Purpose of case study:

To examine the development of an online IS module which forms an integral part of postgraduate practitioner courses, by:

Contextual Background

During 1999 the University was actively looking at ways to develop teaching material using WebCT. A number of Learning and Teaching Fellows had been appointed to integrate course material within the curriculum using WebCT. The Law School had one Learning and Teaching Fellow and was keen to make use of WebCT to develop a more flexible approach to the delivery of legal research skills training.

Institutional Background

The Law School at MMU offers a number of courses, including, the undergraduate law degree (LLB); Postgraduate Diploma in Law (PGDL), which is for students who have a first degree in a subject other than law; Masters level qualification; and two practitioner courses which are undertaken at postgraduate level, the Legal Practice Course (LPC) for those who wish to become solicitors and the Bar Vocational Course (BVC) for those wanting to pursue a career as a barrister. In total there are approximately 1 100 students (FTE) enrolled on law courses. The LPC is regulated by the Law Society, which oversees the assessment process. Practical Legal Research (PLR) is a compulsory, assessed course which all LPC students are required to complete. The Law Society requires that all students should undertake a piece of coursework using electronic resources and the Law department felt the best way to achieve this was through an online course. Students enrolled on the BVC also take a Practical Legal Research course, similar in nature to that offered to LPC students using the same resources. Up to 200 full- and part-time students are enrolled on the LPC alone each year which, when combined with the needs of students on other law courses, leads to pressure on the available paper resources. Providing students with the skills to use electronic resources, relieves this pressure and offers the flexibility of on- and off-campus access. This latter feature is a benefit particularly for part-time students who may want access from their place of work or home.

Pre 1999 provision

Two courses were run on legal information research which covered electronic resources and printed sources. The course on printed sources has remained unchanged. Facilitated by the Law Librarian, the students follow a series of worksheets which equip them with the information skills to use a range of printed sources held in the Library. The electronic legal research module, which the online course has replaced, consisted of three or four practical exercises based on different key legal databases delivered as part of a practical workshop for groups of up to 20 students, of approximately 2 hours duration. Thirteen to 14 workshops were held over a two week period so as to cater for all the full- and part-time students required to undertake this course. For the Law Librarian this process was repetitive and time consuming as well as being restrictive for the students, who were required to attend a workshop during that fortnight. In addition the same type of skills training was also being offered by the Law Librarian to students enrolled on other law courses. From academic year 1998/1999 to 1999/2000 the Law Librarian's teaching load doubled from 30 hours to 70, excluding preparation time. It was therefore decided that a new approach was needed.

Planning the design of PoLeR (Practical Online Legal Electronic Research)

The content of the module was developed by the Law Librarian in conjunction with a member of Law Department staff. Based on the learning outcomes, such as locating a relevant case or being able to find the appropriate statutory instrument, the structure began to evolve. These types of information seeking activities have to be demonstrated in the students' formal assessment. The Law Librarian led the development because of her comprehensive knowledge of the Butterworth's suite of databases which had been selected for use on the course. The design of the course became an iterative process. At each stage in its development content was sent to the academic to comment on and test. This planning and development stage also included feedback from Library colleagues and advice from the WebCT Support Team, whose principle role is to assist in the development of on-line learning across the University.

Course Content

PoLeR is based on titles from the Butterworths stable of legal databases, which provide a range of information materials. This product was chosen as the core resource because:

PoLeR draws on All England Direct, Legislation Direct, Halsbury's Laws Direct and Human Rights Direct. No prior knowledge of either the databases or search techniques is assumed. The completion of the tutorials and a preliminary quiz means that all students attain a minimum standard of information skills. The course covers areas such as keywords, connecting words, phrase searching and techniques such as the use of inverted commas and truncation. The Law Librarian sees her role as making sure that everyone acquires these basic skills. Self-tests within the tutorials gives students the opportunity to evaluate their own competency. These self-tests are voluntary, but their completion is strongly recommended. Once the tutorials have been completed students must access a quiz which tests their ability to find information using the four databases. This is a compulsory element and students are required to score more than 50%. A maximum of five attempts are allowed, but all students pass the required mark on either the first or second attempt. Following completion of this stage students are given access to the formal assessment. This takes the form of a memo outlining a legal problem which requires a knowledge of information skills and sources, alongside a legal understanding, to complete. Answers should include a research methodology as well as the required information and must be submitted online via WebCT and in paper format. The request for paper versions is to aid lecturers in marking the work and the electronic versions are stored on a CD at the end of the academic year. This completes the electronic package and incorporates further new skills for students to acquire such as uploading a file.

Accreditation

The formal assessment which is accessed on completion of PoLeR is part of a compulsory module and as such, carries marks which contribute towards the student's final grading. The Law Librarian does not have any role in marking the formal assessment. Her role is to facilitate the assessment by making it available via the course and also to provide management information such as identifying students who have not accessed the module or submitted their work online. The assessment is both set and marked by academic staff. The Law Librarian has not received any feedback from the academic staff in terms other than to state that there has been an improvement in the skills shown by students in the completion of this assessment. Anecdotal evidence suggests that completion of the module in advance of the PLR assessment has lead to more students successfully completing it at the first attempt.

Integration with the curriculum

PoLeR is seen as being an integral part of the PLR course. This has been achieved by a number of means:

Feedback

Feedback received about PoLeR has been good and positive. During the pilot stage of the project feedback was gained from other library staff on a relatively informal basis with comments being submitted by e-mail. Student feedback was collected at the end of the pilot when the Law Librarian spoke to students in lecture sessions for both the LPC and the BVC courses and asked them to complete an evaluation form. This covered ten areas including:

The Law Librarian used this information to inform the updating of the course material and also to decide whether the course was worth pursuing in the future. Some modifications were made in light of the feedback received, in particular to the quizzes. The first version of the module carried four tutorials and 3 quizzes based on the Butterworth's Direct legal database. The second run of the module was reduced to a single quiz which was based on four aspects of the Butterworth's database. Feedback is now obtained from students at the end of the course when they are asked to comment on their experience of the LPC course as a whole. Students are also given the opportunity to put their view forward through formal mechanisms such as Staff-Student Liaison Committee meetings, held once per term. Some students have reported difficulties in accessing and searching the Butterworth's databases off-campus. This is principally due to the configuration of some internet service providers (ISPs) such as AOL. Although these difficulties have been noted technical problems of this nature are obviously beyond the control of the University to resolve. However, extra time periods are built into modules in order to compensate for such problems and also to encourage students to manage their time. For example students are given six weeks in order to complete PoLeR which may, in practice, only actually take a few hours to complete.

Collaboration and Administration

The Law School and the Library enjoy a good working relationship and both parties feel that this was an important factor in the success of the course. If the relationship was not so good the academic considers that it would have been more difficult to develop and deliver PoLeR. The nature of the relationship between the Library and the Law School meant that it was possible to liaise informally. This was especially important during the development of the course. It was not seen as necessary to have mechanisms such as steering groups, review meetings etc. However, more formal methods might have been needed if a different type of relationship existed between the two. The academic felt that a degree of continuity in personnel involved in the project is beneficial in the short term as this enabled the course to be developed. The collaborative nature of the project meant that it was developed from two different angles: the academic as the person responsible for the delivery of the course and knowing what should be communicated to the students; and the Law Librarian as the person who had the knowledge to develop the course content. The academic thought it was important that the Law Librarian should play a leading role in the development of PoLeR as she would be the one dealing with student queries. Administration of the project and the course itself has always been the responsibility of the Law Librarian. This has worked well because there have been two changes of academic personnel since the project inception so the Law Librarian has been the constant factor. In practice the academic staff have little to do with the day to day operation of PoLeR, other than dealing with infrequent administrative questions from students, such as the dates that work has to be submitted. Generally their involvement occurs at the end of the academic year when comments and feedback from students are collected and suggestions for improvement to the module are considered.

Student Viewpoint

As part of the case study process students currently enrolled on the LPC were asked to comment on a number of aspects of the practical application of PoLeR to their studies. They were first asked to comment on how useful they perceived PoLeR to be in relation to the completion of their assessed assignment for the PLR module. The overwhelming response to this was that the module had assisted them and enabled them to complete the formal assessment. Only one student felt that the course had not been helpful to them. This student went on to state that the "system [was] too temperamental", and also that the information contained within the course was not presented clearly enough which caused problems with their understanding. As has been noted there have been recognised problems with accessing Butterworths which may explain this particular student's comments, although it has not been explicitly stated. It should be noted that of the responses received no similar comments were made. The majority of students also gave a positive response when assessing whether their electronic research skills had improved as a result of using the PoLeR course, stating that they thought that they had improved. One student stated "My research tends to be more accomplished and methodical". Again, only one negative response was made. The transferability of the skills gained as a result of the use of the PoLeR course was also considered by the respondents. The majority of students felt that they had applied the skills which they had learnt from PoLeR to other parts of the course. This was related particularly to small group sessions where students are required to research and discuss particular cases and aspects of legal practice. Some respondents also stated that it assisted in the completion of coursework for other modules. Some of the comments show that students have varying degrees of confidence in using electronic resources. These included "When I am given an area to do research on I am more likely to use the computer resources now", and "I still prefer to use paper-based sources, however it has proved useful as an additional means of obtaining accurate and up to date information". Two students stated that they had not transferred the skills acquired to any other parts of their course and two further respondents stated that they had not yet done so but felt that they would in the future. The majority of students feel that the course proved useful in the completion of their assessed coursework and in improving their level of skill in searching electronic resources.