Excellence in teaching

Mr Michael Gillooly is a Senior Lecturer at the Law School with six years' teaching experience at UWA, specialising in torts, company and finance law. Michael won an Excellence in Teaching Award in 1995. These awards represent a joint effort by the Guild and the University to recognise and reward exemplary teaching.

Michael writes:

The ultimate aim of all teaching is the facilitation of student learning - more specifically, helping the student to achieve the learning objectives of the particular unit. In law units, the goals set for students may include:

• the acquisition of a thorough knowledge of the law in a given area, and its underlying rationale;
• the development of an ability to critically evaluate the law; and
• the acquisition of skills in legal research and reasoning.

LECTURES

"Covering all the material" is an impossible task that I have long since abandoned in my large lecture classes. What I endeavour to do instead is:

1. to provide the students with a basic framework of the area being studied, so as to enable them to put their out of class reading into context - the aim is for students to appreciate that a body of the law is a coherent whole rather than a hotchpotch of unconnected cases and statutory provisions; and
2. to stimulate interest in the area of study thereby encouraging out of class research

The careful selection of cases and examples is very important - theoretical principles do not mean much to the audience unless practical illustrations of their application are given. I endeavour to choose cases and examples that are either amusing or striking, or that are directly relevant to everyday experience.

Two techniques that are an integral part of my lecturing style and that I have employed with some success are:

1. Extensive Use of Visual Aids
   Overhead transparencies are an excellent way of conveying information and heightening interest. Material displayed includes:
   • drawings, diagrams and cartoons that illustrate the facts of a particular case;
   • short questions for class discussion;
   • multiple choice questions for feedback;
   • linked headings setting out the structure of the lecture.

   Two golden rules must be observed in using overheads:

   • when the overhead is first displayed, pause for a sufficient time to permit the class to absorb and/or make a note of it before launching into explanation;
   • don't cram the overhead with a mass of information - too much detail dilutes its impact.
2. Class Discussion

   I make it a practice to pause on several occasions in most classes and invite discussion. Normally I pose a question for the consideration of the class, and this question is often displayed on an overhead. Sometimes when running through the facts of a case, I stop at the point of identifying the issue to be determined by the court and invite views.

   In a large group, students are sometimes reluctant to participate. The way I overcome this problem is by inviting students to discuss the issue with the students sitting nearby, and I allow several minutes for them to do so. This technique has a number of benefits: it gives the students a break; it facilitates discussion among the students themselves; and it permits the students to try out their ideas within a small group before committing themselves to a position in front of a larger audience. This technique has proved particularly successful where the issue to be discussed falls into a grey area and a whole range of views can be persuasively put.

TUTORIALS

The tutorials in law units involve the students discussing problem-type questions which they have prepared before coming to class. My aim in these classes is to foster an atmosphere in which no one is afraid to venture an opinion - students realise that their views will be given careful consideration by their peers, and not dismissed out of hand.

In tutorials I employ a variety of techniques to maintain interest including:

• breaking into smaller groups of 3 or 4, allocating each sub-group a part of the problem, and requiring each to report back to the group as a whole;
• holding a mini trial in class with all students involved either as lawyers or judges - this technique is particularly useful for airing all possible arguments, and encouraging students to look at a problem from a number of different perspectives;
• conducting mock shareholders' meetings in the Company Law unit;
• full group discussion.

FEEDBACK

Feedback from the class, both formal and informal, is absolutely essential in determining whether the teacher's efforts at helping the students to learn are meeting with success.

Informal feedback is a valuable source of information. In class, the teacher must be alive to the non-verbal signals sent by the audience - the stifled yawn, the bored sigh or the knowing smile - and adapt accordingly. Verbal comments are encouraged by making oneself readily available to students outside class, and assessment procedures may cast some light on one's teaching success.

Formal feedback is even more important. Whilst informal feedback may be helpful, it is no substitute for a properly structured and conducted student evaluation of a particular unit and the teaching in it. For this reason, I make it a practice to have formal student evaluations of my teaching done at the conclusion of every unit on which I teach. Furthermore, I set aside a period of time each semester to examine and consider the results. Many student concerns can be accommodated without prejudicing the integrity of the unit. However, I should emphasise that considering the comments made does not necessarily involve adopting them - sometimes teacher and student must agree to disagree on the best method of achieving the unit's learning objectives.