Curriculum changes at the School of Law are giving students more opportunities to take their learning outside of the classroom this semester.
The changes, designed to enhance the educational experience of third-year students, include new U.S.-based externships and capstone projects.
Administrators said the new offerings, approved in Spring 2005, are part of a continuing effort to help students pursue advanced practical and academic work based on their individual interests. Small numbers of students began to participate in the programs last year.
"The Curriculum Committee has been really focused on making the third year a better transition year to wherever students are going to go next," said Katharine Bartlett, dean of the law school.
She noted that keeping students engaged during the third year, which often closely resembles the second year in structure and coursework, presents particular challenges.
"By the time you get to the third year, it gets very repetitious," Bartlett said, explaining the sentiments of some students. She added that the faculty's primary aim is to give students more options rather than to redesign the curriculum completely.
Both externships and capstone projects last one or two semesters, and each replaces between one-fifth and two-thirds of a student's normal courseload, explained Kathy Bradley, senior lecturing fellow and administrator of the Capstone Projects program.
All capstone projects require academic research, writing and some additional component, Bradley explained. One project last year involved creating a website. In another, students developed a model approach to working with prisoners, which they designed to address the specific issues facing one local inmate.
Bradley said few students have undertaken capstone projects since the program began to advertise a year ago.
"We only had a couple of projects, and we actually don't have any [students] that are working right now," Bradley said. "It's a very new program."
Although all of the approximately 210 third-year students are eligible for the capstone program, Bradley said she does not ever expect more than 10 percent of any class to participate.
One reason Bradley does not expect higher participation is that students already have alternative ways to stretch themselves outside the classroom, such as volunteering and international exchanges, she said.
The new domestic externship program, in which students work for an outside agency or firm while pursuing relevant research and writing a graded paper, has attracted more student interest than the capstone program. Bradley said nine or 10 students currently have externship positions-as many as did last semester.
Third-year law student Heather Johnson did an externship last spring assisting an attorney advocate at a Durham County organization representing the interests of children during court battles.
"In law school, you don't get a whole lot of opportunity for practical experience.... You learn what the law is, what the law should be," said Johnson. "In the externship situation, you see what sort of constraints these lawyers are facing."
Although Johnson said she appreciated how much the law school provides and values varied opportunities for involvement outside the classroom, others think students still need more support.
"If you want to do something that's outside the normal track... you really have to be sort of individually motivated," said Danielle Bell, a third-year student doing an externship at a pro bono advocacy group.
Bartlett said she is pleased with the gradual expansion of opportunities for advanced study.
"It's not mandatory, so it's not something that we all-of-a-sudden have to have every student doing," Bartlett said.
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