Editor's blog | Learning the law the Ardcalloch way

A village in Scotland is pushing law schools to consider innovative ways of harnessing technology

I have never been to Ardcalloch. Nor do I know anybody who has, other than the town’s founder Paul Maharg, professor of legal education at Northumbria Law School. Nestling on the banks of the Clyde, it is one of Scotland’s fastest growing high-tech communities, according to its website.

But don’t go looking for it on any map, or venture out in person to the outskirts of Cardross in search of this medieval gem. Because while Ardcalloch can seemingly trace its origins back to the tenth century, it is an entirely virtual creation. Think Farmville, or Second Life, for aspiring lawyers, but with a practical academic purpose.

Built in 2001, the online town is the brainchild of Maharg, which he developed as a learning module for LPC students while at Strathclyde University. It has a sheriff court where students can appear using their avatars and either prosecute or defend their clients. Other virtual modules include will writing, conveyancing, and personal injury claims. You can’t get more ‘high street’ than this.

Ardcalloch also has shops, banks, public services – all of which may seem unnecessary but Maharg says they are essential to put across the sense that the cases or transactions in which the students are involved could be for real.

Because it’s a closed community only accessible to those who are taking the LPC with it, not much is readily visible of life in Ardcalloch. But Maharg is infectiously evangelical about it. Students are not talked at in the old fashioned tutorial way but engage in ‘transactional learning’. This, he says, improves not just their ability to apply the law in real life situations but it also helps them get a much better grasp of the theory.

It’s just the sort of learning experience that the iPhone generation can relate to, you would think. The trouble is, not very many law colleges have embraced it. One reason is the upfront costs of designing the software. Like the computer games on which the concept is based, every learning scenario has to be thought out in long lines of noughts and ones. That’s very expensive, and even though the running costs of a course thereafter are only about two thirds of traditional courses, something radical will need to happen for heads of law schools to be convinced they should invest in this kind of initiative.

The report by Richard Susskind earlier this week for the Legal Education and Training Review (LETR) team gave Ardcalloch a big name check as Susskind urged regulators to embrace disruptive technologies. No longer should technology be used merely to improve pre-existing learning processes, he said, but it should instead be developed innovatively to chart the way forward. This could be the trigger Maharg and his followers have been waiting for. So keep your eyes peeled, before you know it there could be an Ardcalloch springing up near you.

Ardcalloch, the virtual legal town. Having been following this for some years, great innovation for Legal Ed. solicitorsjournal.co.uk/blog/editors-b…

— Jon Harman (@colmmu) October 22, 2012