Chair's report: Fiona Cownie

Parallel Session 3 (Chancellor’s 2)

Chair: Fiona Cownie (Keele University)

A romantic revolution in legal education

Taking as her starting-point Maya Angelou’s poem, ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’ Dr Dawn Watkins discussed her attempt to free the ‘caged birds’ (students) she teaches, using the notion of romanticism to explain how she wanted to encourage her students to break with their traditional, narrow view of what a legal education entails, and to allow their creativity and imagination to break free, just as the Romantics broke away from the restrictions of Classicism. Student reaction was mixed, ranging from the very enthusiastic to a refusal to participate in the exercise.

Dawn’s presentation provoked a lively discussion, with members of the audience enthusiastic about her ideas, and sympathising with her aims, but wondering whether she could ‘let the students down gently’ by building up very gradually to her radically different approach. Dawn reminded the audience that she already uses narrative as a teaching tool in her module, so the students are used to that. Overall, this was a very stimulating presentation.

Evaluation of the effectiveness of problem based learning as a method of engaging year one law students

Joanne Clough’s presentation discussed the introduction of an element of problem-based learning (PBL) as part of a first-year core module in English Legal System, with the aim of increasing student engagement. Students worked in teams to resolve a problem which required them to imagine they were the Law Commission, and draft a Law Commission Report. Joanne brought along anonymised samples of her students’ work, many of which were of an impressively high standard.

On evaluating this experiment, Joanne found that there was a gendered response, with male students more likely to report increases in their self-confidence and ability to carry out independent legal research than female students. Overall, the PBL approach was well received by about half the students, while others would have been happy with a more traditional approach. However, the overall level of engagement has led Joanne to conclude that it is worth persevering with the PBL approach, which she will adapt in the light of the evaluation she has carried out.

Last Modified: 11 February 2011