Electronic delivery in law: what difference does it make to results?

Abstract

This article details research which attempts to assess what effect electronic delivery of law modules has on actual student assessment performance. The authors reviewed the assessment results of students who had taken both conventionally and electronically delivered modules and compared and contrasted individual student performances in all the modules studied by them in a particular semester. As far as the authors' researches were able to ascertain this was a relatively unique piece of research as far as legal study is concerned. We found that weaker students (those who might ordinarily fail or scrape a bare pass) were achieving a mark some 10% higher than that achieved in the conventionally delivered modules; pushing those students into the lower second category - the assessment criteria for such classification demanding evidence of deep as opposed to surface learning. However there was little or no difference in the marks achieved by upper second quality students.

The authors acknowledge that many factors affect the quality of assessment performance and that, whilst the article addresses some of the variables, any specific conclusions based on results alone are open to question. Furthermore, we accept the limitations of a small and narrow statistical sample and that therefore this can only be a survey rather than a controlled experiment. Nevertheless we believe that as part of the debate on the role of C & IT it has a useful role to play.

Inevitably an article such as this trespasses on many pedagogical issues deserving debate which goes beyond the objectives of this discussion.