Online learning and law schools during the pandemic — from tonybates.ca by Tony Bates
Excerpt:
Pre-Covid, law schools and especially law accrediting agencies in North America have been pretty conservative in the past with regard to online or more accurately distance learning (see Online education and the professional associations: the case of law, for more details on the situation in 2018).
We can then fairly safely assume that most of these schools would have had no or little prior experience of online learning before March of this year. So it is interesting that 89% of students in law schools in the USA responding to a Thomson Reuters survey reported that during Covid-19 they were taking classes entirely online.
…
However, for me the most interesting results are in the graph below:
Preferences for permanent changes
It seems clear that at least some level of online instruction will continue in the future, and that online learning will become widespread for at least some types of classes.
Given that there was almost no online learning in law schools in the USA pre-Covid 19, this is a significant conclusion.
From DSC:
I appreciate Tony writing about this topic. He’s correct in saying the ABA and the legal education field — along with the entire legal realm — was behind the 8 ball in terms of online learning (and I would add the use of emerging technologies in general). In fact, I’d say that the ABA was essentially twenty years behind in terms of getting on board the online learning train. It still has a ways to go…but the pressure is on the ABA to get with the times. Our society requires that they do so. The pace of change has been changing for a decade or more now. They can no longer walk on the race track and hope to not get in the way of a world that’s traveling at 180 mph.
Make no mistake, if the ABA — and the legal field in general — continues at their previous pace, we all will pay the price. Consider but a few areas that are already having an impact on our society:
Along with other tags that apply here:
What does Innovation look like in robotics? See the SVR 2020 Industry Award winners — from robohub.org by Andra Keay and Silicon Valley Robotics
Trends 2021: Three Scenes from the Future — from frogdesign.com
Excerpt:
This year, we decided to lean into this unreality. For our tenth annual Trends list, we asked frogs to not only imagine the societal and technological shifts that will impact our future, but to project the future worlds these shifts will create. From perspectives on the accelerated adoption of remote work, to visions of distorted realities and changing consumer behaviors, we’re sharing different possible views of 2021 and beyond—and the products, services and experiences that will shape our future worlds.
A New School That Thinks Like a Kid — from gettingsmart.com
Excerpt:
Portal Schools has a vision—to create a high school that allows students to simultaneously earn a high school diploma and a Bachelor’s degree in an environment that is fully designed for them. This ambitious, yet promising goal for this emerging network of micro-schools is using this approach to foster diverse relationships and provide career-immersive learning.
Partnering with Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU), students can customize their high school courses to fit their learning style, schedule, and interests. With Flex Days built into each week, students have time to engage in rigorous coursework, collaborate on real-world learning projects, and independently focus on their goals.
Also see:
The Hack That Shook Washington — from protocol.com by Tom Krazit
Excerpt:
A cybersecurity nightmare is unfolding in the nation’s capital as the fallout from one of the most brazen security breaches in recent memory continues to spread throughout several government agencies.
The internal networks belonging to no less than five government agencies, including the Defense and State Departments, were left wide open to a group of hackers believed to be working on behalf of Russia for several months this year, according to multiple reports and tacit confirmation of a breach from government officials earlier this week. This incident was especially scary because no one seems to know exactly how much data was accessed or stolen, and because those affected may never know.
The incident also highlights the vulnerability of the software supply chain, an important part of modern application development. Here’s what we know:
Addendum on 12/19/20:
From DSC:
An interesting, more positive use of AI here:
Deepdub uses AI to dub movies in the voice of famous actors — from protocol.com by Janko Roettgers
Fresh out of stealth, the startup is using artificial intelligence to automate the localization process for global streaming.
Excerpt:
Tel Aviv-based startup Deepdub wants to help streaming services accelerate this kind of international rollout by using artificial intelligence for their localization needs. Deepdub, which came out of stealth on Wednesday, has built technology that can translate a voice track to a different language, all while staying true to the voice of the talent. This makes it possible to have someone like Morgan Freeman narrate a movie in French, Italian or Russian without losing what makes Freeman’s voice special and recognizable.
From DSC:
A much more negative use of AI here:
For Carolina Panthers, Learning Online Translates To Better Play On Field — from forbes.com by Michael Horn
Excerpt:
The solution the Panthers devised wasn’t the traditional one of just studying and memorizing voluminous playbooks coupled with endless Zoom calls. They instead turned to an education startup called Learn to Win.
Learn to Win is one of the pioneers in mobile learning, as it uses the principles of sound instructional design to transform training material that’s critical to an organization’s success into content that allows people to learn faster and more effectively.
Fall’s Enrollment Decline Now Has a Final Tally. Here’s What’s Behind It. — from chronicle.com by Dan Berrett
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
The decrease in undergraduate enrollment was the primary driver of the overall decline across the sector. Enrollment among undergraduates dropped 3.6 percent, or by more than 560,000 students, from the fall of 2019. The most notable drop was among first-time freshmen, who declined 13.1 percent.
…
Meanwhile, graduate enrollment went up by the same percentage, 3.6 percent, that undergraduate enrollment fell, but the actual growth in the number of students enrolled in graduate or professional programs, nearly 99,000, was smaller than the drop in the number of undergraduates.
The above article linked to:
“Winter wonderland ” by Peter Zajfrid #500px https://t.co/Mi8taAvhEv
— Daniel Christian (he/him/his) (@dchristian5) December 17, 2020
From DSC:
And here’s another interesting picture/item:
Can Algorithms Save College Admissions? — from chronicle.com by Brian Rosenberg
We’ve tried a system based on competition long enough. It isn’t working.
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
Here is an alternative and much more radical proposal: What if we replaced the current and longstanding admissions process among private colleges with a match process, similar to what has for years been used to match medical-school graduates with residency and fellowship positions? What if, in other words, we used data and algorithms instead of travel, merit aid, and free food to drive college admissions?
From DSC:
Love the “What if…” thinking here and the spirit of innovation behind it. I wonder if AI and cloud-based learner profiles might play into something like this in the future…?
Also see:
7 Ways To Make College Admissions More Equitable — from stradaeducation.org by Patty Reinert Mason and Jeff Selingo
Is it time to reconsider early-decision applications, legacy preferences, and reliance on feeder high schools?
Selingo offers these practical steps colleges and universities can take to make admissions more equitable:
Also see:
The Future of Hybrid Learning — from techlearning.com by Erik Ofgang
HyFlex pioneer Dr. Brian Beatty discusses what’s working and what’s not in hybrid learning, and what’s to come
Excerpts (emphasis DSC):
When designing his own classes these days, Beatty tends to think about the asynchronous vs. synchronous experience rather than online vs. in-person.
…
Beatty says instructors should attempt to create a reasonably good asynchronous version of a course but don’t need to build the perfect version. Instructors then need to block out time to respond to forum posts and other online components of the class the same way online students need to schedule time to work. He advises a mindset of, “I’m learning how to teach differently, and I’m reserving this time for that. So maybe I’m not going to be part of that committee.”
From DSC:
The teaching toolboxes throughout the continuum (PreK-12, higher ed, vocational programs, other alternatives to higher ed, corporate training & development) have been enhanced and expanded greatly during 2020. The ramifications of these larger toolboxes will benefit many for years to come. They should allows us to pivot and adapt much more quickly — while providing a greater array of teaching techniques/tools to choose from.
30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
The Hard Truth Behind ROSS Shutdown: Legal Tech Is ‘Cash Poor’ — from law.com by Victoria Hudgins
ROSS Intelligence announced Dec. 11 it was shutting down operations because its legal battle with Thomson Reuters scared off investors and depleted its resources. Investors and software providers say other legal tech companies could easily meet a similar fate.
Excerpt:
ROSS shutting down last week is a cautionary example of how a legal tech company with lean cash reserves can be “cash poor” despite raising millions in outside funding. But while the legal research provider’s closure and cash flow issues surprised some, others noted its situation is common across the legal tech industry and the broader startup market.
