The intrinsic value of formative assessment and feedback as learning tools in the acquisition and improvement of a practical legal skill

Abstract

Teaching a practical legal skill in a classroom setting can be challenging, it is an attempt to teach the practical in a theoretical way to students who are unlikely to have undertaken this type of practical task previously. The module considered in this research, Practical Legal Drafting, comprises taught sessions that first introduce the ‘rules’ of legal drafting and then allow the development of key skills. The module includes tutor led taught sessions, student in class group and individual activities and ongoing tutor verbal feedback in class, followed by a formative assessment, extensive specific individual written and generic online feedback, and finally face to face feedback on the formative assessment. This combination forms the learning process for the module considered in this study. The formative assessment is not a compulsory element of the module, the data for three academic years was analysed to determine whether those students who undertook the formative assessment were more successful in the summative assessment than those students who did not and whether it could therefore be said that this was evidence that the formative assessment was beneficial as a teaching tool. The student’s engagement with the feedback available on the VLE was also assessed to determine whether any conclusions could be reached about the impact this may or may not have on improved student performance.