Student  Focus  Groups

ADMINISTRATION  OF  JUSTICE  AND  PARALEGAL

Administration  of  Justice  Program  A.S.  Degree  assessment

Direct  assessments

Indirect  assessments

Student  focus  group

Los Angeles Mission College

Certificate of Appreciation

Presented to

xxxxx For outstanding service and contribution as a member of the

Administration of Justice Research Focus Group

Kelly William Enos

Vice Chair, Administration of Justice May 10th, 2016

Brainstorming

How  can  we  better  serve  students  in  the  Administration  of  Justice  Program  

TransferWriting  CJ  reportsCritical  thinking  Career  planning

Four  rules  on  divergent  thinking  for  focus  groups

Suspend  judgement

Strive  for  quantity

Make  connections

Push  for  novelty

Brainwriting

Advantages  of  BrainwritingVocal  persons  who  dominate  the  discussion

Working  independently,  tends  to  develop  more  ideas

Tend  to  have  more  elaborate  ideas  because  of  time  to  reflect

Builds  on  other  ideas

BRAINWRITING    

Challenge  Statement:__________________________________________________________  

 

 

1A                

   

   

1B   1C  

2A                        

2B   2C  

3A                        

3B   3C  

 

Results

Reverse  Brainstorming

Paralegal  Focus  Group    Attending:  (L-­‐R)  Distiny Drake,  Celia  Smith,  Prof.  J,  George  Ebroyan,  Ivan  Rodriguez,  Jocelyn  Cardenas,    Isamar  Montalbo – Senate  Offices  – May  26,  2016

Results• Consider  adding  a  project  based/performance  based  PLO  which  includes  projects,  internships,  capstone,  

etc.  to  show  and  demonstrate  competence,  and  also  commitment  to  working  and  assisting  the  community  such  as  mentoring,  tutoring,  self-­‐help  legal  access  centers,  etc.  

• Update  PLO  #1  to  add  “legal  reasoning  &  analysis” (PLO  #1  “Correctly  use  legal  terminology,   and  interpret  the  fundamentals  of  the  legal  system,  its  processes,  deadlines  and  procedures”).

• Add  and  imbed  in  each  of  the  12  law  classes  at  the  start  of  the  semester  – resources,  videos,  and  an  assignment  to  help  students  learn  legal  analysis,  legal  reasoning,  and  how  to  brief  law  cases

• Add  at  least  one  research  assignment  in  each  of  the  12  law  classes  to  help  students  learn  how  to  conduct  effective  legal  research  (PLO  #2).

• Obtain  access  for  all  students  in  the  paralegal  program  to  a  “free”  legal  research  program,  or  low  cost,  such  as  Westlaw  or  Fastcase.

Results  (continued)• Add  more  activities  to  the  paralegal  program  -­‐ require  them  as  part  of  each  class,  and  add  them  in  the  

syllabus.  Such  activities  as  moot  court,  attending  law  seminars,  having  law  speakers  on  campus,  volunteer  work,  going  to  the  law  library.

• Get  membership  in  the  law  library  for  all  of  our  law  students.

• Add  more  lectures  and  online  videos  to  the  online  and  on  campus  classes.  

• Add  a  capstone  final  project  to  each  law  class.

• Apply  to  a  law  or  paralegal  honor  society  so  our  students  can  join.  

• Set  up  a  law  scholarship,  and  imbed  a  writing  competition  in  each  class,  and  then  tie  that  to  the  scholarship  award  each  spring  awards  ceremony  similar  to  the  AJ  Program  scholarship.  

Results  (continued)• Work  on  reframing  the  paralegal  program  curriculum  – have  8  required  courses  with  4  elective  courses  

including  criminal  law,  immigration  law,  intellectual  property  law,  constitutional  like,  and  the  like.  

• Set  up  a  program,  initiative,  or  internship  where  students  can  get  a  certificate  in  mediation.  Currently  there  is  a  mediation  certificate  available  to  our  paralegals  at  the  LA  City  Attorney  Office  Dispute  Resolution  Program.

• Imbed  activities  in  each  class  and  require  it.  Students  who  cannot  do  the  “outreach”  or  “community  based”  activities could  choose  to  do  a  special  final  project  which  could  be  shown  at  “Paralegal  Showcase”  every  year.  

• Have  a  Legal  Justice  or  Public  Law  Interest  Day.

• Set  up  meetings  for  online  students  on  campus  – Regular  “Meetups”  so  that  they  can  get  a  sense  of  belonging  to  Mission.

• Have  more  focus  groups  .