Paralegal Program Update (5/14/05)

1. Growth in Paralegal Studies Program

From 1995-2003, a total of 120 certificates were awarded to paralegals (an average of 15 certificates per year). The numbers of graduates in the last three yeasrs has been 2003(29), 2004 (32), and this year 2005 (43). The increase in growth comes, in part, from our entirely online certificate program.
Our program, prior to the Summer of 2002, when we commenced that program, had an enrollment of 130-150 students. This last semester we had over 500 students enrolled - more than any other Paralegal Program in the L.A. Community College District. You are all invited to attend the Paralegal Graduation on Saturday, June 11th at 1 P.M.

2. Summer and Fall 2005 Classes
This Summer we will offer 7 online classes - an all time high. In Fall we will add a new online faculty member, Jonathan Jackman, Esq. who currently works for Sony Pictures. Jon was a Project Match Volunteer - a teacher training program through the L.A. Community College District and assisted Prof. Jordan in co-teaching the Intro to Law Class last spring. He will teach the Intro Class online in Fall. Welcome Jon to our online faculty. Jon will be an excellent addition to our already excellent online faculty.

3. Our Students - Our students are very diversified. Read some of the stories from our last year's graduates, and you will be inspired.
Also read comments from our students about our program. We have students just graduating from high school, and grandparents coming back to school for their certificate - a wide and diversified range of students which makes our program "rich" in diversity.

4. ProfJ's Blogs - Keeping with the new trend on "blogs" - Prof. Jordan has added a "Blog" to keep the students abreast of current legal developments and activities/announcements about the Paralegal studies program.

5. New List Serv - To stay in touch with recent paralegal graduations, and also current students, the program has initiated a List-Serv. This will ensure that communications are maintained with recent graduates about jobs, and developments in our program, and the law. You too can join if you want.(email to mailto:missionlaw-subscribe@yahoogroups.com)

6. Etudes NG - Our program is currently using the Etudes Learning Management System (read FAQ about the program). Prof Jordan has been selected to participate as a "Stakeholder Tool Developer" in the new Etudes NG platform. The new Etudes NG platform will make our current online and on campus program even easier, and more "computer friendly" for our students to navigate. The Etudes NG has become part of an alliance with the Sakai Project, and the University of Indiana, Arizona State University, Boston University School of Management, Brown University, Carleton College, , Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Dartmouth, Georgetown, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Berkeley, and others - - in developing a community - "To help us understand open source in the context of higher education, Lois Brooks has written about laying a groundwork based on the work of some of the best thinkers in the software development world." (Lois Brooks, Stanford University)"

7. Legal Aid Foundation and Training - On June 24th, Prof Jordan will train paralegals and legal secretaries for the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles. (LAFLA). LAFLA will work with our program to offer "hands on" internships for our paralegal students. We believe this new partnership will prove very beneficial for everyone involved.

8. New Hybrid Classes - In the Fall, the Paralegal program will institute new "hybrid classes" in its on campus program. We are combining the best of both "on campus face to face instruction" and our online program. The classes will meet 8 times during the semester instead of 15 weeks. Class instruction will include interesting projects, such as "mock trials", and the like.

"Hybrid instruction is the single greatest unrecognized trend in higher education today."—Graham Spanier, President of Penn State University (the following information is from "Hybrid Courses: The Best of Both Worlds")

* Hybrid courses are courses in which significant portions of the learning activities have been moved online, a combination of traditional classroom and Internet instruction.
* Time traditionally spent in the classroom is reduced but not eliminated.
* The goal of hybrid courses is to join the best features of in-class teaching with the best features of online learning to promote active independent learning and reduce class seat time.
* Using computer-based technologies, instructors use the hybrid model to redesign some lecture or lab content into new online learning activities, such as case studies, tutorials, self-testing exercises, simulations, and online group collaborations.

Maximizing Student Learning

* Flexibility: Both students and instructors liked the greater convenience afforded by the hybrid course model.
* Develops/enhances time management, critical thinking skills, problem-solving skills.
* Enhances computer skills, increasing opportunities for academic and professional success.
* Promotes self-directed learning.
* Because of the highly text-based nature of websites and email, hybrid courses become de facto writing-intensive courses.
* Instructors reported that the hybrid course model allows them to accomplish course learning objectives more successfully than traditional courses
* Allows an instructor to teach to subject mastery without traditional class time constraints.
* Encourages integration of out-of-class activities with in-class activities to allow for more effective use of traditional class time.
* Most faculty noted increased interaction and contact among their students and between the students and themselves.
* Better able to approximate a "real world" writing environment, including collaboration.
* Faculty participants almost universally believe their students learned more in the hybrid format than they did in the traditional class sections.
* Instructors reported that students wrote better papers, performed better on exams, produced higher quality projects, and were capable of more meaningful discussions on course material.
* Additionally, by sequencing assignments so that they move students from significant discussion/responding online, through written reflections about their responses and the reading, to group or individual projects that are posted to a common learning space,
such as a website or discussion board, for discussion and elaboration, teachers can have students engaged in doing, rather than just experiencing or reading.
* Students can view and review prerecorded lectures and access course notes and other materials such as course syllabus, assignment schedule, task sheets, grades, and so on.
* Students who rarely take part in classroom discussions are more likely to participate online, where they get time to think before they type and aren't put on the spot.
* Presents materials in a range of formats can help make sure every student is fully engaged in at least some class activities. Allows for auditory, visual, tactile learners.
* Research shows that student success rates in hybrid courses are "equivalent or slightly superior" to face-to-face courses, and that the hybrid courses have lower withdrawal rates than do fully online courses.


End of Update