Research on a prescribed case study module

In 2005 Birmingham Law School launched a new undergraduate module on research on a prescribed case study. The module, a 30 credit option at level 3, incorporates:

• a multifaceted case study of a politically and/or legally controversial episode as the focus of study
• the use and assessment of collaborative teamwork
• reflective learning

Module aims:

• to provide research-led teaching at undergraduate level and introduce undergraduates to the values and skills of research
• to establish a learning environment in which students are required to take responsibility for their intellectual development

Building on modules studied at levels 1 and 2, seminars examine the nature of legal scholarship and methods for designing a research project. Working with primary and secondary material arising from a case study of a multi-faceted legal, social and political episode, each student then:

• devises a project design
• receives formative peer assessment on the project design
• provides formative peer assessment on another student’s design

Each student individually carries out their research project and writes an essay and reflective account of the process by which the project was formulated and an assessment of the extent to which the project has met its objectives. Each student is expected to work independently with a high degree of learner autonomy.

In the final phase of the project students are required to work collaboratively as a team to devise a strategy for disseminating some or all of their research output during the module in a format appropriate for a non-academic audience (for example policymakers in government, members of the general public or a professional group). The group produces a document explaining the strategy and may annex to it any actual or proposed output (for example a briefing document, letter to the press, draft article for a magazine or newspaper, plans for a website etc).

Last Modified: 30 June 2010