‘I came here to be taught law by you…’

Jackie Finn

Maureen Spencer

School of Law

What is the answer?

“‘So what’s the answer? said Laura, a rather literal minded girl who wrote down everything Robyn said in tutorials. ‘Is it a train or a tram?’‘Both or either’ said Robyn. ‘It doesn’t really matter. Go on Marion’‘Hang about’, said Vic. ‘You can’t have it both ways’.

Nice Work, David Lodge (Secker and Warburg, London 1988).

The Flute Game

Anne- only one who can play

Bob- only one who is so poor he has no toys

Carla- made the flute herself

Healthy disagreement

‘Disagreement does not necessarily have to be overcome’. Bernard Williams

‘…rejection of the belief that questions of value can have only one right answer’. Amartya Sen

Designing learning and assessment to challenge student conformity

Theories of learning and assessment in law- research based teaching

Joined up assessment

Outcomes and conclusions

Inquiry based-learning

Driven by questions or problems

Based on seeking new knowledge and understanding

Student-centred

Lecturer as facilitator

Pedagogic objectives

Metacognitive skills- learning how to learn

Research capabilities, ‘spirit of inquiry’, ‘intellectual curiosity’

Cognitive skills

Communication skills

Domain knowledge

IBL as vehicular not oracular

Label that works,

Marketing tool

OR

‘RBL reinvigorates student learning by imbuing it with the excitement of research, of new discoveries and new ways of thinking about problems. It can be a political project which resists the de-politicisation of neo-liberal strategies’. (Carr and Dearden p278)

DISCIPLINE FORMS OF IBL TASKS

Scholarly research

Simplified res, literature and discussion based enquiry

Applied research

Role playing. Enactment of practice

Pure-soft: humanities, social sciences.

20% 50% 7% 23%

Pure-hard: science, maths

24% 64% 4% 8%

Applied- soft: law, bus, education

6% 37% 22% 35%

Applied- hard: engineering, health sc, comp sc

5% 27% 29% 39%

TOTAL 11% 40% 18% 31%

Disrupt the status quo and provoke critical thinking

Learning and assessment

Podcast introductory lectures, seminar tasks for students to present orally and on a blog, online textbook and resources

Oral and written assessment

Seen exam

‘Assessment must necessarily flow from and be integrated with intended learning outcome’.p366 Wallace

LEARNING ASSESMENTS

FEEDBACK

Electronic resources

Podcast lectures

IBL seminars

Blogs

Formative assessment

MCQs

Seen Exam

Summative CW (2

attempts)

Vivas

http://readinglists.mdx.ac.uk/lists/0C1F1C6D-09BB-F163-EF6C-DC9B9337C054.html

Memory, law, unseen exams

• ‘the single confrontation of examinee with exam question, the element of isolated and unaided struggle- Jacob wrestling with the mysterious Other ’. (Maharg, p219)

• ‘Memory has for long held a privileged place in legal education’. (p222)

Viva

Dialogue, interaction, authenticity,

Spontaneous conversation not pre-prepared oral presentation (Wallace p367)

Evi Stavrou.WAV

Seen exam• Open book prior to exam but no materials in

exam

• Challenge to rote learning

• Learning happens not by recording information but by interpreting it

Outcomes

• Participation- podcast, blog, online resources

• Oral assessment

• Seen exam

Views of electronic resources

Students, T = 73

Sources, T = 143, c 15 per Weekly Unit

September 263

October 200

November 166

December 50

January 83

February 21

March 43

April 29

May 27June 65

Podcasts- hits

• Unit 12 Hearsay podcast -97

• Unit 13 Character podcast -70

Revisions

Oral assessment and ‘impression management’

Problem of lack of anonymity; free-ranging questions; different assessors

Podcasts as discussions with students or staff

Use blogs as sources for coursework

Assessment criteria; raising the bar

Question setting for seen exam

Memory, retention, learning, thinking and assessment

• ‘…highly practised skill learning will be durable when the test of retention embodies the procedures employed during acquisition’. (Healy and Bourne 1995)

References

• Aditomo A et al (2013) ‘Inquiry based learning in higher education’ 38 Studies in Higher Education 9 p1239, Table at1254 in Slide 9

• Carr H and Dearden N (2012) ‘Research-led teaching, vehicular ideas and the Feminist Judgments Project’ 46 The Law Teacher 3 268

• Maharg P (1999) ‘The culture of mnemosyne’ 6 IJLP 2 219

• Wallace C(2010) ‘Using oral assessment in law’. 44 The Law Teacher 3 p365