Despite all of the complaints during the COVID shutdown in 2020-21, it turns out a majority of law students like distance education — or at least want more options.
The American Bar Association’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar surveyed 1,394 third-year law students and found that 68.65% want the ability to earn more distance education course credit than what their law school offered.
“There is a desire amongst a significant group of law students to have distance learning options available to them,” Bill Adams, the ABA managing director of accreditation and legal education told the ABA Journal.
Students were asked whether they would take in-person or an online class through a video conferencing platform, such as Zoom. If given a choice, 47.71% said they would choose in-person classes, while 52.29% indicated that they would select a Zoom course. 73.54% of respondents reported that the 2020-2021 academic year was the first time that their schools offered distance education courses.
The survey also asked questions comparing in-person classes and pre-recorded online courses, which are self-paced. Of the responses, 41.59% said they would prefer pre-recorded courses, while 58.41% preferred in-person classes.
The current ABA standards only allow distance education to make up 20% of a student’s required credit hours. But several schools have requested changes to this standard and the ABA hopes to provide greater clarity on the matter soon. The ABA will review the matter at its annual meeting later this month.
The survey was sent to 60 law schools and associate deans then distributed it to third years.
