THE MILLENNIAL PRE-PROFESSIONAL: HOW TECHNOLOGY CAN REFORMULATE COURSEWORK TO INCREASE STUDENT ENGAGEMENT AND PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE

It is said that millennials prefer to spend time on their iDevices (smartphone, tablet, laptop, smart watch, etc.) than engage in face to face interaction. In an earlier paper [Brower, 2014], I discussed using simulations to engage students entering the legal profession and inculcate professionalism and engagement. In this follow-up presentation, I explain how that course has changed to incorporate technology and gamification appropriate for the millennial law student beginning their professional career in the first part of the 21st century.

The original paper focused on the fact that professional degree programs (law, business, medicine, etc.) straddle two worlds: instruction in traditional academic knowledge and abstract principles, and education and inculcation of professional skills and practice methodologies. In my institution, this uneasy combination led to limited student engagement in learning basic principles, as students perceived abstract knowledge to be far removed from the concrete demands of the profession and practitioners’ needs. In today’s millennial student, these challenges are exacerbated by learning, research and collaboration styles that are mediated by on-demand technological access and the immediate feedback of “likes” or achievement badges. This presentation will explore some uses of technology and gamification to rejuvenate an existing course in order to reengage students in their traditional doctrinal courses, helping them bridge the gap between theory and practice, and increasing their professional competence and identity.