Using Blackboard to Provide a Form of
Continuous Assessment for Law Students in
a Large Group Setting –
Potentials and Pitfalls
Dr. Gavin Barrett, Senior Lecturer, School of Law,
University College Dublin

The Context of this Experiment/Process The Degree Course, The Particular Subject

Rationale for the Process

The Process Itself

Evaluation of this Process: Lessons Learnt,
Implications for Practice
Context of this Experiment
I The Degree Course






University College Dublin
Law School
Bachelor of Business and Law (BBLS) Degree
Students in second year of four year course
Arduous programme of study  intensified by
University-wide introduction of modularisation
and semesterisation of most subjects
Increasing emphasis on continuous assessment
 may be compulsory next year
Context of this Experiment
II The Particular Subject:


The Law of the European Union
A compulsory subject for all Business and Law
students


Very large and ‘difficult’ course


150 students
unfamiliar concepts, institutions and approaches to legal
reasoning especially for second-year students
Disadvantages to using essay for continuous
assessment



many other essays to do
essay can cover only one part of the course.
essay correction on this scale very time-consuming
The Experiment and its Rationale
The Experiment

In-class examination which would not count towards students’
grades this year
Rationale


Useful formative exercise for this year’s students
‘Test run’ for compulsory ongoing assessment for next year’s
class – in which the results may count toward student grades.
Rationale for Using Blackboard



All students have laptops.
Lecture theatres equipped with wireless technology.
Students familiar with Blackboard system because class page
uses it.
Reflection on the Process





Creation of test involved considerable investment of time
Ample advance notice given of test to class that the test was to
take place but that it would not count towards examination
results.
Low turnout
Results of the assessment not particularly positive: clearly many
students had done little real preparatory work.
Technical aspects:




Most students had no problem accessing Blackboard…but it was hard to
help those who did.
For two students technology failed.
The appearance of the test was peculiar
The test took less time than expected.
Evaluation of this Process: Lessons
Learnt, Implications for Practice
Valuable lessons learned:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Instant (permanent) results  enabling instant feedback to
students
Blackboard feature helped ensure no cheating
Drafting a fair set of multiple-choice questions takes a long
time
Recent training in Blackboard necessary to success of
experiment…and was only just about sufficient.
Evaluation of this Process: Lessons Learnt,
Implications for Practice (continued)
5.
6.
7.
8.
Both the classroom geography and the class size should
facilitate the lecturer walking around the class in order to have
to help students in difficulty and prevent cheating
Hard copy (paper) backup copies of the test are needed.
Imagination needed to ensure multiple-choice questionnaires
test correct kinds of skill or knowledge.
Blackboard best confined to a formative rather than a
summative assessment procedure in a large class. In a smaller
class however, an eminently suitable summative technique
Thank you for listening.
Questions are welcome.