Distance Learning Best Practice Recommendations for Legal Education: The Road Travelled & The Journey Yet Ahead

Speaker(s):

The Work Group of Distance Learning for Legal Education (Work Group) is pleased to have the opportunity to share with the academy its Best Practice Recommendations of Distance Learning for Legal Education 2.0 (2015-16), which builds upon the previously released A Summary of Delivery Models, Regulatory Issues, and Recommended Practices. This presentation will be led by Prof. William Byrnes of Texas A&M Law School of Law and Assistant Dean Jason Fiske (Thomas Jefferson). The final 2015 version (137 pages) will be published by CALI after the CALI conference for wide distribution.
In 2014 the American Bar Association (ABA) revised Standard 306 “Distance Education”, expanding opportunities and flexibility for institutions to leverage technological advances within the JD academic curriculum. Unlike other sectors in higher education, law schools have little experience with distance learning or online education. The American Bar Association initially acquiesced to an online LL.M. in 1998. Yet, it is since the initial inception of the Work Group in 2010 that most of the 48 LL.M.s offered online by 30 ABA full approved law schools have been founded. As of 2015, a majority of ABA law schools offer the opportunity for an online academic experience for J.D. students. One ABA law school has received a variance to offer a hybrid, partially residential / partially online, JD.
Deans, Administrators, and Faculty from at least 83 ABA law schools and other stakeholders, such as foreign and U.S. academic institutions, publishers, and technology companies, collaboratively engaged in the discussions, writing, and editing of these recommendations. These best practice recommendations are either adoptable by institutions and stakeholders through tailored adaption to form a component of its Distance Education policy, or at a bare minimum present an institution a starting point for developing alternative policies.
The Work Group of Distance Learning for Legal Education emerged, and initially met at the 2010 Future Ed conferences of April and October. From 2011 it has met bi-annually, hosted by several law schools, in a workshop format, as well as gathered for informational breakfasts at the American Association of Law Schools annual congress. Representatives of the academy have had the opportunity to exchange information on the breadth of current practice and to explore issues around developing a set of best practices.
William Byrnes & Jason Fiske will present the report findings, how to become involved with the Work Group, and then open a dicussion with the attending delegates about issued addressed within the report. The collaborative work for the next version (3.0) of the recommendations will occur from 2016 through 2017. Information about the Work Group of Distance Learning for Legal Education is available via http://www.wgdlle.org/.
Session Paper download here: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2487679

Slides and Documents: