Law v Learning Styles Law Literacy for the Social Media Student (Theory vs Pragmatism) Karen Crouch & Chris Walker
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Law v Learning StylesLaw Literacy for the Social Media Student
(Theory vs Pragmatism)
Karen Crouch & Chris Walker
• Our story
• Learning Styles
• LLB Law students
• What we have done
• Example exercises
• Open discussion
• Summary
• Questions
We are NOT experts…unlike him!Source: FLICKR Creative Commons Licence
Our story
• In 10th year• Timetabled on Saturday• Open to all students• Main audience - LPC
students who have scored poorly in Stage 1 exams
3hr ‘Study Skills’
session
Judith Pothecary,
Senior Tutor
Library initiative
• Delivered from September 2013
1hr ‘Learning Skills for
Law’ (LLB)
Delivered by Librarian
Study Skills
Learning Skills for Law
Conflict between
studying Law and Learning
Preference
The “Net” generation
• Multi-media orientated• Multiple sources and types of
information• Shorter attention spans• Greater awareness of what they prefer
The Pew Research Centre in America recently surveyed almost 2,500 teachers and found that 87%
felt modern technologies were creating an "easily distracted generation with short attention spans"
Source: FLICKR Creative Commons Licence
“…. legal text can be quite dense and reading it can be relatively heavy going.”
Legal Systems & Skills, Slorach, Embley, Goodchild & Shephard (OUP 2013)
Learning styles
• We use VARK...other learning styles available
• VARK is part of a wider ‘study skills’ session that includes:• plagiarism• reading skills• significance of WORDS in Law
Learning Styles - VARK
Learning Styles Basic Theory
• Representing knowledge in multiple formats appears to result in learning gains
• An awareness of learning styles theory can support metacognition and the ability to ‘learn how to learn’.
• At least some aspects of learning styles and strategies can be taught, regardless of natural inclination
Source: Beetham, H. (2013) Rethinking Pedagogy for a Digital Age
• learning styles are not a magic tool• little definitive independent evidence to
support them (commercial)• dangers of labelling students as
particular kinds of learners• people are complex and adapt
throughout their lives• learning styles are at best one of a range
of factors
The caveat
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• Free• Quickly provides a picture of a students
preferred ‘learning styles’• Easily administered in a classroom• Easy to grasp • Provokes discussion about the way they
learn
VARK….the good
Visual Aural Read/Wr Kines.Librarian A
6 0 9 7 multimodal Librarian B
1 3 14 0 very strong read/write Librarian C
5 4 3 4 multimodal Librarian D
4 8 9 5 multimodal Librarian E
8 5 7 9 multimodal Librarian F
2 2 7 5 mild read/writeLibrarian G
2 3 10 1 very strong read/write Librarian H
4 5 2 5 multimodal Sum Total 32 30 61 36
Mean 4 4 8 5
Median 4 3.5 8 5
Modal 4 3 9 5
Standard Dev. 2.33 2.38 3.85 2.93
ULaw Librarians took the VARK test!
• Two simple exercises, you may have used them yourselves…
No Hiding…exercise timeSource: FLICKR Creative Commons Licence
Draw
5DOTS
Join
5DOTS
5
The only thing we agreed on was…
§1. Five (5) dots shall be drawn on a piece of paper in accordance with §3.
§2. The dots shall be (a) the same size, and (b) the same colour, and (c) the same shape and (d) equidistant from each other
§3. The dots shall be made on the paper in a horizontal line.
§4. A straight horizontal line shall be drawn from the first dot on the left, progressing through each of the remaining dots and ending on the last dot on the right.
The Five Dots Act 2015
The answer!
Your task…
• Work with the person to your right
• Write down instructions to explain how to tie a shoelace.
• Remember that you cannot demonstrate!
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Your task…
• Apply your instructions – can someone follow them?
• Do they bring the right result?
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DISCUSSION: What are your experiences?
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Summary
• Students have found this helpful• Learning styles are a useful tool• But they are not the ‘be all and end all’
Thank You
Any questions?
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