{"id":16033,"date":"2022-06-01T09:36:19","date_gmt":"2022-05-31T23:36:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educational-innovation.sydney.edu.au\/teaching@sydney\/?p=16033"},"modified":"2022-06-01T09:36:19","modified_gmt":"2022-05-31T23:36:19","slug":"engaging-students-in-law-with-active-learning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educational-innovation.sydney.edu.au\/teaching@sydney\/engaging-students-in-law-with-active-learning\/","title":{"rendered":"Engaging students in Law with active learning"},"content":{"rendered":"

Traditionally, law lectures are generally didactic in nature, with limited student participation or interaction, which is usually reserved for weekly tutorial classes.<\/p>\n

However, in response to recent student evaluation surveys and guided by evidence-informed teaching approaches<\/a>, a brave group of Sydney Law School unit coordinators decided to change the \u2018traditional lecture\u2019 norm by transforming the style and delivery of their lectures to encourage active learning and direct student participation in their first-year classes<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In this article, we highlight a variety of successful strategies and tools we used to increase student engagement and support cohort building in three large, first-year law units of study. Each unit had a mix of face-to-face and online students, with lectures being delivered in HyFlex<\/a>\u00a0to ~350 students in one of Law\u2019s largest lecture theatres.<\/p>\n

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1. \u00a0Promoting interaction with edtech<\/h2>\n

Educational technologies such as the online polling app Mentimeter<\/a> and virtual wall platform Padlet<\/a>\u00a0were used to embed relatively quick and safe (utilising anonymous posting features) interactive tasks into lectures. Activities ranged from\u00a0quick \u2018check understanding\u2019 type questions<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0surfacing common misconceptions,<\/strong> to\u00a0recapping points from previous sessions<\/strong>\u00a0and feedback activities<\/strong> that had students reflecting on\u00a0in-class tasks and assessment outcomes.<\/p>\n

For example, in LAWS5000 Foundations of Law, <\/em>Dr Fady Aoun\u00a0made use of the anonymous nature of Mentimeter to tap into a bit of reflective practice<\/strong>. Students were asked to consider how they performed on an assessment \u2013 before and then after the feedback! Check out the drift of responses in the image below\u2013 there was some unwarranted confidence at the start of the session.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Student responses before (left) and after (right) in-class feedback in LAWS5000.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In LAWS1006 Foundations of Law<\/em>, Micah Burch asked students their opinion on interesting and complex issues<\/strong> to spark rich and powerful discussions during class<\/strong>, harnessing the simplicity of Mentimeter\u2019s multiple-choice questions. To add an extra layer and collectively investigate the \u2018why\u2019 behind the responses<\/strong>, he followed up the Yes\/No questions with an open response question, where students shared the details and reasoning behind their answers (anonymously).<\/p>\n

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Starting with the Mentimeter Yes-No question (left), students then expand on their response in a follow-up open response post (right) in LAWS1006.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Mentimeter word cloud\u00a0“What are the functions of tort law?”<\/em> in LAWS5001<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Similarly, Dr Gemma Turton in LAWS5001 Torts<\/em> uses Mentimeter\u2019s word cloud feature to draw out students\u2019 existing knowledge and ideas<\/strong> during the introductory lecture. These ideas then drove the subsequent in-lecture content discussions. After the lecture, we uploaded the word cloud image to Canvas as an ongoing reference for students, where they were also taken up by one of the unit\u2019s tutors to kickstart an in-tutorial discussion, helping to connect lecture content with tutorial activities<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Padlet wall “What is custom?”<\/em> in LAWS5000<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As another example, Dr Fady Aoun in LAWS5000 Foundations of Law<\/em> used Padlet during the introductory lecture as a conversation starter and to surface opinions that students might not be willing to verbalise in front of the whole class<\/strong>, perhaps because they are a bit too hard to articulate on the fly (with microphone in hand!) or maybe they feel uncertain of their answer and find it easier to test their reception from the safety of an anonymous post<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Pro tips for promoting interaction with edtech<\/h3>\n