Abstract:
The traditional model of teaching and learning often relies heavily on lectures and tutorials that emphasise the transmission of the teacher’s knowledge to the students. Students work on tasks which may appear to them to have little intrinsic interest. The relationship of student learning to the knowledge production work of the university is unclear. Learning is often individual rather than collaborative. This paper will present a course, offered for the first-time in 2018 – 19, which departs from the traditional model just outlined in significant respects:
- Students worked in small, collaborative groups to produce a group blog post and prepare a presentation (each on a research topic chosen by the students within the broad field of property law);
- The groups were led and organised by the students themselves;
- A facilitator (a research post-graduate student) was assigned to each group;
- The students also worked on an individual research project chosen by them. After the first three weeks, the teacher’s role was to be available to support the group and individual projects;
- The students were encouraged to publish their group and individual work.
The aim was to design and implement a course which would draw on social constructivist principles and the idea of collaborative, inquiry-based learning. The course also sought to position the students as producers of new knowledge. The course design offers a workable method of achieving these goals.
Speaker:
Prof. Michael Lower, Professional Consultant, Faculty of Law, CUHK
Ms. Vivian Chen, Teaching Assistant, Faculty of Law, CUHK