Four papers. First up, Nick Scharf from East Anglia U, on an intriguing interdisciplinary topic: ‘Give the Drummer Some: Reflecting on the use of the drum kit to enhance student learning of copyright law’. As he describes it in his abstract ‘The approach outlined here breaks from the traditional question/answer/discussion structure of seminars and allows the students to be involved in a hands-on way to develop and enhance their understanding of copyright law.’ It also made for an absorbing and entertaining presentation that started out with kindergarten – ‘If you can count to four, you can play the drums’, Nick said – and moved swiftly on to masterclass, where Nick played clips for us that demonstrated the brilliance and the complexity of percussion sampling + the difficulty of copyright law application to it. Kind of like Chris Thile on the mandolin demonstrating how to hold a plectrum in a youtube video that’s a parody of how-to music videos, then next up on the playlist you hear him play Bach’s Sonata No 1 in G minor (yes, the complete sonata: Adagio, Fuga, Siciliano, Presto); or take bluegrass improv to incredible levels. Nick’s work was truly interdisciplinary, and in fascinating ways, because he takes music and education and law equally seriously. And educational theory too: ‘By taking a constructivist approach in which learners actively construct their own knowledge rather than passively receive it, this can benefit learners’ multiple intelligences; resulting in a process of knowledge creation which can be seen more as a shared experience than an individual one.’ Super work.
Next, Fikayo Taiwo, Colchester, on ‘Transitioning from Online/Blended Learning to In-Person Teaching after the Covid19 Pandemic: Assessing Impact on Student Engagement’. Her paper investigated ‘the influence of learning environments on student engagement’, and explored ‘pedagogical approaches to maintaining efficient learning environments for optimal student engagement.’ At its core was a piece of empirical research based upon the transition that we’ve all to a greater or lesser extent experienced since the pandemic, namely the shift from emergency regimes during the pandemic to in-person classes. As she pointed out, the pandemic has significantly changed things, and she wanted to focus on the effect that this has had on student engagement. It’s a good piece of work with interesting data that I wanted to hear the detail of (but in 15 mins there’s almost no opportunity for a data-dive). I disagree with one of her conclusions – that research ‘provides evidence that there is a high correlation between f2f learning environments and increased student engagement’ – there are too many dependent variables, eg in the quality of design of either f2f or online environments, to be able to claim that in the round. Nevertheless, this is a thoughtful piece of work that deserves to be worked up for publication.
Third, Thorsten Lauterbach, Robert Gordon U, Aberdeen, on ‘Academic posters and skills development: Building an international student community’. Back in the day (early 2000s, since you ask, so around 140yrs ago in internet time) I was an external examiner for RGU, and liked the way even then that they were open to fresh approaches to the use of tech, and how it could be implemented; and Thorsten is following in that tradition.
In a sense posters aren’t new. Way back in my first job at Glasgow Caledonian in the mid-1990s I was given the poisoned chalice of Dissertation Co-ordinator. Students who’d spent three years writing nothing more that 1500 word essays or exams were faced with the Everest of constructing a 12,000 dissertation in their final year. No wonder the results were dismal. I redesigned it: held dissertation & research intro classes, reduced the diss to 10K, made it 60% of the total mark, with 20% given to a reflective report, and 20% a viva voce exam with poster. Students loved it, staff at first resisted, then found they liked the vv exam because they could identify weak students unable to talk to their work, while keen students worked hard at their posters. I then turned the idea around and made it work for academics. At the ALT conference in Amsterdam 2011, Caroline Maughan and I presented our edited book on Affect not by plenary lecture but by a community poster session, structure described in this blog post, where all the contributing authors made posters and we posted them up on the magnificent pillared hall of the Tropenmuseum (now the Wereldmuseum) for conference participants to browse.
Thorsten’s ideas on postering were well designed, and really well implemented. He describes the reasoning behind it as follows: ‘Post-Covid our in-person LL.M programme has experienced a large intake in international students who bring variety of different experiences – personal, professional, social and, importantly, educational. With many students struggling to settle into a new educational environment, and some joining the course late for a variety of reasons, we found that an academic e-poster exercise can help to engage students and stimulate discussion on an aspect of Intellectual Property Law they are passionate about. It also supports the students to integrate into a fast-paced and intense semester.’ He gave students guidance material, a tutorial, past examples and templates (PPT, Presenter). Above all, students had the opportunity to engage in a dialogue about their draft work with others, in formative peer review. It’s an elegant, streamlined and effective design. Lovely work. I wished I’d seen it when I was Diss Co-ordinator back in 1994.
Finally, Rory O’Boyle, who is Head of the Professional Practice Course (PPC) in the Law Society of Ireland, on ‘Technology enhanced learning: A review of recent innovations to the system of solicitor qualification in Ireland’. I’ve known Rory for years – he’s a remarkable blend of solicitor, educationalist and educator for the profession in Ireland. He’s endlessly curious about new designs, fresh approaches, especially in the (as he pointed out) relatively forgotten corner of legal education that is professional education in these isles. In this paper he reviewed changes to the PPC in the light of proposals made in the Peart Commission, and recommendations I made in a report I wrote for the Law Society of Ireland. He discussed some of the practical and pedagogical priorities that informed key decisions when designing the new PPC. He explored how the new PPC Hybrid was structured and how educational technology was used to reduce learner isolation on the course. It’s worth noting how the PPC Hybrid leveraged the Society’s previous successful use of digital educational technology at post-qualification level – a good example of cross-fertilisation of practices in a regulator’s educational portfolio.
He noted the experiential learning basis to the new PPC, and how Proposal 24.3 of Peart mandated specific approaches to the use of digital technology in the new PPC curriculum, including supporting the development of digital professional literacies; digital badging for the purpose micro-credentialing; and incorporating simulation throughout the PPC. Music to my ears, and it should be to any other regulator, with ears to listen (yes you, SRA…).
His was the only paper of the four in this session to deal with AI. He explored emerging issues with regards to the use of AI in the context of the new PPC, considering for example how AI is likely to impact three aspects of education over the short to medium term, namely how trainees’ learning on the PPC will be impacted/enhanced by the use of AI; how lecturers’/tutors’ teaching materials & delivery will be impacted by the use of AI; how assessment for the PPC will be impacted by the use of AI.
I’ve worked with the Law Society of Ireland on educational projects over a number of years, and what’s struck me is how imaginative and innovative they are when dealing with the problems of curriculum design and professional learning. Since Brexit, when Ireland became the largest English-speaking jurisdiction in the EU, I believe that just as the legal basis of the jurisdiction will gradually bend towards Europe in a civilian direction, so too their educational journey will take the same route.