E-portfolios within professional legal training
•Télécharger en tant que PPT, PDF•
1 j'aime•878 vues
Slides for the presentation by Patricia McKellar (UKCLE) and Karen Barton (Glasgow Graduate School of Law) at the Higher Education Academy's ePortfolios for the 21st century meeting on 23 April 2008.
![E-portfolios ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Recommandé
Recommandé
Contenu connexe
Similaire à E-portfolios within professional legal training
Similaire à E-portfolios within professional legal training (20)
Plus de UK Centre for Legal Education
Plus de UK Centre for Legal Education (20)
Dernier
Dernier (20)
E-portfolios within professional legal training
- 1. E-Portfolios within Professional Legal Training Karen Barton, Glasgow Graduate School of Law University of Strathclyde Patricia McKellar, UK Centre for Legal Education, University of Warwick
Notes de l'éditeur
- Introductory section. The lifelong learning initiative is established and gaining momentum. E-portfolios are a logical part of this as they allow learners not only to evidence their journey and achievements for third parties, but also for themselves. If they can see how far they have come, that can only help the reflective process and encourage them to consider their learning needs. This can only move them forward and make them more self-aware. Because e-ports are portable, they can help ensure that learning really is an ongoing process which can continue even when no formal education is taking place.
- When we look at the professions we are looking at the challenge of teaching people to understand, to act, and to be integrated into a complex of knowing, doing and being.- this is how you act as a professional person. Signature pedagogy- a mode of teaching that has become inextricably identified with preparing people for a particular profession. Signature pedagogyy is not a replacement for deep content knowledge which is foundational, necessary but not sufficient. The SP of profs are designed to transform knowledge attained to knowledge in use, and to create the basis for new kinds of understanding that can only be realised experientially and reflectively. It will be distinctive to that profession and will be pervasive within teaching and learning methodology of that profession- ie what it means to think like a lawyer. The way to do that is through reflection We need to develop these meta cognitive skills, develop understanding of experiences which will allow the process of reflection. This in turn will enable the professional to become more intuitive and builds identity, character and values. It has three characteristics: 1 it’s distinctive to that profession, ( certain things will be more effective in particular professions) 2. It’s pervasive within the curriculum. There are certain continuities which thread thro the program which are part of what it means to learn to ‘think like a lawyer’ 3. Antoher aspect of pervasivenes which cuts across inst not only courses. What are the characteristics of these pedagogies?- they are habitual, routine; both students and their thought processs are made visible in the signature pedagogies of the professions. visible, accountable, interdependent, collaborative, emotional, unpredictable and affect laden These pedagogies can be further labelled with 3 descriptors: Pedagogies of uncertainty, pedagogies of engagement and pedagogies of formation. This last can build identity, character, dispositions and values. They teach the habits of the mind because of the power associated with the routinisation of analysis.. They also teach the habits of the heart because of the marriage of reason, interdependence and emotion. Important to development of professionals because it enables us to learn from experience Students need to develop meta-cognitive skills because these skills affect the ability to understand and make sense of experience and are essential to the process of reflection and working in situations of uncertainty Reflective practitioners draw on intuition to do what feels right Asking students why they behaved or interpreted a situation in a particular way provides useful insights not only into how much and what they understand but also to extent to which they draw on intuition Lee Schulman
- Reflection allows a professional to learn from experience. Reflection allows students to draw on experience and gives them the ability to understand so that they can deal with uncertain or unfamiliar situations. If they are reflective they are more likely to know instinctively what is right We need to think about ‘intuition, insight and artistry’ to develop not just competent practitioners but practitioners who are also reflective and ethical. Can’t just focus on equipping them with a set of ‘legal skills’ but should also seek to develop values, attitudes and an ethical approach to professionalism- in other words preparing them to survive in Schon’s swamp. In legal practice this requires them to meet both their professional and commercial aspirations. We need to develop these meta cognitive skills, develop understanding of experiences which will allow the process of reflection. This in turn will enable the professional to become more intuitive and builds identity, character and values.
- The wbl component would give LPC gradfuates with relevant pratical legal experience the opportinity to seek qualifaction without the need for a training contract. Key concenr was how it mighjt eb possible to assess trainees agaisnt the standards. Respondents were unconvinced that a standard e-port tool would be desirable ot that this was the only or effecive method of assessment Reinforedvde the vie that SRA was suggestig an overly beaureau cratic sysmte. Needdewd more flexibility Outcome sbased approach would provide flexibility- accreditied traiing firms could continue to develop and design their own training porgrammes. Others who do not wish to go down this route – the SRA will offer accreditied professional learning and assessment providers.. Employer still havs to be involved and supportive
- The objectives are very timely, particularly as the new standards for the LPC include an explicit requirement that legal professionals should be able to reflect on their work and understand their learning needs. As legal professional education changes, including a potentially fragmented LPC as proposals for the disengagement of the electives take shape, having a portfolio becomes more useful than ever as there is a need to pull together the learner’s experience from many sources in order to demonstrate that the outcomes of their training have been met. There are already requirements that learning in the workplace be evidenced and continued once the legal professional is qualified. This, combined with the requirement for reflection and self-awareness on the part of the learner means that the e-portfolio could be regarded not as extra work, but as carrying out the work which must be done already, more effectively, thoroughly and in a way which helps the individual to develop their professional skills for their own benefit and their employer’s.
- Developing a model which allows the learner to do this means that they have an effective learning tool for use throughout their life in the law. It also allows those who decide that the law is not for them, at whatever stage that happens, to use their work as evidence of a strong transferable skills base to demonstrate to an employer from another field, or to clients, that they are capable of making the transition from law in a positive way, bringing valuable knowledge and skills with them.
- The project partners are as set out on the slide. Two of the partners, GGSL and Oxilp teach the LPC and the DLP. All students are post-graduate students who have either studied for a law degree or have undertaken a conversion course following a non law degree. Westminster have introduced e-ports as part of their PDP system for undergraduates.
- Some detail on the Ardcalloch project and the method of teaching. Essentially, the transactional learning environment mimics legal practice as far as possible and allows the students to develop their skills. It also allows them to develop skills such as time management, team working and judgment, just as they would if they were running real cases in a law firm. This is a very effective form of learning as it allows them to experience practice and learn from it, but in a supported environment.,
- The project has now been running for 3 years. Students were introduced to the e-portfolio and supported in using it as part of their course. Local law firms were approached to participate in the project when their trainees began their training contracts. Five firms agreed to take part and the project is now running with former students in the partner firms. Students who had been involved in the project felt the need to reflect once they started their training contracts. The law firms were concerned about the time involved and the potential benefits to them of involvement in the project.
- The initial feedback from the GGSL project is set out on the slide. The findings show that although the need for regular reviews and feedback mean that a significant amount of time is involved, it is a very effective way of learning. Once the students move into a practice environment, confidentiality can be an issue with regard to obtaining evidence to include in the portfolio.
- The LPC is the equivalent of the DLP taught by GGSL. All students are postgraduates with either a law degree or a conversion course if the student’s degree was not law. Oxilp has been involved in a project on this topic before, but that related more to the development of a piece of software to be used as a portfolio, rather than investigating the nature of a portfolio’s place in legal education and training. The previous project involved adapting a mindmapping software package (VMAP) to be used as a visual portfolio. In the first year of the current project, students were asked to consider using VMAP or an alternative, ELGG (which is apparently named after a village in Switzerland!). The students preferred ELGG, which is a social networking site and, like all Oxilp’a software, opensource.
- This is an example of a very basic portfolio written in VMAP. The files are stored in the ‘branches’ which can be paired with the student’s reflections on both their work and any feedback they have received from a tutor or a peer.
- This is an example of an ELGG account in which the student can store their own work and invite contacts to view it. The student has to invite the contact (a tutor or peer) to view – the work is not publicly accessible. The view of the volunteer students who considered the two formats was that they preferred the ELGG format as they felt it looked more professional and that firms would find it more acceptable. They felt that firms should use portfolios as part of personal development planning and felt that ELGG would be more likely to fit this role.
- VMAP was developed in a JISC project led by Goldsmith’s College in London. It was used in the first year of the current project in a limited pilot in all 3 terms of 06/07 and in a cohort-wide project in term 3 using the elective subjects. As already considered, the students expressed a preference for ELGG.
- The initial pilot involved using volunteers throughout the year and opening the pilot up by expanding it into two electives in term 3. The electives were chosen as they covered both commercial and non-commercial students. Take up was not high, possibly because they were offered the option of submitting their reflections on their work, rather than being required to do so. They were given areas on Moodle, Oxilp’s open source course management system into which to upload their work, together with their reflections on that work and on any feedback they had received. Because the portfolio is skills based, they were encouraged to upload those assignments (formative only, due to the non-compulsory nature of the portfolio in the course) which involved skills development such as drafting and writing assignments.
- Students were asked to consider the key issues that had come out of the initial pilot. They were very concerned about privacy, just as firms were concerned about confidentiality for clients. Students wanted to be able to choose levels of access and to allow different people access to different things if they wished. For example, they wanted to be able to ensure that employers could see pieces of work which showcased their talents, not those which indicated any weaknesses. The portfolio had to be intuitive or students would not use it. It also had to be portable, so something which was web-based was preferred, rather than software which would have to be installed on employer’s or other institutions’ computers. The pilot also needed to show students how to use the portfolio reflectively and that benefits that this use would bring to them.
- In approaching law firms, it was clear that they need to be convinced of the potential benefits to them – better training, more effective trainees who can learn from their experiences and apply their knowledge in different contexts for the benefit of clients and the firm. Firms would need to be offered support for the portfolios to minimise possible extra work and this could include hosting if necessary.
- As part of the project, a template was developed to help students to reflect on their work. Students felt that they did not really know where to begin when asked to reflect. The initial template was amended in accordance with student feedback – for example, ‘What 3 things did I learn from this piece of work?’ became ‘what did I learn from this piece of work’. Students also asked for a question to be added about the wider use of what they had learnt. Students also said that they felt that the ‘any other comments’ box was important as it gave them a space to be more creative once they were used to the process. They were offered two versions, one with boxes to complete and one without. The questions were otherwise the same. Student preferred the boxed format.
- The statistics speak for themselves, but one interesting point is that 80% had not used formal reflection before and their feedback indicates that they did not consider that they had really used reflection before, formal or otherwise. This seems odd as the learning cycle cannot really be completed without some form of reflection. It is possible that the process was undertaken, but not consciously so, or perhaps not recognised as such.
- These comments again refer to this idea that reflection is something new. The encouraging thing is that the value of reflection is recognised, even if it is not recognised as something they have done before.
- The students’ comments demonstrate that they think that reflection as well as collecting reflections and linking them with tutor feedback are valuable to their learning. They also show an understanding that this need not be an onerous task – little and often would be most beneficial.
- The students’ thoughts on their work are interesting. They are very honest, although in their feedback on the project, many of them expressed concerns about showing weakness in practice by reflecting openly on their mistakes.
- This screenshot shows the reflection section of the Vault – part of Oxilp’s Moodle course management system. Each year has a Vault, with an area for each course including course materials, links, RSS feeds, audio files, interactive materials and so on. The reflection section includes a short paper on reflection to explain what we mean by the terms, together with links to more material on remote websites such as UKCLE. It also includes a template for reflection (the template developed with the students in year one of the project), links to ELGG and an article on ELGG in the Guardian on the use of the software in education. There is also a section for feedback using a multiple choice quiz to allow students to give their views.
- Westminster’s project focused on undergraduates and was rolled out coursewide as part of their PDP program. The students liked the convenience of an online portfolio, rather than a paper one. They received a lot of tutor feedback, including feedback on their journal, which they kept and submitted through the university’s VLE. The students recognised the importance of tutor feedback and appreciated its value.
- The project continued into the second semester, with students using the portfolio in a work placement module and in their assessment. This involved working with employers as part of the project.
- The lessons learned so far are set out on the slide and they are fairly self-explanatory. The most challenging part of the project is engaging the profession. Essentially, this needs to be done with care, but the most important point is to demonstrate the benefit of using an e-portfolio in terms of a more effective learning experience for trainee solicitors. If the trainees are better able to reflect on their work and take forward the lessons they have learnt, they will perform better for their employers and their clients.
- Each project partner used broadly the same form of feedback, although the questions were adapted very slightly where necessary to suit the circumstances of each partner. The project leaders in each institution were very much facilitators and students were encouraged to be open. Answers to questions written on flip chart paper were written onto post-it notes by students and stuck onto the appropriate sheet. This allowed them a degree of anonymity and provided a permanent record for the project leader to use to compile their report. This was accompanied by an open discussion.
- Students’ comments indicate that they found the experience generally beneficial. They clearly found it useful to be able to ‘take a step back’ and could see how this would benefit their learning. Student comment: breaking down into sections was good for reflection Mentor comment: good to see development and progress- better than a paper version