Blended learning using role-plays, wikis and blogs

Student learning about legal skills in legal education is increasingly seen as important. These legal skills include advocacy and negotiation. These skills are often taught through role-play. This article discusses the combination of role-plays with online tools, including wikis and blogs, to assist students to master legal skills. The article describes and discusses two case studies of the teaching of legal skills in a blended learning design for students at RMIT University. Students involved in role-plays learn about advocacy and legal negotiation skills, and use online tools for preparation and debriefing. Additionally, through participant observation and selected data from student evaluation of one of the case studies the authors suggest implementation concerns for law teachers to consider when introducing this type of learning design. [Author abstract, ed]