Open Collections

Educating lawyers : how law graduates perceive first year law school educational practices

University of British Columbia

The purpose of this study was to better understand the educational practices used in first year law school and the impact of these practices on students. Prior research showed that students are negatively impacted during first year and that educational practices are somewhat to blame. This study is consistent with this literature and provides new and important information about the extent to which teaching methods; content and curriculum; assessment and grading; learning theory and aims of law school all contribute to the experiences of law students. The research method in this study consisted of in-depth interviews of 19 University of British Columbia law school graduates who had completed law school a few months earlier. Graduates were questioned about their perceptions of both the first year law school educational practices and their impacts, specifically in relation to the five core courses taught in first year law school. This study revealed that students found first year law school problematic in many ways. This research supports the literature that suggests the case method and the lecture method used in first year are not entirely effective or efficient for student learning. The case method seems to makes learning more difficult and slower than it needs to be. As suggested in the literature the lecture method was useful in providing information to students and this information helped students focus their studies. However, these typically didactic lectures did not appear to engage students or encourage deeper learning. The question and answer technique used in some lectures intimidated students and appeared to interfere with their learning.

Text

2010-01-17

For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/18544

Educational Studies

University of British Columbia

UBCV

DSpace