Why is the amount of available MOOCS (Massive Open Online Courses) for law so much lower than that available in other professional fields?
Is it a fear of IT, lack of interest, feeling incompetent about online pedagogy?
I do know why legal MOOCS are so scarce. I consider it a missed opportunity. Not only are MOOCS a potential disruptive technology in transferring legal competence. But MOOCS can allow traditional legal training to achieve better results.
MOOCS are disruptive in their aim to provide widespread access to higher education via the internet. Their aim can be universal or local, general or highly specialized. No traditional way of teaching law can achieve these advantages to a similar extent. It´s a waste to miss such opportunity.
Traditional teaching can benefit tremendously from MOOCS. Much time can be saved when lecturers in class do not have to spend weeks on explaining necessary introductions in their field of law. Instead, they can refer in advance to the MOOC that provides such introduction. In subsequent classes much more time can be devoted to the real challenges in law with students who are by now all well prepared and motivated through prior attendance of the MOOCS.
As such, MOOCS are part of a wider movement for “flipping” learning: moving the knowledge transfer online and using in class time to practice solving problems.
It is about time that that legal educators move to invest time and effort in producing needed legal MOOCS to make their teaching more effective, efficient and motivating.