Now is Not the Time for Another Law School Lecture: An Andragogical Approach to Virtual Learning for Legal Education

COVID-19 forced nearly every institution of higher learning, as well as others, to quickly pivot from a traditional face-to-face teaching model to an online teaching model. While some institutions had technology in place to quickly adapt, most institutions were not prepared. Even where the technology infrastructure was in place, the faculty were not readily prepared to adapt their teaching style to this online model. Given these challenges, many professors chose the path of least resistance and chose to conduct those lectures just as they always had but just in an online format. However, now was not the time for another law school lecture. Instead, it is a perfect time to use an andragogical approach to virtual learning to create more engaging and effective instruction. This article discusses the differences between andragogy and pedagogy and the fact that andragogy focuses on designing instruction with the adult learner in mind. It also discusses metacognition as a part of adult learning theory and how online tools can be used to develop such courses. Lastly, I share my own development strategies using adult learning principles and instructional technology