Internationalizing education: evaluating the growth of intercultural communication and competency in students through an international negotiation project using an online law office

Graduates will need to be able to recognize and appreciate culture in a way that minimizes conflict, promote understanding and to establish a relationship of trust and confidence. The need for competency in intercultural communication and an awareness of ethical challenges sets out a challenge for academics. This study examines the types of learning and characteristics developed by students when working on a ten‐week international negotiation project. It questions whether the study was an effective learning tool to raise consciousness of cultural diversity and effectively address the ‘stumbling blocks’ identified in intercultural communication. Using the findings from this, the study will consider the factors academics should consider when designing high quality, equitable and global study programmes in order for students to develop cross‐cultural capacities and aptitudes in order to be able to perform, professionally and socially, in a multicultural environment

Improving leadership practice through the power of reflection: an epistemological study

This paper reports on a personal journey using reflection to benefit and transform the development of the author‟s thinking on important elements of leadership. The paper discusses the value of critical reflection in professional development before building upon the dynamic and complex multi-facet process of leadership. The reflection has helped to draw out the author‟s epistemological stance on the variety of different responsibilities, requirements of professional, personal and interpersonal knowledge and skill and the need to engage in reflection and continual improvement and growth as a leader. In order to grow and improve as a leader there is a strong need to address personal values and challenges that underpin thinking about leadership and the manner of implementing leadership

Understanding how a law clinic can contribute towards students’ development of professional responsibility

There is rich international literature spanning over decades giving valuable insights into the educational benefits of Clinical Legal Education (CLE), however there is little in the way of empirical data evaluating the link between utilizing CLE to develop specific skills. This paper aims to discover the link between CLE as a learning methodology and the extent to which students become more aware of professional responsibility skills after a clinical experience. The study employed a phenomenographic methodology to evaluate the variations in student learning. The findings suggest that students believe they have developed a greater sense of awareness and learning of a variety of lawyering skills and a greater awareness of values and characteristics of a competent lawyer through the clinical experience.

Improving leadership practice through the power of reflection: an epistemological study

This paper reports on a personal journey using reflection to benefit and transform the development of the author‟s thinking on important elements of leadership. The paper discusses the value of critical reflection in professional development before building upon the dynamic and complex multi-facet process of leadership. The reflection has helped to draw out the author‟s epistemological stance on the variety of different responsibilities, requirements of professional, personal and interpersonal knowledge and skill and the need to engage in reflection and continual improvement and growth as a leader. In order to grow and improve as a leader there is a strong need to address personal values and challenges that underpin thinking about leadership and the manner of implementing leadership

Making a transition: the development of academics’ role and identity in online teaching

This paper explored the journey of three academics as they moved from face-to-face teaching to online teaching over a period of twenty months. From the findings of this study, it is recommended that for an academic to make an effective transition they need to be supported effectively to embrace the changes to their role and to their practice and consequently to their identity. It is hoped that this study may assist in discussions around staff development training and in supporting academics on the transition

“The proficient lawyer”: identifying students’ perspectives on learning gained from working in a virtual law clinic

This paper seeks to identify the extent to which a Virtual Law Clinic (VLC), used as learning and training tool for undergraduate law students contribute to the development of skills and attributes of “the digitally proficient new lawyer”, looking at this from the lived experience and narration from the students involved in this training. It questions the types of skills and attributes that are perceived by students to be capable of being developed through the VLC and uses the perception of students’ employability skills, personal attributes and values gained from working on the VLC platform to provide useful and significant insight into further improvements and developments to the structure and curriculum of the VLC. The value of students’ perspectives in this regard is significant because the study captures their lived experiences, their thoughts, reflection and awareness of development. The findings show that students have gained benefits to their and have had the opportunity to gain an insight into the changing and emerging trends in legal practice and thereby raising awareness, recognition and experience of the skills needed by a digitally proficient lawyer or professional in the workplace

Understanding the changes in Sri Lankan mango fruits during postharvest ripening

This is the first study to be carried out which describes changes in biochemical profile of both pre- and post-climacteric Sri Lankan mango fruits. Chemometric analysis revealed that spatial distribution of biochemical compounds between peel and pulp was the major discriminatory factor during maturation; whereas fully mature mango fruit contained the highest concentration of starch and lowest concentration of acids. Since these combined variables also responsible for the final quality of ripe fruit, they could be used as important parameters of horticultural maturity to inform growers to harvest Sri Lankan mango fruit at the optimum stage. Cont/d

Making the case for a digital lawyering framework in legal education

نُشر تقريرٌ في عام 2015 عن ممارسات مهنة المحاماة في العصر الرقمي في المجلة الدولية للتعليم القانوني العيادي، قدم المؤلف والزميل/ مايكل ساليس اقتراحًا متواضعًا من شأنه أن يجعل خريجي الكليات المتخصصة في القانون أكثر قدرة على خدمة موكليهم بطريقة حديثة وفعّالة. واقترح الزميل أنه بجانب أهمية توفير عيادات قانونية وغيرها من الأنشطة التجريبية، يتعين على كليات الحقوق اعتماد إطار لمهارات المحاماة الرقمية كجزء من مناهجها لتعليم الطلاب كيفية استخدام التقنية للمساعدة في تقديم الخدمات القانونية. ويدفع المؤلف في هذه المقالة بأن مهارات المحاماة الرقمية من شأنها مساعدة طلاب ودارسي القانون في تعلم الكفاءات الأساسية اللازمة في مهنة يتزايد الاعتماد فيها على التقنية مع زيادة توافر الخدمات القانونية وملاءمتها. وعليه، يقترح المؤلف على كليات الحقوق وهيئات تنظيم التعليم القانوني النظر في اعتماد إطار استشاري رقمي للمحاماة والقضايا، والذي من شأنه أن يخضع للمزيد من المراجعات في المستقبل. ويُستخدم هذا الإطار حاليًا في نموذج مهارات المحامين للسنة الثانية والذي يدرسه كاتب المقال، ولقد تم تنقيحه من خلال الأفكار الحدسية والتعليقات التي تعقب كل محاضرة. وتستعرض هذه الورقة البحثية الإطار المقترح في صيغته النهائيةIn 2015, in a practice report on lawyering in a digital age published in the International Journal of Clinical Legal Education, the author and colleague Michael Sales made a modest proposal that could make law graduates more capable of serving their clients in a modernised and efficient manner. It was proposed that, in addition to offering law clinics and other forms of experiential activities, law schools could adopt a digital lawyering skills framework as part of their curricula to teach students how to use technology to assist in the delivery of legal services. The author submits in this article that digital lawyering skills will assist law students in learning core competencies needed in an increasingly technological profession whilst increasing the availability and convenience of legal services. The author therefore proposes to law schools and legal education regulators that they consider a consultative digital lawyering framework that could be subject to further review in the future. The framework is currently being utilized in a second-year Lawyers’ Skills module taught by the author, and it has been revised intuitively and through feedback after each lesson. The proposed framework in this paper is in its final version

Perspectives on language policies in Malaysia

Malaysia is a multi-cultural society with major ethnic divisions between Malays, Chinese and Indians, each group having associated linguistic and religious affiliations which intensify the divisions of Malaysian society. Cultural divisions have perhaps a greater significance in Malaysia than in neighbouring Singapore and Brunei Darussalam because of the relative size of the competing ethnic groups. The communal relations issue is central in Malaysian politics and education. It is almost a matter of definition that a study of a language policy in Malaysian education is simultaneously a study of an important part of the politics of a plural society. This study examines the substance and various contexts of language policies in Malaysia, where the national integration of three large language communities is a political objective of long standing. At a time when a number of Western countries are beginning to favour a multi-cultural approach to the problem of integrating an ethnically plural society through education, Malaysia continues to promote monolingualism as its unchallengeable formula, for the supremacy of Malay is a principle strongly rooted in the history and political structure of Malaysia. The decline of the standard of English in Malaysia is also a lively current issue of great concern, even to the Government. The fundamental reason for its concern is not racial but pragmatic: the National Language is very far from being able to take the place of English as a key to international communication and modem technology. Yet measures to reverse the damage seem half-hearted and the political will to emulate the pragmatism of Singapore or Brunei Darussalam by substantially modifying the educational revolution, is lacking at present. This study identifies the major language problems that have surfaced as a result of the Government trying to deal with conflicting pressures whilst implementing policy objectives

Constructive reflection: getting the best out of reflective learning

This paper proposes a constructive reflective model that offers students a layered and developmental approach to embed learning and the application of learning within the seemingly constantly changing professional environment. The model is different from other popular reflective practice frameworks because it embraces the influences of personal epistemology of assumptions and consciousness and recognises how our identity, values, opinion and experiences impacts on the way we react or behave in particular situations. It recognises the need to facilitate the reconceptualization of knowledge and learning by questioning, evaluating and critique of knowledge to draw higher levels of cognitive and moral development, whilst it aims to explicitly raise awareness of the necessary competent knowable, skills and attributes for professional practice through its constructive and methodological process. This leads to a holistic and effective professional learning process