Understanding complex legal concepts through peer generated resources

Lecturer:
Sophie Riley 

Faculty:
Law

Project:
Teaching Beyond the Comfort Zone: Flipped Lessons, Blended Learning and student-led scholarship 

Keywords:
Law, group work, e-learning materials, student-led flipped learning

Dr Sophie Riley invites Law students to demystify legal concepts by creating online learning materials for themselves and their peers.

What the project is about

Although the Faculty of Law has a long-established practice of requiring students to do specific preparation for classes, the use of technology to create student-developed materials adds an enhanced dimension to the process. It not only uses a form of communication students can relate to, but also gives them the opportunity to explain principles and concepts for the benefit of their peers – something they will often be required to do in practice.

Why the project is being introduced 

With the increased popularity of electronic media, students are increasingly turning to electronic materials to study. Dr Riley believes that by having her students create electronic materials themselves, they’ll have the responsibility of sourcing, understanding and analysing information for learning materials. This student-led learning approach allows students to hone their communication skills for diverse audiences and situations and enables them to consolidate their own understanding of concepts.

The flipped learning approach makes it possible for students to familiarise themselves with legal concepts before they come to class. Writing up explanatory material for their peers deepens students’ understanding of these concepts. Such preparation leaves more time for in-class discussion and allows for greater quality of discussion.

How the project will be implemented

The student-led learning activities and materials ask each student to produce:

• A short video clip/other learning resource
• Legal reasons and the facts for a case study

As students complete their materials, they send them electronically to Dr Riley to review and upload onto Blackboard (Subjects are now taught in Canvas). Accumulated over time, these materials produced by students for students are stored on Blackboard (Subjects are now taught in Canvas) to create an online library of resources.

Challenges and considerations

Dr Riley and her students experienced some technological issues with UTSOnline (Subjects are now taught in Canvas) – in particular, difficulties with file uploads or image resolution. In light of this, Dr Riley recommends understanding the technological limitations of your platform before embarking on such a project.

Furthermore, Dr Riley suggests using more narrow terms in the assessment outcomes. By using the words ‘electronic resource’, Dr Riley envisaged a more diverse range of resources to be received from her students. However they predominantly produced PowerPoint slides. She suspects that students aren’t as tech-savvy as she expected.

“If you want them to create a useful and impressive resource, perhaps show them how to do it, or give them guides.”

Exploring further
EDUHowTo. (2010). Fun and creative ways for students to make online video projects.
Read...
Delving even deeper
Fulton, K. (2012). Upside down and Inside out: Flip your classroom to improve student learning.
Read...