Charlotte van Sittert presented a follow up session after the first plenary on “Engaging students in and out of class”. The main goal of this workshop was to identify techniques and activities that could make out-of-class learning experiences particularly effective in teaching important principles in the curriculum of the Clinical Legal Training Course. Participants left the workshop with a checklist of important aspects to consider when planning an out-of-class learning experience.

After the first plenary Frans Haupt also presented a follow up session on “Engaging Students: How (not) to present the most boring lecture in the Curriculum”.  The presentation focused on techniques as well as audio and visual aids that can be used to engage students when the lecturer presents what is perceived to be boring or complex subject matter.  The presentation focused on the history, structure and organization of the UP Law Clinic and, at the same time, about engaging students in a fun way.

“Standing room only!” This was the comment from a law professor from one of the leading law schools in the U. S. when he heard that the UP Law Clinic will be presenting a paper on student assessment.

The paper Make It or Break It: Taking Assessment to the Next Level was presented by Carika Keulder and Frikkie Grobler. As it turned out there was plenty of room left during our presentation, but the enthusiastic professor assured us that there would have been standing room only had we given our presentation next year. The reason for this being that new legislation will be enacted in the U. S. in 2012 forcing law schools to rethink their approach to student assessment.

The lecture gave an overview of the UP Law Clinic’s 360 degree approach to student assessment and specifically focused on the assessment of students by Law Clinic clients, as well as the oral examination conducted at the end of every semester. New legislation will be enacted in the U. S. in 2012 forcing law schools to rethink their approach to student assessment. Therefore the paper presented by Carika and Frikkie was very popular.

The overview and the part focusing on client assessment were presented by Frikkie and the part focusing on the oral examination was presented by Carika. Both presenters made use of simulations to illustrate their point. During Frikkie’s presentation Carika acted as an attorney conducting a client assessment, with Charlotte van Sittert acting as the ignorant client. During Carika’s presentation Frikkie acted as an examiner conducting an oral examination, with Frans Haupt as the confused student (a role that came naturally to him).

Although the abovementioned performances took method acting to a new low, they did serve to illustrate to the audience how a client assessment and an oral examination should be conducted, as well as potential pitfalls which should be avoided. It also became clear that the Clinic was light years ahead of many other law teaching institutions in its approach to student assessment.

We also attended various presentations which left us rejuvenated and filled with new ideas on how to engage and assess students. We are certain that should we implement these new ideas, the Practical Law class for 2012 will have standing room only!