Stopping to think: reflections on the use of e-portfolios in legal education

This session reports on the work of a two-year funded e-portfolio project co-ordinated by The UK Centre for Legal Education. The project aims not only to consider the introduction of e-portfolios within the delivery of legal education, but also within the professional legal environment itself, although its findings will apply across a range of professional disciplines. During the course of the project it has become clear that it would not be possible to develop a single system, thus the project seeks to identify themes which are specific to e-portfolios within the professional educational sphere. The project has three institutional partners: University of Strathclyde, University of Westminster and Oxford Institute of Legal Practice. Each project seeks to develop links with the professional sector and create partnerships with local employers. Through these links, together with work based learning modules, the projects have built up some experience of dealing with the transfer from University Education to professional life and the effects that may have on a ‘Law’ e-portfolio.
We talk briefly about the background to the project and set it within the context of the UK legal education system. We will then go on to describe how the project has been implemented in the three partner institutions, with a focus on the Glasgow Graduate School of Law, and demonstrate some practical aspects of the projects including examples of students’ e-portfolios. Finally, we will share some of our reflections on the opportunities and challenges that e-portfolios might present in transforming legal education.