Chui, W H --- "The Use of a Virtual Learning Environment: The Hong Kong Experience" [2006] LegEdDig 44; (2006) 14(Spec Ed) Legal Education Digest 20

The Use of a Virtual Learning Environment: The Hong Kong Experience

W H Chui

(2006) 14(Spec Ed) Legal Education Digest 20

40 Law Teacher 1, 2006, pp 59–69

Learning with the aid of information and communication technologies has had a tremendous impact on learning and teaching of law in recent years. The aim of this paper is to reflect and share my experiences in the use of technology in the delivery of undergraduate law courses on the LLB degree programme at the City University of Hong Kong. The law courses in question are Criminology and Criminal Justice, which are electives for all second and third year law students at the university. Integrating technology in the delivery of these courses not only promotes student learning inside and outside the classroom but also has the desirable effect of improving students’ computer skills. In many respects, based on students’ feedback, using a virtual learning environment such as WebCT facilitates communication between the instructor and student. WebCT was designed to make life easier for the academic by allowing course materials to be posted online, and creating discussion forums to stimulate dialogue amongst students. Despite these advantages, my experience rehearses the finding of other studies in England and Australia that web-assisted instruction is by no means a substitute for face-to-face classroom learning; rather, it should be regarded as a supplement to didactic lectures and tutorials.

In this paper, I intend to share some of my experiences in the use of technology in the delivery of two undergraduate law courses, namely Criminology and Criminal Justice. From the outset it is important to emphasise that this paper is by no means a prescription on how law courses should be taught but aims to build upon my own personal experience of integrating technology in teaching and learning.

As reported by Annan W. Shavers, the technology tools in legal education include the legal databases such as Westlaw and LexisNexis, computer networks, Web-based instruction, in-class Internet access, e-mail, multimedia technology and the like. Weaving IT into legal education is nothing new, and a number of successful experiences have been reported by scholars such as Hugh Gibbons, David Poyton, and James Hanlon.

In addition, there are a number of advantages associated with the use of technology to improve and monitor law students’ learning. Several examples are: to make course materials such as course outline, lecture notes and PowerPoint presentations available on the Internet; to create interactive tests with instant feedback to students; to track student activity; and to promote not only student-instructor interaction but also interaction between students outside the classroom.

In contrast to the traditional teacher-centered methods, a creative use of e-learning tools offers opportunities for instructors to deliver the course more effectively. An example is cited by Hanlon that the use of Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) in Company Law has offered instant feedback to students because answers to each MCQ are made available to students. Another attraction of the e-learning environment is that it gives students the freedom and flexibility in how they manage their time and match their learning styles to their own lifestyle. Some students may miss the lecture for various reasons and under these circumstances, they appreciate having materials posted online for them to access at home or in the university. At the very least they are given a chance to make up for what they have missed in the classroom.

WebCT provides students with a flexible, integrated environment where they can use the latest technology to foster inquiry, encourage discourse, and inspire collaboration. Each instructor can design the homepage of the course according to the course goals and content. E-learning tools or web-based instruction may not be able to do any good for students if they are used inappropriately. As such some students may perceive the use of IT as a means of avoiding contact time and reducing instructor’s workload. This perception would adversely affect their motivation to learn. It is therefore vital for legal educators to use the e-learning environment skilfully by promoting active learning amongst students.

Facilitating student learning requires careful planning and much preparation time for organising the course materials methodically. The second issue is the varying competence levels in computing skills. Legal educators should be aware that nobody should be disadvantaged, and by providing those less skilled in IT with more learning opportunities will improve their technical skills. And also computer facilities must be made readily available to students without computers at home. In order to remedy these awkward situations, the Computing Services Centre (CSC) of the City University of Hong Kong organises various computer literacy courses to prepare students with the basic computing skills such as Chinese Input Method, Microsoft Office and web page design applications, including Deamweaver, Fireworks, Flash and Frontpage.

Some psychologists suggest that there are three prerequisites for effective learning, namely active participation of the student; prompt, specific, frequent and mostly positive feedback of the teacher to student’s responses; and properly sequenced topics so that students can master one block of material before proceeding to the others. But how can information technology enhance the teaching and learning experience? As consistently reflected in my experiences, a number of legal educators opine that the use of e-mail as a form of teaching should only be supplementary rather than displacing conventional tutorials completely. There is a lack of human touch and thus a de-sensitising effect as people do not see each other face-to-face. In contrast, the student can communicate and interact with their teacher and peers personally and directly in a traditional tutorial setting. Not only can they learn from the tutor, but also from one another.

Participation in the bulletin board discussion allows students to practise their writing skills and to articulate their ideas with carefully selected words, even though they make the occasional typographical and grammatical mistakes. I spent long hours preparing the materials for WebCT, but in the end it was worthwhile because I found the work meaningful.

To facilitate web-assisted learning, Elmer R Masters outlines a five-step approach towards improving the use of information technology in the law school. The five steps are to: (1) recognise the importance of information to the law school; (2) create an information technology structure that encourages the free flow of information; (3) require a base level of computer literacy in administrative and faculty support staff; (4) provide adequate training and learning opportunities; and (5) reward use of information technology amongst faculty and staff.

Perhaps someday there will be technological advances in visual display and putting systems as exemplified by Tom Cruise in the sci-fi film, Minority Report. Modern technologies will revolutionise the practice, teaching and learning of law. To prepare our students for their future career, we must be familiar with information technology through the creative use of web-assisted facilities.