This practice report provides an overview of a podcast series designed to support first-year student transition to university and promote wellbeing and belonging. The podcast was established in 2017 in a compulsory first year law subject (Legal Institutions and Methods) at La Trobe University, Australia. The podcasts record interviews with…

In 2017, the School of Law at the University of Wollongong commenced an experimental initiative through the introduction of a Law Student Pledge. It was designed as a symbolic statement to students that from the day they begin their law studies they become a member of the legal professional community. In this way, it invited First Year Students to…

The University of Southern Queensland's online study environment continues to grow with over 16,000 students studying online. Pre-Covid-19, online enrolments typically represent around 67% of all students studying at USQ. This article usefully analyses quantitative data in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the pilot of an online peer-assisted…

This mixed method study involved twenty students enrolled in three consecutive intakes of an Australian Bachelor of Laws program's introductory unit. Pioneering a multi-element blended design, the unit featured three key elements: summary videos, self-test online quizzes and interactive discussion boards. These elements were chosen based on…

Law students internationally suffer from a high level of psychological distress compared with the general and student populations, and anecdotal evidence suggests that students developing skills without adequate support experience significant stress and anxiety. This article considers an initiative at one Australian law school to develop a…

Aligned assessment is a cornerstone of higher education curriculum design. Yet, it does not address the problem of how students learn "how" they should proceed when faced with a new assessment task. That teaching task is often left to the role of "feedback". This article examines changes to a first year law unit, introduced…

In Australian law schools didactic pedagogies such as lectures devoted to the transmission of theory and knowledge to a largely passive audience still predominate. However, curriculum design embedding authentic learning pedagogies has been shown to be supportive of student learning. The challenge in adopting such curriculum design is how to offer…

The role of work-integrated learning (WIL) is a popular focus at many universities, including among academics in the business disciplines in Australia. This article explores whether a mentoring programme provided for female business and law students results in similar benefits as those reported for WIL activities and, hence, provides career- and…

This qualitative study investigated the role of competition in the success and distress of law students. Participants from an Australian law faculty attended one of four focus groups (undergraduate, postgraduate, academic staff and administrative staff). They discussed their perceptions of competition, the competitive behaviours in law students,…

This article reports on an action-research project designed to investigate the effect of a technological intervention on the complex interactions between student engagement, participation, attendance and preparation in a large lecture delivered as part of a compulsory first-year law course, a discipline which has not been the focus of any previous…

Australian higher education institutions are increasingly operating within broader political, economic and social frameworks and the global context. The link between productivity and high level skills and qualifications and the importance of establishing a systematic process for ensuring increased participation of those from under-represented…

Research studies have reported elevated rates of psychological distress (e.g., depression) in practicing lawyers yet little research has examined predictors of such problems in law students. Specific personality traits have been shown to be predictors of a range of psychological problems. We administered a battery of tests to a cohort of 1st-year…

Depression is a problem in the student population and may impact students of any age, gender and ethnicity. Previous studies have indicated student demographic characteristics are associated with depression; however, these studies have not utilised scales specifically designed to measure depression in the student population. The aim of the present…

In the global market place the value of education takes on many meanings. In transnational education forums it relates to the market's assessment (in dollar terms) of a qualification. But can we measure the value-addedness of tertiary education in existential terms? Can we measure the value that tertiary education provides to the enhancement of…

Case notes from an Australian law course illustrate linguistic demands that this academic genre places on non-English-speaking background students. These demands need to be explicit to clarify the association between lexicogrammatical realizations and generic meanings in the discourse. Case notes and a reading assignment are appended. (Contains 26…