Online assessment and legal discourse: Dialogue and choice

In the teaching of law in higher education there is a shift away from exclusive emphasis on technical legal knowledge (black letter law) to examination of the nature of legal knowledge and its construction. Such a paradigm shift requires a parallel shift in the methodology of teaching, such that the educational model emphasises dialogue and critique rather than transmission of knowledge. While changing and improving the model is more easily accommodated in the face-to-face educational context by changing the role of teacher as expert to teacher as facilitator, it is more difficult to achieve this same change in the distance context. This is the challenge that lead to the offering of LAW411: Discrimination and the law, using computer mediated communication. The success of this project was in part due to the careful choice of media. After experimentation with newer and therefore less reliable technology, ie desktop videoconferencing, a simple low technology option was chosen. The medium maximised effective text-based communication. Importantly this has provided a model for other subjects within the Law School: it is a model that can be easily replicated by other staff, and requires few resources to considerably improve educational outcomes for students. The aim of the project was to create greater flexibility for students in terms of assessment, to provide an alternative to on-campus attendance, to emphasise the social context of learning and provide improved opportunities for on-going dialogue about the law. In this paper we discuss the findings of a case study of Law students working in an online tutorial.