Law Schools Meet Ed-Tech: Innovation of the Platform

Hundreds of millions of private and public sector dollars are pouring into educational technology (“Ed-Tech”).  Ed-Tech, broadly speaking, is the use of technology to enhance the teaching and learning process.  Ed-Tech has progressed far beyond posting recorded lectures and PowerPoints on the web.  That is Ed-Tech 1.0.  We are in the dawn of Ed-Tech 2.0, in which “huge advances in computing power,” combined with advances in simulations, digital gaming, and social collaborative networking, among other technologies, have raised the capabilities of Ed-Tech to new heights.  Inspired by the promise of Ed-Tech, the venture world injected nearly half a billion dollars in 2011 into the industry through 80+ investment deals;  the United States government is expending substantial federal monies to fund programs designed to enrich education through technology; and colleges and universities have leapt into the fray too.  The time is ripe for law schools to enter the mix.  

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You Get What You Pay for in Legal Education but ...

This is a terrific piece by the Dean of UCI law school in which he takes on (and agrees with many of) the criticisms and points about law school failing.  But he also has the courage to address where he thinks much of the criticism is wrong.  Further he is open enough to disclose some cost figures for operating his school.  And he makes a good case.

What is missing from the vast majority of all the recent articles and debates on the failings of law school however, is the potential role technology or ed-tech could play.  By integrating ed-tech, law schools could lower costs while maintaining, if not increasing, the overall value of the education.  

It seems many of the solutions posed by many are too heavily focused on human capital and curriculum.  Why not explore enhancing the delivery of education beyond the in-person talking head or group leader (clinics) and consider what the rest of higher-ed is ... integrating ed-tech. 

You get what you pay for in legal education

See Article here

Pay as you go Law School

Joshua Kubicki (jkubicki): Why an online pay-as-you-go model could be the future of higher #education. http://bit.ly/MgBIKE http://twitter.com/jkubicki/status/222518014132752386 retweet of @FastCoExist tweet (Sent via Seesmic http://www.seesmic.com)

Perhaps this would not work for traditional US based students but think about the "adult" learners, second career, foreign lawyers, and CA state bar takers that this might appeal to.

Would any law school do it? Would the ABA even allow it?

I think making education more accessible is never a bad thing even a legal education.