5. Bit about me professionally
• 14 years at City
• Open door policy
• Role widened over
time
• Interests broadened
into learning &
teaching and
technology
• Now lecturer…
7. Not all tranquil!
Big commute! 4 hrs per
day….
Walk – Train – Tube - Walk
8. City University London
• 6 Schools
• City Law School
• History – Inns of Court
School of Law founded in
1852. Northampton
Institute founded in 1894.
• 17,000 students (35% PG)
• Full spectrum of law
Academic/Professional
9. Studying law in the UK
• £££££
• Fierce competition for
‘apprentice’ stage
• Legal Education &
Training Review
(LETR)
• Law firms and
regulators looking for
new ways of
procuring trainees
10. Lawbore
• Started in 2002
• Gateway to resources
• Community elements
• Multimedia
• Focus on legal skills,
employability, support
network
11. Woo hoo!
• V proud for Lawbore to
have been recognised
externally to my institution:
– HEA Award for Best Legal
Education & Technology
Paper 2012
– Law Librarian of the Year
2012
– ALT/Routledge Teaching Law
with Technology Prize 2013
– HEA National Teaching
Fellowship 2013
12. Different technologies used in
Lawbore
• Blogs
• Talking slideshows
• Video
• Twitter
• Prezi
COMING SOON!
• Talking Essays
• Videoscribe
• Problem q story tool
13. Why is it
popular?
• Multimedia
• Variety of resources
• Focus on the visual
• Collegiate
14. Law profs….yawn…
• “Law professors’ personal stories about ‘how I
learned it’ – somewhat meaningless and
antiquated. ..Novice peers, are perfect mirrors
to help each other reflect and regulate law
student learning” (Herndon, 2010)
=
And then in
1974…
15. “Advice given by students is closer to your heart
than that given by your professors”
“Felt inspired by reading about what others in our
position have achieved”
16. But…needed to know more!
"...when the students knew I was representing City
University they couldn't stop talking about Lawbore. Words
can't describe how happy I was to see students outside
our university talk about it and use it."
• Couldn’t be complacent
• What do they want in terms of online
support?
• What tools do they use to keep up to date
and organise themselves?
• How do they really work?
17. Social media and
professions
Landscape in professions mixed - tension exists:
• Being 'connected' & engaging - making their
profession more accessible. Raising profile.
• Being ethical whilst following organisational
ethical guidance/codes of practice. Maintaining
professional standards and public/client trust
19. What do students think about
social media?
• Underwhelmed
• Hrastinski and Aghaee (2012) "they perceive that their
use [social media] is not related with their studies"
• Consumers not creators "I don't tweet but I like to use
it to search for information"
• Appreciative of institutions trying to engage in new
ways
• Like to have blessing of authority - lecturer
recommendations but intrusion too far frowned upon
(joining course Facebook group)
20. Community v
competition
• Are law students sharing & caring or out to knock out
potential competition? Selwyn (2009) "it was noticeable that
students were generally unwilling to offer extensive
assistance to each other".
• Lawbore aims to offer community feel - bring students
together.
• Differs between cohorts: more vocational course seen as
means to an end - happy to share to get result. Pure
academic = more protective.
21. Information seeking
• Wide range of sources required & for different purposes.
For study (cases, journal articles, legislation), but also for
potential employment: research about employers, work
experience opportunities, events etc.
• Keeping up to date "I get the Guardian Law newspaper
bundle into my email. I'm generally quite lazy so it's good
if something comes to me".
• Authority - awareness of limitation of search engines
"you have to be careful...like if it's reputable or not"
• Word of mouth important "I spoke with students from the
year above in terms of what courses I might want to do
in year 3"
22. Implications for teaching &
learning
• Authority still important - more academics need to engage in
social media and online communities to guide students
• Do we need to stop striving for interaction? Just accept that law
is a solitary subject?
• More linking of technology and law to the 'real world' and
future of the profession. Collaborations with student lawyers
from other countries (Law Without Walls)
23. Top 5 Tools: Twitter
• Networks – lawyers, academics, students,
alumni
• Getting a message out internationally
• Some light relief!
• Allow you to
connect in a less
stuffy way, use a
more informal voice.
30. Top 5 Tools: Blogs
• Easy to set up
• Concern around the time factor
• Great for establishing a presence
• Different tones of writing possible
31. Top 5 Tools: Talking slideshows
• Adobe Presenter
• Articulate Storyline
• Prezi
• The free one: Jing
Great for demo-ing databases, bringing humour
into online lectures, giving alternatives to reading
everything…Can combine audio, video and written
associated docs
32. Top 5 Tools: Videoscribe
• Great to engage visually
• Attract attention
• Needs preparation in terms of storyboarding
• Bit of artistic flair needed
See Margaret Hagan for
other visual ideas re
Law
33. Top 5 Tools: LinkedIn
• The value of LinkedIn IS connections
• Connect with existing networks & reach out to
new ones – both in librarianship & outside it!
• Highlight collaborations and projects
• Promotion
• New opportunities and conversations
• Social networking with clients/
• potential clients
• Current awareness
34. Useful resources from UK law
libraries
• Current Awareness from the Inner Temple
Library http://www.innertemplelibrary.com
• The Law Bod Blog
http://blogs.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/lawbod/
• BIALL blog http://biall.blogspot.co.uk/
• IALS guides
http://libguides.ials.sas.ac.uk/guides
35. Where next for ?
• Do more to encourage use of
tech tools by students and staff.
• Results reassuring – indicating
thirst for new resources. More
development work with Lawbore
on the agenda.
• Talking Essays
• Researching for a Moot video
• New Research and Mooting sub-sites.
• More training for students in tools
to help them organise and
manage themselves.
38. References
• E. Allbon “Web, Social Media and Online Communities for those Studying for
Professions: Embraced or Tolerated? Managing Information Online at The City
Law School”
http://www.thinkmind.org/index.php?view=article&articleid=elml_2014_2_30_500
95
• Legal Education and Training Review. Setting the Standards: the future of legal
services education and training regulation in England and Wales, June 2013.
http://letr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/LETR-Report.pdf [retrieved February 2014].
• M. Hagan “Law and Design” http://www.margarethagan.com/drawings/illustrated-law-
flow-charts/
• S. Hrastinski and N.M.Aghaee "How are campus students using social media to
support their studies? An explorative interview study" Education and Information
Technologies, 17:4, 2012, pp.451-464.
• N. Selwyn, "Faceworking: exploring students' education-related use of
Facebook”. Learning, Media and Technology, 34:2, 2009, pp.157-174.
39. Image credits
• Slide 1 – 7/8” rear assembling receptacle by Connectors distribution box
https://www.flickr.com/photos/shieldconnectors/8015817623/
• Slide 2 - HRH Prince George of Cambridge https://www.flickr.com/photos/alex-s/
14116472462/
• Slide 3 - Kylie Minogue by Adam Romero
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bart234465/467919068/i
• Slide 4 - hugh_jackman_023 by
pimkiehttps://www.flickr.com/photos/pimkie_fotos/3444786387/
• Slide 4 - Hugh Jackman by Gage Skidmore
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/9358553996/
• Slide 6 – purchased from istockfoto
• Slide 8 - Poppies on Liddington Hill by TempusVolat
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mrmorodo/7457819968
• Slide 8 - Lacock abbey by Bernard Blanc
https://www.flickr.com/photos/50879678@N03/7166689481
• Slide 8 - Stonehenge by Jeffrey https://www.flickr.com/photos/jb912/7190313554/
• Slide 8 - Westbury White Horse by Walt Jabsco
https://www.flickr.com/photos/waltjabsco/3560554280/
• Slide 9 - IMGPO394 by Matt Buck https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattbuck007/4144685821/
• Slide 11 - Champagne by Faberzeus https://www.flickr.com/photos/faberzeus/4655745123/
40. Image credits
• Slide 12 – Purchased from istockfoto
• Slide 13 - Purchased from istockfoto
• Slide 14 - ‘Professor Finger Puppet’ by abbey*christine
http://www.flickr.com/photos/abbeychristine/2111324084/ and ‘The famous yawn - cc licence’
by Hilary Quinn http://www.flickr.com/photos/hilaryaq/3435257717/
• Slide 17 - Social media by Sean MacEntee
http://www.flickr.com/photos/smemon/5209796269/
• Slide 18 – Keith Perry, Telegraph, 29 August
2014http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/11063177/Judge-reprimands-lawyer-
for-dressing-like-something-out-of-Harry-Potter.html & Legal Cheek
http://www.legalcheek.com/
• Slide 20 – purchased from istockfoto
• Slide 23 – purchased from istockfoto
• Slide 29 – 11 tweets from the #hipsterlaw hashtag that are probably too hilariously ironic for
most lawyers to understand http://www.legalcheek.com/2014/07/11-tweets-from-the-hipsterlaw-
hashtag-that-are-probably-too-cool-for-most-lawyers-to-have-come-across/
• Slide 32 – Margaret Hagan – illustrated flowcharts
http://www.margarethagan.com/drawings/illustrated-law-flow-charts/
• Slide 36 – purchased from istockfoto
• Slide 37 – purchased from istockfoto
Editor's Notes
Everyone needs an angle – something that makes a difference to those they’re trying to connect with. As librarians we need secret weapons – ways of communicating that will catch our users attention, whether they be students, lawyers, judges…
Kate spoke earlier of making ourselves indispensible, and we’ve had the panel discussion too.
During my session I’ll talk a bit about my role, Lawbore - the website we use at City and also some research I did around student use of tools for their study. Obviously I am from an academic background but I hope many of things I say will be transferrable to those of you dealing with the regular influx of young lawyers as trainees in law firms.
So I took to thinking about British and Australian links and who we might look at in terms of their expertise in connecting with clients. The connection between our 2 countries is pretty strong – 1.277 million Brits emigrating last year alone.
Much was made of a Royal visit to Australia earlier this year – Kate and William apparently setting back the Republican cause. Their secret weapon? George
And what about Britain’s favourite Australian girl – I grew up watching Neighbours and though I didn’t think much of her music in the early 1990’s (I was an indie kid) we all love her later stuff. As well as her great tunes, a likeable personality, one secret weapon propelled her into the nation’s consciousness – gold hot pants
And to Hugh Jackman, his ‘tools’ are plentiful – wowing with his wolverine claws, his singing and not-too-bad torso.
Very lucky at City in the early days of my profession in that I had a lot of freedom – I was allowed to develop new ideas and start projects without there being committees to go through or regular meetings and consultations. Unheard of now!
The law library occupied one floor of the main library and my office was here – this meant that I really got to know the students – they popped in with their questions, worries and for random chats.
I did all the expected stuff - collection development, space management and enquiry work but as a couple of years went by I wanted to do more to support the students, and develop my own skills. Lawbore, the portal I’ll be saying a bit more about in a moment formed a big part of this, but my role has extended much further in that I became involved in a lot of the student experience type work – alumni, careers and my big role as Director of Mooting.
I’ll set the scene a little about my situation – City University London is a university situated (unsurprisingly) near the City of London. Our tagline is ‘The university for business and the professions’ – we have schools of Social Sciences, Arts, Engineering and Maths, Health, Business and Law. The City Law School teaches law at all levels – from undergraduate to the professional quals – BPTC and LPC.
A recent US journal article which touched on the ideas of students learning from students offers this useful quote. (*Sniff* they don’t want to hear from us)
Obviously social networks are all about us getting a window into the world of our friends, and this is a chance to see how others have used their interest in law to further themselves.
Overwhelmingly 71% of LLB students surveyed said they valued mix of advice from lecturers and other students
City’s own legal portal Lawbore (of which Learnmore is a part) has long focused on involving the students in the content; the careers blog, Future Lawyer is a mixture of news items running alongside interviews with alumni (video and text based), and articles/event reviews written by current students.
Although feedback on lawbore had always been very positive from students, staff and the wider legal HE community, I wanted to know more generally about how law students used information – for their study, their career progression and their life organisation. As part of my MA in Academic Practice I carried out research into this via focus groups with students – discussion covering social media tools like facebook and twitter, online communities, collaboration and digital technologies.
I didn’t want this to be about Lawbore specifically but that I would use the data to inform my future development of the site.
Link to Legal Cheek – thriving on exposing lawyers or law students who don’t use it properly….
Facebook more about social support – sounding off about your study, your lecturers or how badly an essay is going. Place to go for clarification when official channels not open or helpful.
Word of mouth more important than anything – “word of mouth has been responsible for 75-80% of anything I’ve ever done”
Been fantastic to forge links with people I wouldn’t have met otherwise.
Reconnect with alumni – who have sought me out.
Find people to collaborate with.
Influential people inside and out of profession
Possible new opportunities
New job?
Can see the types of news they share – letting us better understand their interests, concerns.
Promotion – skills and expertise, awards, published writing, recommendations, education
Whether in law firms, courts, government or universities….
TIPS
Don’t be afraid to give something a go
Time will always be a struggle
Competing against
Be original - make it fun
Carve a place outside of your role – see organisation as a whole