BLASST SUMMIT SMART CASUAL NATALIE SKEAD ALEX STEEL

BLASST SUMMIT: SMART CASUAL NATALIE SKEAD ALEX STEEL Support for this project has been provided by the Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching. The views in this project do not necessarily reflect the views of the Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching. 1

SMART CASUAL I: TOWARDS EXCELLENCE IN SESSIONAL TEACHING IN LAW What • Provide discipline-specific training for sessional staff in Law Who • Natalie Skead and Mark Israel (UWA), Anne Hewitt (Adelaide), Mary Heath (Flinders) • Funded by OLT Seed Grant $49 k How • Identify professional development requirements • Design, trial and evaluate three modules • Engaging students • Legal problem solving • Providing feedback to students • Distribute the resources to Australian law schools 2

1. Survey of Sessional Staff 2. Investigation involving AD(T&L) 4. Develop modules 5. Expert review 7. Trial modules 10. Distribution 8. Evaluation 3. Literature Review 6. Revise modules 9. Refine modules 11. Dissemination 3

We are different They are different It is different 4

I use the methods that the course coordinator asks me to use. I’m not being paid to dream up teaching techniques. I’m being paid to teach a class and to convey the necessary material to the students. If the course coordinator wants me to do this in a specific way, he/she will tell me to do that. 5

WHAT IS THE PROBLEM: FEEDBACK FROM SESSIONAL STAFF SURVEY In what areas of teaching would respondents like to improve their confidence and ability? 6

Problemsolving Pos em itive otio ns k c a db Fee Context Engagement 7

FOCUS GROUPS Participant 1: It was really pleasing to open the modules and think ‘oh, someone is really concerned about me and what I’m doing’. Normally you get things that are vague and generic and just about ‘teaching’ not teaching law. Which is very, very different. Moderator: Why is it different? Participant 1: Cultural reasons. Participant 2: The profession. Participant 1: The students. Participant 3: Students’ expectations, their ambitions, everything, their perfectionist qualities. Participant 4: Compared to someone who is going in to taking eight hour labs once a week the requirements on us are very different. It makes it hard to generalise … for instance, how to handle a problem situation; ‘oh, but my problem is a chemical spill’. 8

Every module was extremely important. When I first started tutoring three years ago I literally got a textbook handed to me and a topic guide and they said ‘off you go’. I had never done any teaching before and had no idea what I was doing. I felt sad when I went through this USB (containing the three trial modules) because I thought ‘luckily enough I have developed all of these things myself, and I do all of these things, but it has taken me three-and-a-half years to figure it out. If I had just had someone hand this (the modules) to me they would have got a lot more quality out of me from the get go’. The content was perfect. Every question I had over the last three years was answered by these modules … However I think you always need to reflect and revise your skills, so this is something I could pick up again in two or three years’ time and look over and still get something out of. 9

MODULE 1: ENGAGEMENT Support for this project has been provided by the Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching. The views in this project do not necessarily reflect the views of the Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching. 10

PUTTING IT IN CONTEXT To help the module meet your needs, you might take a moment to consider • your teaching responsibilities • the role and responsibilities of others you work with including the coordinator of the subject/course/unit in which you are teaching. You may not have freedom to implement all the ideas in this module, but it may inform your understanding of what is happening around you, and may inform your work in future roles. Some subject coordinators will also welcome discussion on these ideas. 11

GOOD TEACHING IS A REFLECTIVE PROCESS Identify problem: what do you want to improve next? What resources are available to help you tackle the issue? What have you learned from this process? What strategies might achieve the outcome you desire? Make further amendments to your practice based on the outcomes. Seek feedback from colleagues. Evaluate whether you have achieved the outcome you desire. Trial a strategy. 12

PRINCIPLES Students learn most effectively by engaging as active players in the learning process. Problems may arise when students are regarded as passive recipients of information, rather than as active participants in the learning process. What does it mean for students to be active participants? How can you make it more likely? 13

ACTIVE PARTICIPATION Students learn most effectively if they engage with topics and ideas in ways that promote • deep learning – encourages them to critically reflect on and internalise knowledge – rather than • surface learning – emphasises the ability to memorise and recall information. 14

ENCOURAGING DEEP LEARNING We’ll be considering three approaches that might encourage deep learning. 1. Increasing emotional engagement This entails: • fostering positive emotions necessary for effective learning • generating interest in the learner • creating a classroom with a culture of mutual respect. 2. Generating opportunities for activity and interpersonal interaction How can you use a diverse range of in-class activities to • encourage students to participate? • accommodate a range of diverse learning styles? • provide students with opportunities for constructive peer interaction? 15

ENCOURAGING DEEP LEARNING 3. Making the law meaningful Teachers do this in a variety of ways, including • placing the law in context – how does law actually work in our society, in commerce and industry? • giving the subject relevance – how does the study of law link to legal practice and the role of the legal profession? • giving your classes personal significance – how does law have an impact on your students’ lives? 16

GETTING IN THE ZONE. . . Which of these things do you do well? Why? Which do you find difficult? Why? Which do you think you. . . …could improve on and would like to work on? 17

Click on a topic to explore further Interest Pos em itive otio ns Relevance Context Personal significance Mutual respect r Pee on ti c a r inte Activities 18

POSITIVE EMOTIONS Law school can be associated with anxiety, stress and depression. These do not encourage a constructive learning environment. Students with low self-confidence tend to • focus on avoiding disaster rather than achieving success • invest less in the task and do poorly, confirming their original belief they are not good at law. Teachers can foster positive emotions necessary for effective learning. 19

POSITIVE EMOTIONS Cultivate strategies to foster positive emotions. 1. Creating a sense of safety in the classroom • Do your students know • how each class is going to work • what their roles are • what subject matter will be covered • how this fits into the course and relates to their assessments? • How can you make sure these are clear to students? • Consider sharing your good ideas with other teachers. Click on this icon to hear from sessional teacher Tom [2: 06]. 20

POSITIVE EMOTIONS 2. Modelling positive communication (a) When things are going well How can you respond positively when a student • makes an insightful comment? e. g. ‘That’s a really interesting point, and it illustrates the diversity of ways this law can operate. ’ • gives clear legal analysis? e. g. ‘That’s a great summary. Now, can anyone take that to the next step and tell us how it would apply on these facts? ’ • asks a perceptive question? e. g. ‘That’s a good question. Does anyone know how we can begin to answer it? ’ 21

POSITIVE EMOTIONS 2. Modelling positive communication (b) When things are not going so well How can you encourage students even when they • have understood the law incorrectly? e. g. ‘I can see why you might have come to that conclusion, but what about …’ • have not understood your question? e. g. ‘Perhaps my question wasn’t clear, let me ask it in a different way …’ • are off-topic? e. g. ‘That’s a really interesting point, and we can talk about that later. For the moment, can we go back to. . . ’ • are partially correct? e. g. ‘You are on the right track by raising that case. Can anyone explain the precedent it sets? ’ 22

POSITIVE EMOTIONS 2. Modelling positive communication (c) When things are going badly Could you change your approach by • restating the issue and asking pairs of students to work together to develop a response? • using an easier example? • giving everyone the opportunity to do some research and/or reconsider foundational concepts? • re-explaining the principle and returning to its application? 23

SMART CASUAL II: PROMOTING EXCELLENCE IN SESSIONAL TEACHING IN LAW What • Expands discipline-specific teaching resources for sessional staff in Law Who • Mary Heath (Flinders), Natalie Skead and Mark Israel (UWA), Anne Hewitt (Adelaide) (original team) • Kate Galloway (JCU), Alex Steel (UNSW) (new) • Funded by OLT Innovation and Development Grant $225 K • Supported by CALD How • … 24

FIVE ADDITIONAL MODULES: Wellness in law Communication and Collaboration Critical legal thinking Reading law Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility 25

FIVE OVERARCHING THEMES Indigenisation Digital Literacy Diversity Gender Internationalisation 26

27

CHALLENGES: THE AUDIENCE The diversity of teaching roles and responsibilities of law sessional staff • Tutorials supporting lectures • Autonomous seminar style classes with no central content dissemination • Full teaching, assessing and convening responsibilities of core or elective subjects The diversity of experience of sessional staff • New graduates/higher degree students • Experienced practitioners • Senior members of the profession, retired judges • Retired legal academics The relevance to permanent staff 28

CHALLENGES: THE AUTHORS Research base vs practical tips • Need to be academically rigorous in underlying pedagogy • Need to avoid overwhelming new teachers, but provide paths for further reflection and research • Need to find practical ‘easy win’ strategies to provide a sense of achievement in developing teaching practice • Need to avoid ‘dumbing it down’ Respectful approaches • Particularly with themes of indigenisation, diversity, gender, internationalisation • Need to respect the experience and perspectives of those about whom themes are concerned • Need to recognise the starting positions of members of intended audience 29

TIMELINE Currently: preparing research base for modules and themes (outlines, position paper) and seeking feedback from Expert Reference Group February 2016: construction of draft modules and themes complete May 2016: modules and themes trialled, focus groups run with sessional staff etc. , modules and themes finalised Dec 2016: materials disseminated to law schools and online, workshops on implementation run, reports produced, project evaluated 30

31