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Enhancing the reflective practice of first year law students using blended learning simulations in the USC moot court
Conference presentation

Enhancing the reflective practice of first year law students using blended learning simulations in the USC moot court

Kelley Burton, Florin I Oprescu, Gwynn MacCarrick and Peter R Grainger
2015 Learning & Teaching Week Program Book, pp.13-14
Learning & Teaching Week, 2015 (Sunshine Coast, Australia, 14-Sep-2015–18-Sep-2015)
University of the Sunshine Coast
2015
url
https://www.usc.edu.au/View
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Abstract

Curriculum and Pedagogy USC moot court
This presentation reflects on the journey of a project team working under the auspices of a recently successful USC Exploratory Grant. The project responds to the Australian Learning and Teaching Council's Bachelor of Laws threshold learning outcomes, which expect law graduates to be reflective. It also capitalises on the newly developed USC Law School's moot court and video recording facilities, which provide the perfect platform for law students to engage in blended learning simulations and optimise an early immersion into reflective practice in law. A continuous improvement approach to the first year law courses requires reflective practice to be intentionally integrated and assessed. This project achieves this goal in LAW104 Criminal Law and Procedure B by developing a suite of innovative blended learning resources to support the formative and summative assessment of reflective practice in the context of moot court simulations. Engaging first year law students in blended learning moot court simulations offers law students a richer experience. In particular, it encourages a deeper understanding of the role of the prosecutor, the defence and the judge; as well as, the procedures underpinning the criminal law. Further, blended learning moot court simulations enhance the authenticity of assessment and better prepare law students for the rigours of dynamic legal practice in the 21st century. The primary aim of this project is to improve the reflective practice of first year law students. In addition, the project will build the capacity of teaching staff (especially sessional academics) to teach and assess reflective practice in an authentic blended learning moot court simulation experience. Remarkably, teaching and assessing reflective practice have not been salient features of traditional legal education. Further, this project will evaluate the implementation of a criterion-referenced assessment rubric exemplar on reflective practice in law. This project is a proof of concept and the trajectory of the project team is to develop a whole-of-curriculum approach to reflective practice in a law degree. This has been foreshadowed as a necessity by the current legal education literature, as well as, the higher education sector. It is hoped that this project will ultimately transcend the boundaries of law into other disciplines.

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