CaseMap as a Tool for the Research Log Function: Finally, a Technology that Can Help us Teach Better

Abstract:     
For years, teachers at all levels have been encouraged to use technology in the classroom, with mixed results. Unfortunately, technology never makes for a better student or a better teacher by itself. What is needed are customized applications designed by teachers with particular educational objectives in mind. Those teachers charged with the difficult task of introducing their students to the art and practice of legal writing often find themselves in the position of a doctor trying to diagnose an illness from a dead body. That is, they find themselves trying to explain a combination of thinking and writing problems after the two have been mixed together, and the resulting mistakes have already been made. If we could more systematically join with our students in the critical thinking and linking steps that must precede good legal writing, we might be able to help them produce better final products. This article describes the use of a particular software program in the teaching of legal research and writing that, if carefully used and implemented, might finally meet that elusive objective.

Keywords: legal education, legal writing, legal technology, skills training, pedagogy, educational technology

JEL Classifications: K19

Working Paper Series