“Think about it!” Can structured experiences and assessed reflection help law students to adjust to university? Simon Brooman Sue Darwent Liverpool John Moores University School of Law

2. Think about it! Outcomes:
Lily says:- Links to theory:-
“I gained more Self-efficacy
confidence dealing with (Bandura, 1997, Pajares, 2002; Lane &
Lane, 2001; Devonport & Lane 2006)
different people I‟d never
met”
“...my eyes were opened Autonomous learning
(Evans, Kirby & Fabrigar, 2003;
as to what was expected Kember, 2001; Macaskill &
of me as a law student....” Taylor, 2010; Vrugt & Oort, 2008)
“I‟ve learnt that you can Social support (Bernardon et
work with different al., 2009; McQueen, 2008;
people and come out Roman, Fenollar & Cuestas, 2008)
with the best out of that Social integration (Hausmann et
al., 2007; Tinto, 1982, 2003;
task” Wilcox, Wynne & Fyvie-Gauld, 2005)
Team work (Taylor, 2001)

3.  Why focus on the student experience at
transition?
 What is ILL?
Structured experience
Reflection
Assessing reflection

4.  Retention rates
FT: 1999 – 72%, 2000 – 86%, 2001 – 67%.
 Review of literature
 The birth of the long thin „thing‟ –
„transition‟
 Independent Learning in Law

5.  More tutor contact
 Early feedback
 Involvement of 2nd/3rd years
 Diaries and a learning report
 Group poster
 Information to think about: practical and
personal

6.  FT retention rates constantly above 85%
 Student approval
 Anecdotal support
 Why? When? How?
 Three research studies.....

7. 1. Structured experience:
the poster project
What is Actus Reus?
Actus Reus “guilty act” describes the physical element of a crime. For an Actus Reus to be committed
there needs to be an act. Generally an act is described as a bodily movement which is voluntary or
involuntary.
Involuntary act
An involuntary act is when a defendant performs a physical
act but it is not in control of their actions due to an external
factor. Body movements during unconsciousness, sleep, due E.g. R v Quick (1973)- the defendant- a diabetic, was charged with assault however this occurred
to hypnosis, convulsions or reflex’s are all involuntary acts, whilst the defendant had low blood sugar levels due to an excess of insulin therefore the court felt he
also an involuntary act can be forced by someone. should be acquitted due to automatism as his unconsciousness was due to external factors, i.e.
insulin.
Although in theory an act which is involuntary should be excused this is not always the case for
example Hill v Baxter the defendant argued that due to his loss of control due to falling asleep he was
not liable for causing an accident. However, this does not constitute an involuntary act as he was
aware of his lack of awareness and knew he was not in a fit state to drive.
State of The Actus Reus here is distinguished by the fact
that the defendant’s behaviour must produce a
Actus Reus in these situations are much more particular result. Possibly the best example of
Affairs simpler however much more harsh. It is a
matter of “being” rather than “doing”.
this type of crime would be murder, as
regardless of the methods used the result must
Result
Crimes always be the death of the victim.
Crimes
R v Larsonneur 1933 Action
Larsonneur, a French national, landed in England
with a French passport endorsed in such a way,
which prevented her from working in the UK. She
Crimes R v White 1910
In this case, the defendant set out to kill his
had to leave England so went to EIRE, from there mother, choosing poison as his method.
she was deported back to England by the Irish However even though White’s mother did
Police. She was found guilty of being in the UK, drink the poison, she later died of a perfectly
contrary to the Aliens Act 1920. natural heart attack before the poison could
work.
Merely committing the act here is sufficient
Actus Reus, the consequences of that act being
immaterial.
R v Stone & Dobinson 1977 Perjury is perhaps one of the best examples of
Stone’s sister lived with him and his girlfriend, Dobinson, an action crime, where by someone makes a
She was mentally ill and stopped eating properly. Due to
this she became bed ridden and after several weeks she
false statement under oath, regardless of
whether it affects a case or not isn’t important. Conduct &
The act has been committed.
died. Stone & Dobinson were both convicted of
manslaughter and appealed. The Court of Appeal held that
they had accepted responsibility for Stone’s sister as her
Circumstance
carers, and were under a duty to summon help, or care for
her themselves. As a result they were liable for her death. Crimes
These crimes are characterised by the
particular way in which they are committed.
Volunteering They require a certain conduct carried out
Responsibility under specific circumstances.
Rape is an easy example that shows the
meaning of a conduct and circumstance
crime, as the conduct of penetration is
required under the circumstances that the
victim has not consented.
Inadvertent
Creation of A Crimes of Family
Dangerous Responsibility
Situation Omission
R v Gibbons & Proctor 1918
Gibbons & Proctor were living together with Gibbons’
young daughter. They failed to take care of her or give her
R v Miller 1983 food, she subsequently died. The trial Judge directed that
Miller was squatting in a they were guilty of murder if they withheld food with the
building. He lay on a intent to cause G.B.H, resulting in death.
mattress, lit a cigarette and
fell asleep. Sometime later Contractual
he awoke to find the Responsibility
mattress on fire. Making no Poster by:
attempt to put the fire out, Sean Moran,
he simply moved to the next R v Pittwood 1902 Adam Morrison,
room and went back to Sophie Morris,
A gatekeeper of a railway crossing opened the
sleep. Miller’s failure to act
gate to let a car through and forgot to shut it Jonathan Mullan,
to put out the fire was
when he went off to lunch. As a result a hay cart Sinead Murphy
treated by the courts as
crossed the line while a train was approaching
sufficient for the Actus Reus
and was hit, causing a number of deaths the
of arson.
gatekeeper was convicted of manslaughter.

8.  Work with up to 6 others in a randomly
populated group....
.... To produce a poster on one of two
law topics...
....Within two weeks, starting on the
second day of the first semester....
.... With support from module
leader, second year student, personal
tutor, library staff

9.  Peer relationships
 Student engagement with discipline
 Relationship with personal tutor
 Belonging/cohort identity
 Basic geography!
 Improved confidence to succeed – self-
efficacy
 Awareness of studying at university

10. Does anything measurable happen to:
 Self efficacy?
 Development of relationships?
 Attitude to university study?
OR
 Is this just another „knee-jerk reaction‟?
(Longden, 2006)

11. Time 1 Time 2
Validated scales: Self-efficacy (Bossher & Smit, 1997); College
Academic Self-efficacy scale (Owen & Froman, 1988);
Autonomous Learning scale (Macaskill & Taylor, 2010).
Social integration scale developed using EFA : 3 subscales - Old
friends, Sense of belonging, Relationship with staff

12. Sample
 n=142 (57% response rate)
 Skewed towards single honours (74%);
female (66%) and younger students
(89%)
 Accommodation: 35% home, 62%
student halls
 38% had a term-time job

14.  Gender: females had lower efficacy beliefs; higher
study habits
 Age: older students perceived greater support
from staff initially
 Working students: higher efficacy, learning
beliefs, & study habits found initially, but not at time
2
 Accommodation
Live at home Live in halls Live at home Live in halls

15.  Home-based students
› Stronger links between self-efficacy and
autonomous learning
› Those with a higher initial sense of belonging had
higher scores on general self-efficacy at time 2.
› Those who reported greater contact with old
friends at time 1 had a greater sense of
belonging and perception of staff support at
time 2.
 Both groups
› Students who perceived greater support from
staff at time 1 had higher autonomous learning
beliefs at time 2.

16.  Self-efficacy: no change
 Autonomous learning
› Independence of learning beliefs: decreased
(Joint hons)
› Study habits: no change
 Social integration subscales
› Sense of belonging: increased (all)
› Perceived support from staff: increased (LLB,
home-based)

17.  We understand more about outcomes of
transition processes
 Processes are having an effect
 We need to know more – don‟t assume
it‟s working
 Some results surprised us – self-efficacy
 Informs change

18.  Greater involvement of tutors
 Timetabling poster group
meetings, particularly in the first week
 Introduction for joint honours students
 Let students know pre-arrival what will be
expected of them
 Essential information on group processes
given early on

20.  Which articles?
 Access
 „Have I got to read them?‟

21.  Students attended a lecture on
„personality and success‟
› Emotional intelligence
› Self-efficacy
› Stress
› Resilience and mental toughness
 Recommended reading: 3 journal
articles
 Advised to keep a diary
 Assessment „c‟: reflection on their
experiences in the first semester

22. What did we do?
• Qualitative analysis: IPA
• Examined scripts from assignments
• To determine whether and how students had used the
information from the self-awareness articles
Findings:
• Why students engaged in reflection
• Developing and planning positive changes
• Recognising and responding to stress
• Gaining new personal insight

23. „In our first ILL session we were given an
article written by Susan Hall on why it would
be a good idea to write a diary. I took her
advice from the article and made sure I
purchased a diary to find out if it would really
help me. “Jotting down your values for just 15
minutes a day could help you reach
important life goals” This quote really stood
out for me and made me realise that it‟s not
just a way of keeping organised, but its uses
are more beneficial in the long term
reflecting back on your own progress and
development.‟

24. Findings:
Why students engaged in reflection
Developing and planning positive changes
Recognising and responding to stress
Gaining new personal insight
„According to Bandura, mastering different
situations allows for higher self-efficacy. This
has helped me to understand why it
sometimes felt easier to give up when trying to
complete a piece of work…..After reading
around these subjects my outlook on learning
and study has changed, allowing me to
become more positive about the course as a
whole. This, plus preparation for tutorials, has
made me more confident and so my
contributions have improved.‟ (49, 13-31)

25. Findings:
Why students engaged in reflection
Developing and planning positive changes
Recognising and responding to stress
Gaining new personal insight
„…Another study …compared self-efficacy with
stress as anxiety may depress self-efficacy
judgments of students. I feel that I too have
experienced this as when I feel stressed about
doing something my confidence and ability to
do the said task decreases… [So], I organize
myself in such a way so to try and minimize stress
levels and I start my essays in advance so not to
still be writing it out on the day it is due to be
handed in. I have found that being organised
and reflecting on my diary from previous weeks is
beneficial to me adapting to university life and
my studies.‟ (5, 2-17)

26. Findings:
Why students engaged in reflection
Developing and planning positive changes
Recognising and responding to stress
Gaining new personal insight
„Higher efficacy links to greater academic
performance‟ (Lane and Lane, 2001). Self-efficacy
affects success as it has a great influence on what
we choose to do and how we behave towards these
choices….. I find it a lot easier to participate in CJ
tutorials and in turn will put in more effort into
preparing for them. I have realized now that this is
the wrong attitude, even just reading back what I
have written in this essay. I don‟t feel very clever
when I walk into a law tutorial. I know that to build
my confidence up I need to work harder on my
preparation so I can follow what is being said in the
tutorial. (48, 33-55)

27. Improving
confidence
Self-
Quality of Dealing with
reflection awareness stress
literature
Formulating
positive
action
Any questions?

28. What did students do?
 Assessment „b‟: reflections on groupwork for
the poster task
 Assessment „c‟: reflections on experiences
of academia in the first semester
 Keeping a diary is crucial BUT....
„When I was asked to write a reflective diary
I saw no relevance or significance in doing
such a task. However, I noticed whilst doing
this assignment it became very useful as I
came to realise some problems with my
current learning style.„(88, 8-12)

29.  Definition of „diary‟
 Is reflection useful for undergraduates?
 Need for „training‟?
Ethical concerns:
 Can everyone reason about emotions?
(Mason, Tyson, Jones & Potts, 2005)

30.  Definition of „diary‟
 Is reflection useful for undergraduates?
 Need for „training‟?
Ethical concerns:
 Can everyone reason about
emotions?
 Disclosing private thoughts to staff
(Riley-Doucet and Wilson, 1997; Boud, 2001)

31.  Definition of „diary‟
 Is reflection useful for undergraduates?
 Need for „training‟?
Ethical concerns:
 Can everyone reason about
emotions?
 Disclosing private thoughts to staff
 Should diaries be assessed?
(Kember et al., 1996; Creme, 2005)

32. What did we do?
 Qualitative analysis: IPA
 Examined scripts from assignment „c‟ in
which students specifically referred to diary
use
 Investigate outcomes not process of reflection
 Advantages of diary-keeping
 Help in addressing common concerns:
› Am I clever enough to pass?
› Will I settle into university life?
› How much work will I have to do?
› Is it so different from school?

33.  Initial cynicism/emerging surprise
 Adjusting to demands of university
academic work
 Developing learning strategies
 Taking control
 Self-efficacy

34.  Diary-use brings benefits
 A tool to develop and demonstrate
learner autonomy
 Useful reflective practices can be
achieved by new undergraduates
 Do it early
 Use evidence to encourage reflection
 Do not force the use of diaries
 Use a „sounding board‟ and final
assessment

35.  1st year students may not be „gold
standard‟ reflectors but:
 There are benefits in encouraging
them to use diaries so;
 In preparing students to start a diary
concentrate on what they might gain
rather than what they can‟t.

36.  Curiosity – Does it work?
 The sting - Quality of HE/Law pedagogic
research
 Adventure – Innovation (lawyers?!)
 Stop! - Reflect on practices
 Professionalisation of pedagogic
research in law
 Use diaries, self-awareness literature and
posters!

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