Not a Moot Point! Mooting as an Authentic Assessment Practice in Law?
Abstract
Context
Article # 4
Not a Moot Point! Mooting as an Authentic Assessment Practice in Law?
Title:
Not a Moot Point! Mooting as an Authentic Assessment Practice in Law?
Authors:
Dr Emma Allen School of Law, Keele University
Keywords:
Authentic Assessment; Curriculum Design; Law; Mooting
DOI:
http:// doi. org / 10.21252 / fxtz-2z31
Abstract
Authentic assessment, understood as a form of assessment in which students demonstrate the applicability of the skills and concepts they have learned in a real-world context, is increasingly prized in an instrumentalist higher education environment that views university as a training ground for the workplace( Armitage et al., 2016). While traditional assessment practice in law typically involves an applied aspect, it would be judged as lying at the lower end of the‘ continuum of authenticity’( Mueller, 2006). In this highlight, I therefore propose the adoption of mooting not only as a more authentic, but also effective and efficient assessment practice. I consider how far mooting fulfils the essential characteristics of an authentic assessment( Ashford-Rowe, Herrington and Brown, 2014) and stands to offer a more inclusive and engaging learning experience for students. This approach to assessment could be adapted to suit various law modules both within and beyond Keele.
Context
Authentic assessment, understood as a form of assessment in which students demonstrate the applicability of the skills and concepts they have learned in a real-world context, is increasingly prized in an instrumentalist higher education environment. This is an environment that views the university first and foremost as a training ground for the workplace rather than in more ideal terms as somewhere simply to extend students’ powers and possibilities as human beings( Armitage et al., 2016). Authentic assessment tasks are also prized by students. In a study completed by Riva et al.( 2020) on student wellbeing in the university teaching and learning environment, it was found that a student-focused assessment strategy where students perceive that their future aspirations are taken into account in the assessments’ design has a positive effect on their wellbeing. While traditional assessment practice in law does typically involve an applied aspect, requiring students to apply the legal principles and rules they have learned to a fictitious scenario generated by the teacher, this would be judged as lying at the lower end of the‘ continuum of authenticity’( Mueller, 2006). In this highlight, I therefore propose the adoption of mooting not only as a more authentic, but also effective and efficient assessment practice by which I mean that it is not, in its most basic form, any more intensive in terms of resources and staff / student time than other forms of assessment( Gillespie, 2009). While discussed in more detail below, in essence, the
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