Reform of Professional Legal Education at the University of Hong Kong

Abstract

[Extract] The purpose of this article is to describe, evaluate and reflect upon certain interactive teaching strategies used in the large lecture theatre environment. The article will describe the teaching context in which interactive strategies have been introduced, and will outline and discuss the teaching strategies and aids used. Finally, the effectiveness of the strategies in improving student learning will be evaluated, and some personal reflections on the teaching experience recorded. The major premise underpinning the article and the exercise, the subject of this article, is that the object of good teaching is to promote high quality learning on the part of the student. I adopt a framework for teaching which embraces the idea of teaching as the fostering and promoting of student learning. This approach is based largely on the work done by Paul Ramsden, amongst others, which has been enhanced in the context of legal education in Australia by writers such as Richard Johnstone and Marlene Le Brun. According to this approach, good teaching involves three things: understanding student learning; appreciating both the primary importance, and the best means, of fostering and promoting learning, and having the necessary skills to do so; and the practice of constant reflection.