This Newsletter summarises the Nottingham Law School’s 3rd Annual Learning and Teaching Conference on 8th June 2011. Andrea Nollent, Dean of the Law School, opened the event with a welcome and introduction about the nature of teaching and learning. After a general discussion, Andrea emphasis that in the current higher educational climate, it is not good enough to be good at teaching; we have to be excellent, radical and innovative in methodology. We are entering a new era and cultures are changing. Homogeneity in module delivery is a thing of the past. There was a lively debate about the nature of the market (parents, students, employers) and how market forces apply to determine what we do and how we do it; the importance of differentiation and the uniqueness of the offering was raised (and later developed in Becky Huxley-Binns’ Inaugural Readership session).
Sessions included:
Chris Slade on collaborative provision, Dave Bailey on the International Development Office, Clare Newstead on Erasmus and Angeal Donaldson on open educational resources
Parellel sessions on elearning (feedback on assessments by Shane Russell, elearning activities on the LPC by Amanda Rushby and Adrian Savage, and uploading podcasts by Marek Oledski (CADQ whose presentation is available at http://tinyurl.co./6j3lker) vocational qualifications (work based learning by Jane Ching and the BPTC by Ian Fox), cause lawyering (Graham Ferris and Nick Johnson) and the Innocence Project by Jo Ann Boylan-Kemp, the role of the personal tutor (Emma Winfield), transitions (Stephen Acquah from New College Nottingham), ethics as part of the QLD (Jeremy Robson) and teaching methodology (Simon Boyes).
Becky Huxley-Binns, Reader in Legal Education delivered her inaugural readership speech entitled “What is the Q for?”. Becky joined her voice to many that have previously asked “What the law degree is for?” and found a possible answer in reflecting on the skills that law students develop during their programmes.