LegalEDweb

This video is created and produced by Professor Michele Pistone as part of LegalED, legaledweb.com, an online repository for resouces for legal education, developed by law professors. How can flipped learning be useful in legal education and how can it be applied to the law school classroom? Flipping the classroom can take a lot of different forms – it can be used to: 1. to reinforce learning after class -- professors can assign videos for students to watch after class, to help clarify and/or reinforce the doctrinal concepts that were taught in class, and help to build the students’ overall doctrinal knowledge. 2. students could be assigned to watch videos before class to lay a foundation and thus facilitate a higher level of socratic dialogue – when professors assign videos for students to watch before class, students have time to think about and reflect on the lesson before arriving in the classroom. That way the videos may reinforce the concepts in the assigned reading and when students come into class – having heard the lesson on the reading before class -- they will be ready to engage in a higher level of Socratic dialogue and discussion of assigned hypothetical and in-class problems. 3. to supplement in-class discussions with different perspectives -- Professors may also assign videos prepared by other professors to supplement their own lectures, so that their students can hear different points of view on a particular case or topic or hear from experts on topics beyond the professor’s own field of expertise. 4. n the other end of the spectrum – other professors may blend videos with in-class activities – flipped learning is a way to integrate essential lawyering skills into every course -- Students could be required to review videos on substantive law and on practical lawyering skills as homework. Then, classtime can be devoted to simulations, exercises, small group discussions, or role plays in which the students apply the material they learned on video to engage in essential lawyering skills – such as negotiations or oral arguments. In this way, flipped learning is not only changing where certain topics are covered, it is moving the professor from a position at the head of the class, to a hands-on coach at the side of the student, a coach who works one on one with students, or with small groups of students, during assigned classtimes. And it promotes collaboration and team building among students and provides opportunities for formative feedback and assessment along the way, as the student is learning and applying the material. All of these methods give students additional resources and new ways to learn all the topics they need to master during law school – such as through application, analysis, evaluation, as well as through the creation of relevant legal documents, negotiations, or other activities. Visit LegalEDweb.com today!

This video is created and produced by Professor Michele Pistone as part of LegalED, legaledweb.com, an online repository for resouces for legal education, developed by law professors. Law professors hear a lot about how law schools need to adapt what and how they teach to the changes taking place in the legal profession. Employers and alumni, and even journalists, all tell us that law schools need to do more to help students integrate the legal doctrine that has traditionally been the focus of legal education with instruction in practical lawyering skills and the values and ethics of the profession. They further suggest that integration can occur if law schools teach students how the doctrine they are learning is actually used by lawyers in practice. The problem law professors face is how to fit in their instruction all the relevant substantive law and training of practical skills and professional values, without raising costs. Flipping the law school classroom may be the answer! Flipped learning blends online instruction with face-to-face instruction. It uses the internet for what it does well – information and knowledge delivery. When relevant information (say a video that supplements and explains assigned readings) is delivered by online videos – then, face-to-face classtime can be devoted to learning activities that not only reinforce the knowledge, but also ask students to use their new learning actively -- to analyze, evaluate, apply or create material – all of which reinforces learning. Visit LegalED, legaledweb.com, today!!