Jeanne Eicks, Vermont Law School: “Game On! Educational Games for Law Students”
Jeanne Eicks is the managing director for the Center for Legal Innovation at Vermont Law School. She gave her presentation, “Game On! Educational Games for Law Students,” with the Teaching for the 21st Century Pod at the 2014 Igniting Law Teaching conference. In this talk, she asserts that we live in a world of increasing distraction and complexity, where educational efforts must cut through the noise to reach students. She thinks that serious games are one way to address these challenges. Serious games use advanced simulations and skill-based learning systems that are self-diagnostic, interactive, fun, and competitive with a focus on providing the user an immersive experience in a safe simulation style environment. Eicks explains that games create a contextual learning environment that enhances in-class learning. Game On!
This video is part of a video collection from the Igniting Law Teaching, hosted by LegalED at American University Washington College of Law. Responding to the calls for legal education reform, the conference -- the first of its kind -- created a forum for professors experimenting with cutting edge technologies and techniques in law teaching with the goal of spreading their ideas to the broader community. The talks were modeled on TEDx Talks, with each speaker on stage alone, giving a well scripted and performed talk about an aspect of law school pedagogy. The goal of LegalED is to curate a growing collection of short, 10-minute videos on law school-related pedagogy that will inspire innovation and experimentation by law professors to bring more active learning and practical skills training into the law school curriculum. This videos, and others like it, are available on LegalED, a website developed by a community of law professors interested in using online technologies to facilitate more active, problem-based learning in the classroom, in addition to more assessment and feedback.
At Vermont Law School, Professor Eicks teaches eLawyering and eDiscovery. She engages law students in collaborative legal technology projects with industry partners such as her current Google funded eGovernance research. Professor Eicks recently authored “Evidence Challenge,” a serious game published by LexisNexis in 2014. She has been CEO, CIO, and the chair of a Computer Science department, and enjoys making wine in her spare time.
LegalED aims to harness the power of the internet for legal educations. It facilitates blended or flipped learning – by migrating lectures to the web, LegalED frees up classtime for active learning that challenges students to learn the essential lawyering competencies while they are in law school. Professors may assign the videos in any combination for students to view outside of the classroom for active learning that challenges students to learn the essential lawyering competencies while they are in law school. LegalED seeks to develop and maintain a vibrant online community of teachers and students of the law, creating a central hub for the community. Through the video collection, teachers can be inspired to borrow, adapt, and bring great teaching moments into their own courses. With an internet platform, LegalED opens up formerly isolated classrooms by sharing showcasing, celebrating and inspiring innovative teaching. Simply put, the vision of LegalED is to inspire innovation in legal education. Join the movement!
The LegalED 2015 Igniting Law Teaching conference will take place on Friday, March 20th, from 9am to 6pm. Register to attend in person or live stream the event.