The One Where Learning is Reflected
Victoria Barney and Angela Lyrette
Meta Learning: Faculty reflections on reflective assignments
Professor & Coordinator Victoria Barney knows her students want professional employability skills to secure entry-level jobs as law clerks. To keep her courses current and relevant, she arranged to visit Avaleah (Avvy) Plant, Human Resources & IT Manager and Lisa Chambers, Real Estate Clerk at Mann Lawyers LLP in Ottawa. She came back to campus with new ideas for practical (experiential learning) tasks to reinforce the learning in her classes.
Drawing on the What? So What? Now What? experiential reflection framework, Barney synthesized what she learned during her site visit.
What?
Mann Lawyers “is no ordinary law firm” priding themselves on “25+ years of delivering compassionate, intelligent and thoughtful advice with integrity”. They define success through long-term relationships; “to our clients but also to our team members and out in the communities we feel lucky to be part of.”
As a graduate of Algonquin College’s Law Clerk Program (2008) and Human Resources Graduate Certificate Program (2021) Plant was the perfect contact at the firm to reach out to. Barney was interested in new file creation, client identification, and billing procedures and processes, as well as professional correspondence tips – essentially the style the firm uses for letters to clients, emails to ensure a professional presentation.
Given the firm’s reputation, Barney was not surprised at the knowledge and efficiency the team demonstrated in their work. She was very impressed by the client-focused and supportive atmosphere she observed of the team members. In her experience, this quality is sometimes lacking in large law firms. These busy professionals made Barney feel welcome and generously offered their time and expertise.
So What?
The site visit confirmed and added nuances to what is presented in the textbooks used for class. Interacting with industry professionals and seeing the work in action provided Barney with firsthand stories and observations she can use in class. She has a better sense of the tone used for professional communication in the workplace and can reflect on using a matching tone in class activities and rewarding students through updated instructions and rubrics. From the conversations with the Mann Lawyers team, she can visualize some assignment-related content for her Real Estate Procedures course. With potential contributions to the curriculum, she has renewed enthusiasm for her courses starting in the fall term.
Now what?
In addition to focused professional communication skills, students would benefit from enhanced use of Teraview software to review subdivision maps and familiarize themselves with lesser known registered instruments on title.
One new idea that is inspiring to Barney is the concept of a paperless law office. What tools will organizations use for filing, storage, and retrieval? How can this be replicated in authentic assessments, particularly for the Law Clerk Work Practicum course? What ideas will the students come up with that can be shared with industry? Barney plans to meet with the teaching team, which includes colleagues in private industry, to apply these concepts into the curriculum. A continued relationship with industry will make this work rewarding and fun for the students.
About the authors
name: Victoria Barney
institution: Algonquin College
Victoria Barney received her LL.B from the University of Windsor and has been a full time professor in the Law Clerk program since 2010 (Coordinator since 2011) after a number of years spent at the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board. Committed to the success of her students, Victoria’s philosophy centres around a student-focused approach, striving to adapt to the unique learning needs of each student. Her mentorship extends beyond the classroom, helping students with career advice, internships, and networking opportunities within the legal community to ensure students have the support they need to achieve their career goals.
Angela Lyrette is a full time Professor and Educational Developer at Algonquin College. Angela holds a Master’s Degree in Education, specializing in workplace and adult learning from the University of Calgary, a Teaching Adult Lifelong Learners Certificate (with Honours) from Algonquin College, and a variety of financial services designations from the Canadian Securities Institute. A self-professed life-long learner, her curiosity and enthusiasm for teaching, learning, and serving the community is evident in her body of work.
