What McMaster did for medical training, can York do for legal education?

McMaster University in Canada is often cited as the pioneer and world-class leader for problem-based learning (PBL) which was developed in the medical school in the 1960s.  Using the ‘case approach’ to drive learning (rather than consolidate previous learning - whether practical or purely theoretical) is more accurately, if not awkwardly, termed “small group, self-directed, self-assessed PBL”.

 

The UKCLE has some resources on PBL for the law curriculum, many of which will be used in discrete parts of the LLB across the country, but York appears to be taking the McMaster approach to the entire curriculum and re-designing the student experience:

During much of the course, you will be based in student law firms where the primary learning will take place. You will decide what the firm will be called, how it will operate and how work will be divided within the firm.

Your firm will deal mainly with simulated real-life problems brought to you by virtual clients, which will be the primary device through which you will learn the law. These will be supplemented by large-group plenary sessions, which will provide overviews of specific topics or discuss selected issues in greater depth.

Each firm will be guided through its learning by‘facilitators’ who will be there to help you through the process, to illuminate particular points and to give you regular feedback on your progress. In many situations you will have to interact with other firms, sometimes working alongside them, sometimes working in opposition. You will form strong relationships with your firm, adapt to working with people with different strengths and weaknesses and thereby learn to work in a team, tackling problems in a realistic way.

I write this blog post on the train home from York as, along with Chris Ashford from Sunderland, I’ve just presented at a departmental seminar for the fledgling York Law School.  Chris and I discussed some of the e-learning tools that can be combined with problem-based learning: mainly discussion boards and blogs.  The issue of reflective learning brought Twitter and Facebook into the discussion as some of their PBL groups (acting as law firms) have voluntarily set up Facebook sites and some even invite their tutors to what is essentially their own private space.  Of course, the concern over whether students will use blogs (or other resources) for true reflection is ‘will they be honest’ when they know staff can also view; and conversely, do we know that they are being reflective if it’s done in private?!  I’m yet to be convinced by Twitter (quote from friend: Twitter is an abomination and almost entirely without merit - suited to insecure techo-geeks who lack confidence and social skills), although I can see a benefit to a PBL group who may wish to know ‘what I’m doing at the moment’ – not reflective learning, but a useful communication tool!

Comments

[Michael Bromby]

Hi Chris - yes, that is a good point regarding Twitter, and works similarly well for conferences providing that everyone uses the same tag (i.e. conference organisers should publicise and 'official tag' in advance).

[Chris Ashford]

It was a really interesting and enjoyable day. Watching the sad events unfold in Mumbai, I was struck by the use of Twitter by the BBC. Their currently linking to a Twitter feed from NDTV: http://twitter.com/Emergent007

It's an interesting (if sad) example of how this technology can be used. This can be contrasted to events in the past when it may have blogs that were linked to.

[Ben Fitzpatrick]

Hi Michael

Thanks for coming to see us yesterday, for giving us such a valuable presentation, for generating such a helpful discussion and, of course, for blogging about it! To be mentioned in the same context as McMaster is both exciting and challenging - no pressure there then :-)

Looking at some of the McMaster language, although there are clearly elements of self-direction and self-assessment in PBL in general and in the York model, we use the terms quite cautiously. There are some pretty powerful PBL myths out there - most notably that it is directionless unsupported learning. We think what makes for good PBL in HE is the whole package - including effective curriculum and problem design; skilled facilitation by staff; access to resources - including the substantive expertise of staff - and a culture which values students as rational adult learners and supports them in that context.

If anybody is interested in what we're up to at York , please do have a surf around http://www.york.ac.uk/law/ or get in touch!

Ben Fitzpatrick
York Law School