Pub Date : 2021-09-20DOI: 10.1080/03069400.2021.1973276
Rosie Brain, L. Ezekiel, Arian Mansur, Nia Marshall, Namwila Mulwanda, Darby Okafor, Hélène Tyrrell
ABSTRACT Should first year undergraduate students be involved in the delivery of lectures? This paper reports on the development of a project to instil student leadership in large group learning (lectures). The initiative draws from an experimental student-run lecture in the spring of 2018, when the six undergraduate co-authors took the opportunity to stand in as the lecturer in a core first year module. The results of that experiment led us, in 2019, to explore formal opportunities for student leadership in first year lectures. In this model, the teacher–student relationship becomes one of collaboration: the lecturer mentors rather than presents. Our findings contribute to the literature on student-led teaching, corroborating accounts that report greater participation and collaboration as a result of student-led teaching. The novelty of our model is that it reimagines learning roles, positioning students as lecturers at the point where students first encounter material and at an early stage of undergraduate study. Dismantling traditional learning hierarchies in this way has the potential to encourage a collaborative relationship between teachers and learners, nurturing student confidence and fostering a stronger learning community. This paper is an extension of such a collaboration, being written collectively by six undergraduate students and our lecturer.
{"title":"The student as lecturer: building confidence, collaboration, and community in first year undergraduate law lectures","authors":"Rosie Brain, L. Ezekiel, Arian Mansur, Nia Marshall, Namwila Mulwanda, Darby Okafor, Hélène Tyrrell","doi":"10.1080/03069400.2021.1973276","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/03069400.2021.1973276","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Should first year undergraduate students be involved in the delivery of lectures? This paper reports on the development of a project to instil student leadership in large group learning (lectures). The initiative draws from an experimental student-run lecture in the spring of 2018, when the six undergraduate co-authors took the opportunity to stand in as the lecturer in a core first year module. The results of that experiment led us, in 2019, to explore formal opportunities for student leadership in first year lectures. In this model, the teacher–student relationship becomes one of collaboration: the lecturer mentors rather than presents. Our findings contribute to the literature on student-led teaching, corroborating accounts that report greater participation and collaboration as a result of student-led teaching. The novelty of our model is that it reimagines learning roles, positioning students as lecturers at the point where students first encounter material and at an early stage of undergraduate study. Dismantling traditional learning hierarchies in this way has the potential to encourage a collaborative relationship between teachers and learners, nurturing student confidence and fostering a stronger learning community. This paper is an extension of such a collaboration, being written collectively by six undergraduate students and our lecturer.","PeriodicalId":44936,"journal":{"name":"Law Teacher","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42740497","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-09-14DOI: 10.1080/03069400.2021.1968166
Valerie A. Sotardi, L. Taylor, E. Brogt, U. Cheer, N. Baird
ABSTRACT This paper investigates cross-sectional and longitudinal trends in data collected from a self-selected cohort of law students enrolled at three New Zealand universities. From the beginning of their first year of study to the end of their third year, students were invited to complete questionnaires that documented a range of expectations, perceptions, and attitudes. Analysis was carried out to better understand students’ interest in a legal career, satisfaction with law school, and psychological distress across their first three years at law school. Using descriptive and inferential statistics, we found that students’ academic self-efficacy (i.e. perceived ability to be successful in law courses) and attitudes towards assessment emerged as noteworthy contributors to the law school experience. Students who persevered across three years of law school remained stable in their career interests and satisfaction with law school. However, two out of three students appeared at risk for mental health difficulties and we document an increase in psychological distress from the beginning of law school to the end of second year. Discussion focuses on how law schools might respond to these findings.
{"title":"Influences on students’ interest in a legal career, satisfaction with law school, & psychological distress: trends in New Zealand","authors":"Valerie A. Sotardi, L. Taylor, E. Brogt, U. Cheer, N. Baird","doi":"10.1080/03069400.2021.1968166","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/03069400.2021.1968166","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This paper investigates cross-sectional and longitudinal trends in data collected from a self-selected cohort of law students enrolled at three New Zealand universities. From the beginning of their first year of study to the end of their third year, students were invited to complete questionnaires that documented a range of expectations, perceptions, and attitudes. Analysis was carried out to better understand students’ interest in a legal career, satisfaction with law school, and psychological distress across their first three years at law school. Using descriptive and inferential statistics, we found that students’ academic self-efficacy (i.e. perceived ability to be successful in law courses) and attitudes towards assessment emerged as noteworthy contributors to the law school experience. Students who persevered across three years of law school remained stable in their career interests and satisfaction with law school. However, two out of three students appeared at risk for mental health difficulties and we document an increase in psychological distress from the beginning of law school to the end of second year. Discussion focuses on how law schools might respond to these findings.","PeriodicalId":44936,"journal":{"name":"Law Teacher","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48527975","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-09-07DOI: 10.1080/03069400.2021.1966251
Lady Hale
The Lord Upjohn lecture is an annual lecture on legal education organised by the Association of Law Teachers. The 2021 Lord Upjohn lecture was delivered on 25th May 2021 by Lady Hale, former Presid...
{"title":"Lord Upjohn Lecture 2021 - ‘When there are 12’: Legal Education and a Diverse Judiciary","authors":"Lady Hale","doi":"10.1080/03069400.2021.1966251","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/03069400.2021.1966251","url":null,"abstract":"The Lord Upjohn lecture is an annual lecture on legal education organised by the Association of Law Teachers. The 2021 Lord Upjohn lecture was delivered on 25th May 2021 by Lady Hale, former Presid...","PeriodicalId":44936,"journal":{"name":"Law Teacher","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41421842","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-09-07DOI: 10.1080/03069400.2021.1968168
A. Turnbull
ABSTRACT Assessment feedback in higher education has the potential to have an impact on the well-being of both tutors and students: tutors feel their feedback workloads, while students often engage emotionally as well as cognitively with their feedback. Relatively little is written about the effects of feedback practice on tutor and student well-being. This study examined law tutors’ feedback values and practices within the shifting contexts of higher education, and findings suggest that tutors experience professional tensions between their feedback values and practice. In response to this, the study also examined both tutors’ and students’ perceptions of the use of audio-visual feedback. The findings indicate that tutors may save time in providing their feedback in this way, and that students welcomed the relational dimensions of the medium, as well as asserting positive impacts on their feedback engagement. The findings are significant in that they offer a response to growing feedback demands which can threaten tutor well-being, as well as offering socio-affective feedback affordances for students.
{"title":"Feeling feedback: screencasting assessment feedback for tutor and student well-being","authors":"A. Turnbull","doi":"10.1080/03069400.2021.1968168","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/03069400.2021.1968168","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Assessment feedback in higher education has the potential to have an impact on the well-being of both tutors and students: tutors feel their feedback workloads, while students often engage emotionally as well as cognitively with their feedback. Relatively little is written about the effects of feedback practice on tutor and student well-being. This study examined law tutors’ feedback values and practices within the shifting contexts of higher education, and findings suggest that tutors experience professional tensions between their feedback values and practice. In response to this, the study also examined both tutors’ and students’ perceptions of the use of audio-visual feedback. The findings indicate that tutors may save time in providing their feedback in this way, and that students welcomed the relational dimensions of the medium, as well as asserting positive impacts on their feedback engagement. The findings are significant in that they offer a response to growing feedback demands which can threaten tutor well-being, as well as offering socio-affective feedback affordances for students.","PeriodicalId":44936,"journal":{"name":"Law Teacher","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48879449","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-08-24DOI: 10.1080/03069400.2021.1949183
Aidan Ricciardo, S. Rogers, Stephen D. Puttick, Natalie Skead, Stella Tarrant, Melville Thomas
ABSTRACT Australian law schools are becoming increasingly diverse. Yet, there is very little quantitative or qualitative data on diversity in law schools and even less research examining how students’ diverse backgrounds and social identities – including their sexual orientation and gender identity – affect their law student experience. This article begins to fill this gap in the literature by reporting the findings from a study examining the law school experiences of LGBTQI+ students at all law schools within a single Australian state. The study reveals that much of the law school experience is similar for both LGBTQI+ and non-LGBTQI+ students, and that LGBTQI+ law students generally perceive law school to be an accepting and equitable environment. However, compared to their non-LGBTQI+ peers, LGBTQI+ law students self-censor more often, witness more bullying and harassment, and feel more stress when interacting with academic staff. Based on the findings from the study, the article suggests strategies law schools might consider to support LGBTQI+ diversity, visibly promote acceptance of “otherness” in tangible ways, and ensure a safe learning environment in which all students can flourish.
{"title":"Understanding, promoting and supporting LGBTQI+ diversity in legal education","authors":"Aidan Ricciardo, S. Rogers, Stephen D. Puttick, Natalie Skead, Stella Tarrant, Melville Thomas","doi":"10.1080/03069400.2021.1949183","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/03069400.2021.1949183","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Australian law schools are becoming increasingly diverse. Yet, there is very little quantitative or qualitative data on diversity in law schools and even less research examining how students’ diverse backgrounds and social identities – including their sexual orientation and gender identity – affect their law student experience. This article begins to fill this gap in the literature by reporting the findings from a study examining the law school experiences of LGBTQI+ students at all law schools within a single Australian state. The study reveals that much of the law school experience is similar for both LGBTQI+ and non-LGBTQI+ students, and that LGBTQI+ law students generally perceive law school to be an accepting and equitable environment. However, compared to their non-LGBTQI+ peers, LGBTQI+ law students self-censor more often, witness more bullying and harassment, and feel more stress when interacting with academic staff. Based on the findings from the study, the article suggests strategies law schools might consider to support LGBTQI+ diversity, visibly promote acceptance of “otherness” in tangible ways, and ensure a safe learning environment in which all students can flourish.","PeriodicalId":44936,"journal":{"name":"Law Teacher","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-08-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45028299","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-08-12DOI: 10.1080/03069400.2021.1953827
N. Pushkarna, A. Daly, A. Fan
ABSTRACT In an increasingly globalised and digitalised society and economy, legal education needs to foster a different skill set among students from that taught traditionally. Law students need practice in responding to a variety of scenarios and contexts, as well as developing creative and critical thinking skills. The “student as producer” approach provides opportunities for students to build such skills by having students produce work that could benefit their fellow classmates and future cohorts, and contribute to the discipline’s knowledge base. We present a case study of a final year undergraduate law course, Internet and the Law, at the Chinese University of Hong Kong where we used the student as producer approach, collaborated with external organisations and used digital tools to foster global and digital-savvy law students. Using a mixed-methods approach we highlight successes and limitations of using the “student as producer” approach, digital tools and an internationalised curriculum in our law classroom. Overall, students and staff found the approach successful in providing global and digital law students with practical skills. We also identified limitations and challenges to be addressed in future projects. Our findings speak to broader themes of active engagement, contributions, and practical knowledge for law students in their learning and future careers.
{"title":"Teaching digital and global law for digital and global students: creating students as producers in a Hong Kong Internet Law class","authors":"N. Pushkarna, A. Daly, A. Fan","doi":"10.1080/03069400.2021.1953827","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/03069400.2021.1953827","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In an increasingly globalised and digitalised society and economy, legal education needs to foster a different skill set among students from that taught traditionally. Law students need practice in responding to a variety of scenarios and contexts, as well as developing creative and critical thinking skills. The “student as producer” approach provides opportunities for students to build such skills by having students produce work that could benefit their fellow classmates and future cohorts, and contribute to the discipline’s knowledge base. We present a case study of a final year undergraduate law course, Internet and the Law, at the Chinese University of Hong Kong where we used the student as producer approach, collaborated with external organisations and used digital tools to foster global and digital-savvy law students. Using a mixed-methods approach we highlight successes and limitations of using the “student as producer” approach, digital tools and an internationalised curriculum in our law classroom. Overall, students and staff found the approach successful in providing global and digital law students with practical skills. We also identified limitations and challenges to be addressed in future projects. Our findings speak to broader themes of active engagement, contributions, and practical knowledge for law students in their learning and future careers.","PeriodicalId":44936,"journal":{"name":"Law Teacher","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43947096","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-08-12DOI: 10.1080/03069400.2021.1949181
L. Bracken
ABSTRACT The aim of this paper is to investigate the utility of a small-scale Street Law project as a capstone service-learning course in one Irish university. It begins with a discussion of Street Law as an aspect of clinical legal education in Ireland and considers the aims and objectives of Street Law pedagogy. It then describes the development of a Street Law project at the School of Law, University of Limerick (UL) and explains how the approach taken in this project differs from that in other institutions. The paper will then outline a study undertaken with UL Street Law students. The results of the study are presented and critically assessed to consider the contribution and sustainability of the project in its current form.
{"title":"A case study on the impact of a capstone Street Law teaching project","authors":"L. Bracken","doi":"10.1080/03069400.2021.1949181","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/03069400.2021.1949181","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The aim of this paper is to investigate the utility of a small-scale Street Law project as a capstone service-learning course in one Irish university. It begins with a discussion of Street Law as an aspect of clinical legal education in Ireland and considers the aims and objectives of Street Law pedagogy. It then describes the development of a Street Law project at the School of Law, University of Limerick (UL) and explains how the approach taken in this project differs from that in other institutions. The paper will then outline a study undertaken with UL Street Law students. The results of the study are presented and critically assessed to consider the contribution and sustainability of the project in its current form.","PeriodicalId":44936,"journal":{"name":"Law Teacher","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47192960","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-08-10DOI: 10.1080/03069400.2021.1973756
Debbie Wood
{"title":"Judge Rinder, ITV London (accessed on learningonscreen.ac.uk)","authors":"Debbie Wood","doi":"10.1080/03069400.2021.1973756","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/03069400.2021.1973756","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44936,"journal":{"name":"Law Teacher","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-08-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47058624","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-07-22DOI: 10.1080/03069400.2021.1949182
E. Gregersen
ABSTRACT Autoethnography is a contemporary qualitative approach to research and writing where the researcher uses their lived experience as data. Autoethnographers reflect deeply on, and make sense of, their own struggles as well as exploring cultural practices and beliefs. A diverse range of academic disciplines have embraced autoethnography as a research method. Legal education, however, rarely mentions autoethnography. This is a pivotal time. We have an opportunity to enhance the quality of legal education research, particularly where law teachers want to utilise creative, literary techniques and draw on personal experiences. This article provides the first comprehensive assessment of the practicalities and pitfalls of doing autoethnography in legal education research. It uses lived experience narrative, employing first-person present tense storytelling, to examine and extend discussions on major methodological issues faced by autoethnographers. Above all, however, this article challenges law teachers to develop robust and rigorous autoethnographic research.
{"title":"Telling stories about the law school: autoethnography and legal education","authors":"E. Gregersen","doi":"10.1080/03069400.2021.1949182","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/03069400.2021.1949182","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Autoethnography is a contemporary qualitative approach to research and writing where the researcher uses their lived experience as data. Autoethnographers reflect deeply on, and make sense of, their own struggles as well as exploring cultural practices and beliefs. A diverse range of academic disciplines have embraced autoethnography as a research method. Legal education, however, rarely mentions autoethnography. This is a pivotal time. We have an opportunity to enhance the quality of legal education research, particularly where law teachers want to utilise creative, literary techniques and draw on personal experiences. This article provides the first comprehensive assessment of the practicalities and pitfalls of doing autoethnography in legal education research. It uses lived experience narrative, employing first-person present tense storytelling, to examine and extend discussions on major methodological issues faced by autoethnographers. Above all, however, this article challenges law teachers to develop robust and rigorous autoethnographic research.","PeriodicalId":44936,"journal":{"name":"Law Teacher","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/03069400.2021.1949182","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48148416","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-07-09DOI: 10.1080/03069400.2021.1936396
A. Nicholson
ABSTRACT Rising costs, an increasingly competitive graduate jobs market, and the introduction of alternative routes to highly skilled employment, have led many to question the “value” of higher education courses. This is the fourth in a series of papers which examines the value of a law degree from a range of perspectives: Part 1 explored theory from the marketing discipline in an attempt to identify the full range of possible value components; Part 2 analysed the online prospectus pages of over 50 UK law schools to understand which aspects of value were being articulated to the market; and Part 3 reported on life history interviews conducted with past and present students from a UK university, ultimately presenting a theory of value from a student viewpoint. This final paper provides a perspective from employers. It reports the findings of a qualitative study comprising 13 semi-structured interviews with people who have responsibility for trainee solicitor recruitment in England and Wales. The data reveals that whilst these influential individuals are guided by their own diverse range of value perceptions, they appear to reflect a common view that the legal profession is changing, and legal education needs to respond.
{"title":"The value of a law degree – part 4: a perspective from employers","authors":"A. Nicholson","doi":"10.1080/03069400.2021.1936396","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/03069400.2021.1936396","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Rising costs, an increasingly competitive graduate jobs market, and the introduction of alternative routes to highly skilled employment, have led many to question the “value” of higher education courses. This is the fourth in a series of papers which examines the value of a law degree from a range of perspectives: Part 1 explored theory from the marketing discipline in an attempt to identify the full range of possible value components; Part 2 analysed the online prospectus pages of over 50 UK law schools to understand which aspects of value were being articulated to the market; and Part 3 reported on life history interviews conducted with past and present students from a UK university, ultimately presenting a theory of value from a student viewpoint. This final paper provides a perspective from employers. It reports the findings of a qualitative study comprising 13 semi-structured interviews with people who have responsibility for trainee solicitor recruitment in England and Wales. The data reveals that whilst these influential individuals are guided by their own diverse range of value perceptions, they appear to reflect a common view that the legal profession is changing, and legal education needs to respond.","PeriodicalId":44936,"journal":{"name":"Law Teacher","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-07-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/03069400.2021.1936396","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43293296","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}