A new pedagogy for higher education?: Exploring integrated learning environments in legal education

It is clear that there is an urgent need to reconceptualise the pedagogy of the tertiary learning environment and to reflect on how best to harness technology to improve student learning outcomes. It has been said that technology on its own is not sufficient for effective learning, but it is by no means clear to many time-poor academics how to redesign courses for an optimal blend of both on and off-campus resources and physical and virtual environments. This paper will examine, in a legal education context, how one Faculty has progressed its pedagogical journey towards delivering desirable integrated learning environments. In pursuing this objective, we have been forced both to re-evaluate the way we teach for learning in the face-to-face classroom and to consider critically the barriers that prevent online learning and teaching proceeding to a more facilitated model of learning that is active, situational, student-centred and independent (that is, beyond mere content delivery and communicative interaction: Paliwala, 2001; Laurillard, 1993). At a time when internationalisation of core curricula is also a priority, this paper will highlight the need to manage a significant culture change for staff and students alike. It will explore some of the constraints to bringing technology into the curriculum and offe