We appreciate that these are challenging times for everyone. While we recognise that not everyone can be present in person, we also hear from students who have an expectation that they will engage with us face-to-face.
Balancing these often conflicting needs isn’t always easy. This year, qLegal is delivering mixed-mode clinical legal education, and our programmes all have a hybrid mix of online and in-person opportunities for students.
That’s why we gave our new cohort of students of approximately 200 students the option to join our Induction Day in person or remotely. The numbers were relatively evenly split, and on Saturday 9th of October we welcomed 105 students in person (pictured right) and 92 online.
All our interactive induction training sessions were provided remotely, and the recordings were made available online for students to re-watch in the future.
Now they are trained, students across all of our programmes have opportunities to meet with us, and each other, in person.
Students on our Public Legal Education programme have the opportunity to meet with Eliza and Anisha for their “Dress Rehearsal”, which is a chance for them to receive feedback and practise their presentation and public speaking skills before delivering their workshop to clients. Although many workshops are still being offered online at the hosts’ request, a pair of students recently delivered a workshop on Social Media and the Law to students at Ada, National College for Digital Skills.
We are finding that many of our start-up and entrepreneur clients still prefer to attend their 1:1 appointment with our Legal Advisory students online.
However, we are keen to give students an opportunity to meet with us in person, and students are invited to attend an in-person case surgery with Emily and Szabina after their client interview to debrief and plan their next steps.
Our Externship students are often given the opportunity to attend their host organisation once a week in person. They also have lunchtime Externship Meetups to get to know each other and share their experiences with Clemence and their peers. Finally, students on our Consultancy stream, in which students work on various projects (often with a design thinking or innovation aspect) have various opportunities for in-person activities. One project is the Technology, Media and Telecommunications Law Institute podcast (listen to the latest episode), and students hold their weekly meetings in a hybrid way; part of the team meets Karen and Disha in person, and the rest of the students join via Teams.
In general, our students enjoy the opportunity to meet the qLegal team in person, reporting that the face-to-face meetings help them to build rapport with each other. They also appreciate the flexibility it gives them. One of our students noted that this way of learning “is very flexible. It helps people from all over the world to attend lectures and finish their degrees without leaving their home countries. We don’t have to worry that we would miss lectures in case we are caught up in some other unavoidable situations” (Dhanyasri Talluri BBA LLB (Hons.))
However, this hybrid way of learning is not without its challenges.
The internet connection can sometimes be an issue, and we need to take extra care to speak clearly so that online attendees can still hear in-person attendees with their face coverings on.
Our resilient and innovative students seem to enjoy these meetings and are always keen to problem solve when faced with these logistical challenges!
We are constantly increasing our efforts to deliver more in-person opportunities to students and provide the best student experience possible. However, we are also aware of the need to adapt to these changing times. As a result, we are listening to what our students say and will adapt our approaches as necessary to provide the best possible clinical legal education.