Poster Session TEACHING LAW IN REAL­TIME: THE JURIST MODEL Bernard Hibbitts University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA Ellen Cohn University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA Multiple models of Web site pedagogy have emerged to facilitate student learning and faculty engagement. Eolf and Cohn (2001) studied two such models. In the tabular rasa model, students collaboratively constructed a Web site in the absence of an instructor­provided template. In the shell model, students produced web­based products in the absence of a predetermined structure. The authors concluded that “instructor dictated website templates, or lack thereof, facilitate different student learning strategies, faculty engagement, and products.” More recently, Web­based electronic portfolio templates, educational blogs, and wikis (Augar, et al, 2004), enable both reflective, and even collaborative Web site pedagogy. Such models, however useful, are typically characterized by a greater temporal distance (vs. a real­time model) between the current event that represents new knowledge, and the commitment of knowledge to the Web site. This paper describes a collaboratively generated Web site that provides a relatively immediate pedagogical Web site [1] experience. The University of Pittsburgh JURIST Web site teaches its student editors law in real time by having them research and report on breaking national and international legal news stories, leading them to analyze the significance of legal developments and explain those to others while enhancing their explanations with relevant online source and research material for a wide external audience. JURIST also supports pedagogy as an unparalleled one­stop web based legal research environment available to students world­wide. For JURIST interns, the site functions as a laboratory in which students acquire specialized legal journalistic skills, generate knowledge, and participate in public service. [1] Visit the JURIST Web site at http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/ TCC 2005 Online Conference Copyright © 2005 Kapi'olani Community College, University of Hawaii, All rights reserved.
