For those who aren’t familiar with CALI (Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction), it is a computer-based, interactive tutorial that is free for KU Law students, faculty and staff. You login to the website and choose a lesson by topic, author or, even cooler, casebook. Once you choose a topic, CALI will provide you with a brief description of a legal concept. Once the concept has been spelled out, CALI will provide you with a scenario and then ask you a question. If you get it wrong, CALI will tell you why. If you get it right, CALI will ask you to type in why you are right and then compare it to a model answer.
But wouldn’t it be cool if you could go through these tutorials on your iPhone or iPad? Well CALI has recently announced some major improvements and a completely new look for CALI lessons. The educational content of lessons is not changing, but they are adding:
- iPad and iPhone compatibility,
- auto score save,
- easy copy and paste, and
- special built-in features for faculty only.
The test phase is still in Alpha and is only available to faculty and staff. From the lesson listings at cali.org, click any lesson title — not the play button — then find the link to the new lessons here.
The new CALI viewer is not yet available to students, but will be soon.
Pretty slick, no? If you think you would like to check out CALI, contact me for an access code.
W. Blake Wilson, Head of Instructional & Research Services