Abstract
Legal education in Asia has been undergoing significant changes to integrate experiential learning models aimed at enhancing learning environments to facilitate interactivity and realism. These have included law clinics, simulation and internships, while also taking advantage of information technology. With support from TDG and TEFS programmes, the speaker piloted a project to add realism to the vocational legal education in Hong Kong through HKU’s PGC in Laws programme (PCLL). Two ground-breaking initiatives, first of their kinds in Asia, were introduced and involved the Simulated Professional Learning Environment (SimPLE) and Standardized Clients (SCs). SimPLE introduced a simulation e-Learning platform for transactional learning, placing learners in a professional context simulating their future workplace that involved aggregates of transactions, multiple solution paths, distributed between tools, colleagues, resources, anticipated and unanticipated problems and individual constructions of knowledge and experience. In the Standardized Clients (SCs) initiative, people lay to the law discipline, but trained to present standardized scenarios to students, comment on and assess students’ communicative competence. The speaker will explain what prompted him to undertake the project, how these initiative were tried out at HKU’s PCLL, what students’ initial responses were and sketch out future plans.
Date: 9th October, 2013 (Wednesday)
Time: 12:30pm – 2:00pm
Venue: Room 321, Run Run Shaw Building
About the Speaker
Mr Wilson Chow, Associate Professor, joined this University in 1995 as the first full-time local teacher in the Department of Professional Legal Education, Faculty of Law. Responsible for the curriculum reform and development in the HKU PCLL since 2001, he spearheaded all related reform proposals and reports over the years. As Head of the Department between 2005 and 2011, he has accumulated extensive, successful experience in team-leading to achieve major goals. Wilson has presented at various international conferences and co-authored a number of journal articles and book chapters on legal education reform.
For details and online registration, please go to:
http://www.cetl.hku.hk/seminar20131009/
For enquiries, please contact Ms Ivy Lai by email laichun2@hku.hk.