Technology Initiatives Enhancing N.C. Law Schools

If you compare the technology in law school classrooms from a few years ago to the current state, you would immediately notice drastic changes in physical structure and even the lecturing style of professors. Each school year brings new technological ideas and innovations that can be utilized to supplement instruction and offer a plethora of options for students looking to maximize and enhance their instructional time.

However, many questions arise as you add technology in the classroom and offer virtual, distance education classes. These issues range from whether the traditional professor-student interaction suffers to whether they meet the American Bar Associations standards of accreditation.

Technology in the Classroom
Patrick Hetrick, professor of law at Campbell, stated in the syllabus for his distance education course, Advanced Real Property, that “there are advantages and disadvantages to online learning – but let’s face it – the law school curriculum of the future will soon contain many online or distance education opportunities, a process that presents both challenges and opportunities for the learning environment.” 

North Carolina Central University moved toward the future when it unveiled a new virtual classroom located in a custom designed space on the lower level of the law school. This teaching space is outfitted with two 54” high-definition plasma screens and a Smart Technology Symposium that is used as an electronic white board. The Polycom Desktop Video Conferencing solution allows for up to 32 students at 32 different locations to be on screen with the professor in the teaching space simultaneously.

“We are finding that our students want more ways to learn that incorporate the technological background that they were raised in,” Dean Raymond Pierce said. “This new technology allows for the professor to see each student’s face and name in real time in addition to being able to ask questions, and the professor can send content during the lecture to each of the student’s computers. We feel the inclusion of this technology during instruction is a growing emphasis for many law schools.”

John Leydon, vice president for information resources and chief information officer for the University of North Carolina system, feels that an increase in technology is a positive trend for institutions of higher education.

“With the advent of new technologies, it is important to embrace new ways of including it in the classroom,” Leydon said. “We are now able to offer students access to educational instruction and material in a virtual setting. We are upgrading and adding facilities across the UNC system that allow us to take full advantage of these technologies.”

Each of North Carolina’s seven ABA accredited law schools have some form of technology already in place to enhance and supplement instruction, including wireless Internet access, multi-camera recording, live streaming broadcasts and lecture video replays and podcasts.

Campbell has 13 classrooms and three courtrooms with a wide range of technology installed. Mark Gibbons, director of technology, has worked to design a system of cameras in every classroom and courtroom that can be remotely controlled and recorded for synchronous or asynchronous playback.

During a recent tour at Campbell, Gibbons showed off the technology found in their three courtrooms as well. Each room is outfitted with camera systems, flat screen TVs with an evidence camera and touch screens for the attorneys. Full control of what is viewed on the screens is handled by a computer that the judge has access to.

CharlotteLaw provides nine classrooms and a courtroom with a full A/V package for mock trials. That courtroom was recently used during Mock Trial Training for teachers through the NCBA’s Law-Related Education office.

Duke now features in-room videoconferencing or recording capabilities in 13 of its 15 classrooms in addition to wireless microphones, webcasting, document cameras and video playback capabilities. They also have a courtroom that can be used for moot court, similar to the setup at Campbell and Charlotte.

Elon utilizes Blackboard or TWEN (online course management sites) to post PowerPoints, articles, assignments and podcasts. One of the main uses of technology in Elon’s seven classrooms and two courtrooms is the recording of weekly podcasts covering key points from a topic that can be supplemental to the original lecture. Elon also has had classes that featured a guest lecturer virtually via video conferencing and access to a courtroom for teaching purposes.

UNC frequently records lectures on a regular basis in its classrooms. In addition, guest speakers are featured in certain classes via videoconferencing.

Wake Forest primarily uses two methods of combining technology with traditional teaching methods in “hybrid educational experiences” in its 13 classrooms. Three of those classrooms are specifically designed as moot/mock trial courtrooms.

Distance Education
Most of the law schools in North Carolina offer only one or two distance education courses. Some professors fear that losing the face-to-face interaction and classic teaching style offers a lesser learning experience. 

“The distance education option is becoming more and more of an expectation among college students in general and law school students,” said Doug Edmunds, assistant dean for information technology at the UNC School of Law.

However, the biggest impediment for adding more distance education courses is the ABA’s Standard 306.

Standard 306 states that “distance education is an educational process characterized by the separation, in time or place, between instructor and student.” Law schools that are accredited by the ABA can award credit for distance education with the primary restriction of Standard 306(d):

A law school shall not grant a student more than four credit hours in any term, nor more than a total of 12 credit hours, toward the J.D. degree for courses qualifying under the Standard.

There are ways that law schools can include elements of distance education in their traditional lectures without fear of losing ABA accreditation, as ABA interpretation 306-3 outlines:

Courses in which two-thirds or more of the course instruction consists of regular classroom instruction shall not be treated as “distance education” for purposes of Standards 306(d) and (e) even though they also include substantial on-line interaction or other common components of “distance education” courses so long as such instruction complies with the provisions of subsections (1) and (2) of Standard 306(c).  

Future of Technology
Many law school representatives feel that the next trend in classroom technology, and what all of the law schools are currently utilizing in some form, will be “hybrid” or “blended” classes that offer a mixture of distance education and traditional lectures.

“We think that for some time virtual classes will be a supplemental way to teach classes rather than a replacement,” said Suzanne Reynolds, executive dean for academic affairs for the Wake Forest University School of Law.

Wayne Miller, assistant dean for academic technologies at Duke University School of Law, has a similar approach to using technology in the classroom as a supplemental tool. 

“As we currently use videoconferencing, Web conferencing and other technologies, we see the technology as supplemental to, rather than displacing, the traditional classroom.”
UNC is in the process or researching and implementing new technology in its classrooms, as well.

“There is a demand for more technology in the classroom and a greater expectation that these classrooms should be state-of-the-art,” said Edmunds. “I think the key is really blending both approaches. There are two-to-three face-to-face meetings each year but the bulk of the course is delivered online and I think there is a lot to be said about that approach.”

NCCU law professor James P. Beckwith Jr. recently presented a paper, “Rebooting Legal Education: Infrastructure and Engaged Teaching in a Smart Classroom,” and in it he discusses the changing landscape of technology and how it affects the quality and reach of law school curriculum.

“Technology is not a panacea, and, as suggested in a major discussion (Best Practices for Legal Education, 2007), time-honored best practices remain at the core of engaged teaching,” Beckwith writes. “Technology should enhance, not supplant, the best of classroom teaching.”