One of my favorite observers of contemporary higher education is Hollis Robbins (University of Utah), a scholar of literature who not longer ago stepped back from senior administrative leadership roles (Sonoma State University, University of Utah) to write and speak about the future of universities. I follow her via her Substack, titled “Anecdotal Value.” She does not write about law or legal education; most of her work is motivated by questioning the future of teaching and learning in the undergraduate setting, given the power of Generative AI.
But law professors everywhere are reminded constantly that today’s undergraduates are tomorrow’s law students and lawyers. Paying attention to shifts and trends in the college education environment is absolutely essential for any law professor or dean (let alone provost) who wants to build pathways to success for themselves and their students.
Thus, recently from Professor Robbins: “Last Mile Education: The Syllabus Doesn’t Matter“:
AI offers processed knowledge, what’s already been written, analyzed, and incorporated into its training data. A professor who is a domain expert in the French Revolution can talk to students about sitting in the archives, reading parish records from a village in 1789, seeing what the local grievances were. She can describe what Marat’s bath smelled like. What a guillotine looks like up close. She can describe the only letter known between Robespierre and Danton and what it indicated about their relationship. This is last mile knowledge
Last mile education is the value proposition of a college education. It’s why the syllabus is becoming irrelevant. If students are using AI, the syllabus should be as general as possible. The important question, which the syllabus cannot answer, is whether the professor possesses the domain expertise to do the work of tailoring scholarship to student interests. Does this professor possess knowledge that exceeds what AI can provide? Does she work at the frontier of their field (especially important in the sciences)? Can he teach the last mile?
When students arrive in class having already consumed AI-generated basics, the last mile is where higher education should begin. College was designed build upon knowledge delivered in high school, not repeat it. Students and parents should demand their tuition dollars to be paying for the meeting of specific faculty expertise and student interest.
Read the whole thing.
