From Black and White to Colour; Educating and Engaging the Screen Addicts of 2011

This article, by Emily Allbon, is based on a presentation given at the BIALL Conference in 2011. She explores the depth of student engagement with online resources and how to handle the information-complacent law student. She discusses the development Learnmore, Lawbore’s legal skills wiki, and concludes with thoughts over future development of this resource

The free legal info landscape

Emily Allbon asks whether we can expect an inspiring view for the free legal future

Too cool for (law) school? Using technology to engage students in legal skills

Leading web portal Lawbore was first launched at City University by the law librarian in 2002, quickly connecting with students thanks to its bold, image-lead navigation and informal approach to presenting the law. In 2007 a new area, Learnmore, was added: a legal skills wiki born out of a desire to see the building blocks of law given more attention. It encompassed multimedia resources around mooting, research, legal writing and other skills. Collaboration with a new lecturer in 2010 kicked off a new era for the site; Learnmore is unique for its quirky style, utilisation of different mediums (text, video, audio, talking slideshows and prezi) and emphasis on student-collaborated content. 2012 heralded a five-month JISC-funded Learnmore app development. This paper offers a case study of the Learnmore resource, covering detail of the development of content, the visual branding and peer-learning community elements. The author seeks to look both at the practical elements of using technology to aid student learning in law and the pedagogical impact of such a strategy. The effectiveness of using certain techniques to ease the transition into Law School is discussed, as is whether or not involving students in the creation of content makes a difference to their levels of engagement

Innovative involvement not embarrassing intervention: Using technology to connect with students without treading on virtual toes

Emily Allbon recounts her experiences in integrating social networking tools into her work with law students and, in particular, how she has integrated them with her prize-winning portal – Lawbore. She also documents her use of personal response systems in her teaching sessions

Changing mindsets: encouraging law teachers to think beyond text

The law student learning experience is still a predominantly textual one in the UK; students are expected to do a significant amount of reading in preparation for lectures and tutorials. Research around transmedia and multimodality shows us that engagement levels can be much heightened when different formats are used in teaching materials. This piece gives insight into the creation of a resource aimed at inspiring UK teachers of law to use more visual methods of communicating the law. tl;dr: the less textual legal gallery, is a showcase of legal learning and communication materials focusing on visual and alternative modalities. Its collections are created by a diverse range of individuals, many in collaboration with students, illustrators, lawyers in practice and technologists. Artistic talent varies as does the reliance on tools. The paper also explores tools that may help law teachers be more visual in how they explain concepts and principles in law

Seeing is believing: We are all converging

In a country (the UK) where huge personal investment is required to undertake legal education and training, it is right that an ever-increasing emphasis is placed on student satisfaction. Keeping students engaged is a key priority for universities and technology has a large role to play in this, whether in the context of face-to-face, wholly online or blended learning. The debate around where the line is drawn between engagement and entertainment rumbles on. Challenges exist in relation to information/digital and multimodal literacies, but there is much scope for innovation in teaching and learning thanks to emerging technologies. The article looks at ways in which those teaching in law could be inspired by other disciplines and methodologies, embedding literacies commonly dealt with outside the faculty, by librarians, technologists and designers within their curriculum