Just when you thought we’d finished blogging SoP2! Before memories of the conference fade, I wanted to post a few thoughts about the final session, a workshop titled "Law Teaching on the Screen" held at the New York Law School on October 31, 2004. In this session, Paul Maharg, a professor of law at the Glasgow Graduate School of Law in Scotland, presented an overview of a virtual learning environment called “Ardcalloch,” in which law students and tutors take on roles of lawyers and clients to solve simulated legal cases over a period of 9 weeks.
Ardcalloch, which launched in 1999, is used by 256 students divided into 64 fictional law firms. Each firm has its own public web page along with access to a town map, message board, calendar, a diary and a transaction list. 7 tutors monitor administrative areas and feed information to the firms based on various fictional case scenarios (they are essentially functioning as GMs). The cases are closely modeled on real-world cases but the variables of each case are slightly altered. For example, students might be presented with a work-related injury case based on a real case, but details like the type of injury, the location, and the number of witnesses may be changed and similar cases with slightly different variables may be presented to different firms. Currently the Ardcalloch project is text-based, with scenarios performed through written interaction using web, email, message boards, calendar, and diary functionality, and bolstered by occasional in-person feedback from tutors. The program teaches problem-solving skills and encourages collaborative learning without fear of real-world reprisal in the form of negligence and malpractice accusations.
After workshop attendees were brought up to speed on the basics of Ardcalloch, Beth Noveck asked The Big Question: How could the Ardcalloch program be extended into an immersive 3D virtual environment? After a somewhat awkward group pause, Cory Ondrejka stepped up to the plate and gave an admirably straightforward answer: 3D immersion may not be the next logical step for this particular project right now. After all, it would require a whole new set of expensive resources (including the purchase of new equipment) that may not provide a satisfactory return on investment. In other words, Cory said, “don’t do it just for a sexy press release.”
It was generally agreed that virtual world technologies are just not there yet in terms of providing avatars that allow the subtle and complex range of emotive expression necessary for this particular type of professional roleplay. Ultimately, upgrading an educational/professional role playing environment to 3D might provide interesting opportunities for students to run through more realistic negotiation, courtroom, and client interaction scenarios. However, as impressive as today’s virtual worlds are, in this particular case learning through role play may be accomplished more effectively via live role playing scenarios.
This doesn’t mean that the current Ardcalloch project, even in its text-based form, is not a remarkable educational tool. It struck me as a particularly creative approach to legal education and the law professors in the room also seemed suitably impressed, certainly enough to convey interest in implementing this type of program at other schools. The biggest concerns expressed related to the scalability and transportability of the program (ie. implementation at other educational institutions) because of resource constraints, particularly teachers’ time. Prof. Maharg seemed to feel pretty strongly that the ratio of 7 tutors to 256 students was necessary to ensure the project’s smooth operation. This may present a problem at some institutions, depending on staffing situations. Also, it should be noted that Ardcalloch has the benefit of a Learning Technologies Unit department which handles development and technical support, a resource which is undoubtedly crucial to its success.
Since I am not a law professor, I had the luxury of being less concerned with the practicalities of resource constraints. I was more interested in the ways Ardcalloch students learn to put themselves in the role of “lawyer” and by taking part in this role play actively incorporate this role into their real-world identities. This enables a psychological transition from “law student” to “professional lawyer” while highlighting the performative aspects of the legal profession in that students must not only learn requisite facts about laws, legal precedents, and proper procedures, but must also effectively learn how to perform a persona of professional lawyer in the spaces of the courtroom, the office, conference rooms, etc. In my thought paper for SoP2 I talked about virtual worlds as spaces in which young people participate in various job-related play in a 21st century version of “what do you want to be when you grow up.” The identity play in Ardcalloch strikes me as a more mature and controlled version of this type of play, taking this concept to the next level by focusing on a clear end-goal: turning law students into lawyers. Furthermore, Ardcalloch proves that a 3D visual environment isn’t really necessary to accomplish this. Still, I can’t help but wonder what a 3D virtual Ardcalloch would be like. If only current virtual world technologies were up to the challenge.
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