167: Evaluating Student Learning Experiences in Law School Hybrid Online J.D. Program

As law schools adopt more flexible models of legal education, hybrid online J.D. programs have become more common. These programs began growing before the COVID-19 pandemic and became even more popular afterward. This paper presents a mixed-methods evaluation of student asynchronous online learning experiences in a hybrid J.D. program, launched in 2019 and approved by the American Bar Association (ABA), at a private university in the northeastern United States. Using a convergent mixed-methods design, the study explores perspectives from current students, alumni, and faculty through surveys and interviews. This presentation provides results from preliminary data analysis of survey data. The key insights include student perceptions of course component effectiveness, integration of asynchronous and synchronous sessions, workload, and overall learning experience, as well as faculty’s teaching challenges, effective strategies, and support needs for designing and delivering asynchronous courses. This paper offers practical strategies for evaluating student learning in hybrid J.D. programs and for fostering continuous improvement grounded in student and faculty experience. 

Zhijuan Niu, Yunfan Gong, Shannon Gardner, Judy Teng