An overview of LEaD’s support and collaboration with City Law School
This post summarises the breadth of LEaD’s support and showcases our commitment to equitable and inclusive learning, working in partnership with colleagues in the City Law School.
Photograph of students in a seminar – The City Law School
Digital Accessibility
LEaD continues to innovate in creating media-rich, high-quality resources of high quality for the Law School.
Building awareness and allyship for disabled students and neurodiverse learners is explicit in this approach.
Investment in human-corrected captions to ensure the accuracy of complex legal terminology to enhance comprehension for students with English as a second language and to enable access for students using transcripts or alongside assistive technologies.
All online modules are checked and scored for accessibility and students can convert course materials into a range of alternative formats.
Learning Analytics in use at City Law School
Learning Analytics is being used at City, University in London to provide academic and pastoral support to students. Wellbeing Officers use engagement data, such as physical attendance, VLE (Moodle) resources, and grades, to identify students who may have stopped engaging with their studies and may need support.
Support is non-punitive and offers the student an opportunity to begin a conversation that may help to mitigate any issues they are facing, through triaging to mental health, academic support or by offering extenuating circumstances. The processes around learning analytics are inclusive to all students within City Law School, and there has been substantial work to ensure an equitable measure of engagement.
Masters of Law (LLM) Programme – Hybrid Teaching
Support inclusive and active learning, following a hybrid teaching approach for the Masters of Law programme. This provides flexibility by enabling students to join the programme as either on-campus or online students and greatly extends our reach to new audiences, assisting with widening participation.
Training and guidance are provided to all staff and Law course officers.
Recruitment and training of student co-pilots and their role in enhancing the learning experience.
Mock Courtroom – The City Law School
Videos for Solicitors Practice Programme (SPP)
Production of a series of scripted videos for the SPP, featuring professional actors in courtroom and solicitors interview room scenarios.
Emphasis on the inclusivity of using scenario videos in legal education.
Video resources highlighted the impact of visual learning on student engagement and equitable experiences.
Student Digital Induction Process for SPP
The student digital skills team worked in partnership with Law academics to develop a tool for other students to assess their digital skills for studying at City, based on an existing tool in use and informed by student feedback. The SPP course uses the tool to help Law students understand the digital skills required for their future careers.
Video and Multimedia Project – Law Student Written Journey
Creation and production of a comprehensive video and multimedia project.
Focus on providing an inclusive visual guide to the Law Student’s Written Journey.
How this accessible project design enhances understanding and engagement for undergraduate students.
The City Law School Building – Exterior
Testimonials:
“I led on the development of a new postgraduate blended law programme for Solicitor training at The City Law School and was keen to include an interactive digital skills activity into our induction programme. City’s Digital Skills Team supported us by adapting an existing online survey to the requirements of our new programme, to reflect the digital skills and tools used for learning as well as for students’ future careers in legal practice. This interactive activity enabled us to facilitate students’ self-evaluation of their digital skills and allowed us to signpost sources of support early in the programme”.
Programme Director for SPP.
“The LLM programme at City Law School has undergone a transformative evolution in its student delivery methods. Leveraging cutting-edge technology and innovative pedagogy, we have transitioned to a fully hybrid model, enabling us to cater to students both on campus and online, synchronously and asynchronously. This shift was motivated by our commitment to accommodating learners from diverse educational backgrounds and nationalities. Integration of ISLA technology has been pivotal, seamlessly incorporating online learners into our face-to-face sessions. This overhaul owes much to the invaluable support of City’s Learning Enhancement and Development (LEaD) team, which played a crucial role in every aspect, from planning the delivery and pedagogy to providing technical facilities, training, and ongoing support. Feedback from students has been overwhelmingly positive, evident in module reviews and remarks from student representatives. We aspire for our programme to serve as a model for others within City University, inspiring them to embrace similarly innovative approaches.”
Programme Director for LLM.
“City Law School sees the development of equitable and inclusive learning as very important. This is a cornerstone for helping to open up access to the legal profession, to ensure students from a range of backgrounds get the support they need. It is also important in tailoring provision for our range of international students, not least on our LLM, where students have a wide range of backgrounds and are at different stages of their legal careers. We decided a couple of years ago that hybrid learning, with a solid scaffolding on our VLE, would best support students on our LLM programme. City’s Learning Enhancement and Development (LEaD) team has offered a wide variety of support for the development of this programme, in particular in relation to Module design, and best use of Moodle tools Their main input has been as regards hybrid learning technology, which is core to the programme because it enables classes to be delivered face to face, online synchronously and asynchronously. LEaD worked closely with us in creating and delivering training, and with supportive materials to guide staff. We would not have been able to transform the programme as we have without the help of LEaD.”
Associate Dean for Education and Professor of Progammes
