Keeping abreast of e-behaviour of students in e-learning design: from UK SimPLE to HKU SMILE

Abstract

Legal education in Asia has been undergoing significant changes in the past decade. Some of these law schools are recently taking advantage of information technology in order to enhance the interactivity and the degree of realism in their experiential learning environment, largely based on the models of the US and the UK. The Department of Professional Legal Education of The University of Hong Kong (HKU) has since 2012 piloted a technology-assisted project modeled upon a transplant of SimPLE (Simulated Professional Learning Environment first trialed by a consortium of five UK law schools in 2008) in its Postgraduate Certificate in Laws program (HKUPCLL, the equivalent to the Legal Practice Course in England and Wales). This paper reports an empirical study of the adoption and adaptation of an e-learning platform in legal education in HKUPCLL. It first summarizes the major reviews of legal education and training that eventually led to the development of various types of experiential learning tools in HKUPCLL. It then analyzes the learning outcomes of the first stage of the pilot: an outright adoption of the SimPLE platform in the academic year 2012-13; followed by an analysis of the second stage of the pilot in 2013-14: merging the features of SimPLE with MOODLE to become SMILE. Through the empirical results from the pilot, we argue that, similar to the transplantation of laws, the transplantation of an e-learning platform for legal education, in order to make it an enjoyable and useful experience for both students and teachers, and hence sustainable, needs not only substantial adaptation to the practical needs of legal education in a specific jurisdiction, but also a very close fit with the prevailing electronic communication behaviour students in their social life, which seems to have evolved much faster than (at least since the inception of smart phones) any e-learning platform can develop itself to adapt.