Maybe watching a video demo brings you up to speed. Maybe you’d rather read about a new feature or need to write down the steps for doing something before it sinks in. Whatever your learning style, once you understand which methods work best for you, it is much easier to master new technology. For law firms, targeted training for different types of learners can also boost legal tech adoption.
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If you’re like most lawyers, legal tech has become a major part of your workflow. In the latest Future Ready Lawyer Survey, 87% of attorneys said technology has improved their day-to-day work.
Yet most lawyers haven’t achieved true mastery of their legal tech tools; in the same survey, fewer than half (46%) said they were “fully leveraging” technology, while 54% were either “transitioning” or, admittedly, “not leveraging technology as much as they could.”
What’s holding us back? The most common response in the survey was limited knowledge, understanding or skills. This barrier has proved difficult to overcome. Even when there’s plenty of enthusiasm for learning new technology, navigating schedules to find dedicated time for deep-dive training is a struggle.
How Can We Make Training More Appealing and Effective?
By playing to our strengths and preferences. Similar to how you may have studied in law school, tailoring your legal tech training to your unique learning style can greatly improve how engaged you are in learning a new skill and how much you retain.
While educators have identified more than 70 different learning styles, the most common are represented in the “VARK” model: Visual, Auditory, Read/Write and Kinesthetic. Here’s a quick guide to these four core styles and how you can apply them to better master any legal tech.
What’s Your Learning Style?
1. Visual Learning
If you’re bored by dense text but intrigued by a chart, you may be a visual learner. Images, diagrams, symbols, charts and other visual aids are the best way to convey concepts for visual learners.
Visual approaches to learning legal tech include:
- Interactive tutorials: Seek out software demonstrations that include screenshots, diagrams and video demonstrations. Watching these step-by-step guides can help boost your understanding. Many tech providers offer training videos on their website or support site.
- Visual aids: Prepare one-page guides that you can keep on your desk or desktop for easy reference. This could be a flowchart of a frequently used process — for example, the steps required to open a new matter in your law firm’s legal case management software.
- Color coding: Explore customization options in your software to color code information. For example, you can use colors to indicate witness types: Red is the opposition’s witness, green is your witness, and expert witnesses are blue. Or use color coding to organize deadlines in an intuitive “stoplight” hierarchy. Many legal tech platforms allow for this customization. Look for ways to make it work for you.
2. Auditory Learning
Auditory learners grasp information best through listening. If you find yourself most engaged when text and visual training materials are presented with sound, embrace these training options.
Here are some auditory approaches to learning legal tech:
- Webinars and podcasts: Seek out webinars and narrated how-to videos offered by legal tech vendors. You may also find legal tech podcasts like LawNext helpful.
- Text-to-speech: When training materials aren’t available in videos or podcasts, you can leverage text-to-speech capabilities included on your desktop or device to follow along as the text is read aloud.
- Record and playback: When your law firm or vendor offers a training session, get in the habit of recording it. Later, you can play back the session to reinforce the training.
- Discussion groups: Within your firm or through organizations like the International Legal Tech Association (ILTA) and ABA Law Practice Division or GP Solo Division, look for forums where you can talk through legal tech with peers. Hearing different perspectives can inspire ideas for software use. Additionally, consider joining a user group for solution-specific discussions.
3. Read/Write Learning
Unlike their visual and auditory peers, read/write learners prefer text. If you’re a note-taker who excels when reviewing written articles and manuals, consider these strategies to boost retention.
Read/Write approaches to learning legal tech include:
- User manuals and guides: Check out the software’s support site FAQ and written training materials. As you read, take notes, summarize the materials, and record any of your follow-up questions.
- Step-by-step checklists: When learning new processes, create detailed written checklists for commonly used tasks within the software. This can serve as a quick reference and ensure process consistency.
- Blogs and articles: Most legal tech vendor websites offer a wealth of written materials, including articles, case studies, release notes and best practices.
4. Kinesthetic Learning
If hands-on experiences and interactions are the best way for you to absorb information, you’re likely a kinesthetic learner. You probably excel when engaging directly with the software and exploring it yourself.
Here are some kinesthetic approaches to learning legal tech:
- Sandbox exploration: Use a sandbox or demo version of the tool to familiarize yourself with a new solution’s navigation, customization options and functionality. This allows you to click around and experiment without fear of messing things up.
- Scenarios and workshops: Another effective option is to use the tool to work through common scenarios and processes. You can do this independently or in workshops as you collaborate with others.
- Gamification: Across your firm or team, make adoption and mastery of the software a game. Provide incentives for accomplishing various milestones, such as 10 matters migrated into the new system. This approach motivates the real-world use that resonates best with this learning style.
Adjusting Your Learning Method to Master Valuable Legal Tech Skills
The key to boosting legal tech adoption in your law firm and developing valuable legal technology skills is to find the training methods that resonate most with your team. Seek help from your IT resources and vendors. The right vendor will be excited to help you understand and master the software while also being responsive to your requests for different training formats.
By recognizing and adjusting for your own learning style, you can build confidence and take full advantage of the benefits of technology. Understanding different learning styles can help elevate your firm as a legal tech innovator.
Image © iStockPhoto.com.
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