-3623
Email: bmaster@cali.org
Home Page: http://www.cali.org/98conf/