Jo introduced a reflective workshop at the end of each substantive topic to allow students to consolidate their understanding before moving on to the next topic. Students found that this academic skills support provided a valuable opportunity to test their knowledge and understanding of a topic.

Teaching area

The workshops take place in a lecture slot, with the entire cohort.

Course

Core module with 350+ students:

• LLB Law and all LLB Law with another subject courses (such as Law with International Relations; Law with Politics), Level 4
• Graduate Entry Contract Law/Contract Law Advanced (Level 5): small cohort – normally no more than 20 students

Description

I introduced reflective workshops into my first-year (Level 4) and Graduate Entry (Level 5) Contract Law module in 2021 to support inclusive teaching and help students transition into higher education. Many first-year students experience challenges around confidence, belonging and adapting to university-level learning, which can disproportionately affect students from under-represented or non-traditional backgrounds. To address this, I embedded a one-hour reflective workshop at the end of each substantive topic (a total of four across the term).

These workshops act as purposeful pauses in the curriculum, allowing students to consolidate their understanding before moving on to the next topic. The sessions are designed around guided reflection and knowledge-checking activities. Students are encouraged to reflect on how well they understand the material, identify areas of uncertainty and consider strategies to improve their learning.

To support inclusive participation, I use interactive multiple-choice questions delivered online through Poll Everywhere. This allows students to respond anonymously, which reduces the pressure associated with speaking in large lecture spaces and encourages broader participation. The questions also help students test their understanding in a low-stakes environment and prepare for the module’s summative multiple-choice assessment.

Below is an example of a question from the workshop:

Outcomes

Academic skills and student support

I first introduced the Reflective Workshops in autumn 2021. Below are some of the results of a Contract Law Curriculum Review survey I ran in December 2021 about the changes I had made to the curriculum (128 participants). This data offers some insights into the benefits of this learning activity from a student perspective:

• 98% agreed or strongly agreed that the reflective workshops were a useful learning tool.
• 99% agreed or strongly agreed that the reflective workshops provided them with valuable opportunities to test their knowledge and understanding of a topic.
• 97% agreed or strongly agreed that overall the reflective workshops enhanced their student learning experience.

Comments

In terms of qualitative feedback, students were asked:
What was your experience of the reflective workshops? Is there anything you would change?

I found it really helpful. It’s a way to revise which doesn’t actually feel like revision. I struggle to motivate myself to revise but the workshops help ‘start me off’ and encourage me to start revising that topic. I like the interaction aspect too. It just feels fun, like a break from the constant work and absorbance we have to do. If it weren’t for the workshops, I think I would have been unsure what an MCQ [multiple choice question] is like.

They are amazing! So beneficial for reflective learning… it is a nice way to break up sub-topics within the module and as a means of reflection and testing knowledge. Definite highlight of the year so far.

I believe the workshops added the engaging side of practising what we’re learning. They weren’t as formal and intense as seminars, but the same feel of application and prep for assessments. I valued them! Thank you.

I think personally being dyslexic and having anxiety meaning I can’t always feel up to attending in person and always sit at the back and so sometimes struggle to follow, going back over is heavily helpful and I wished all my modules took this on board.

I collected data again more recently in 2024 (focused on transition to university and well-being). The results were overwhelmingly positive. Below are a few comments made by students:

I found that it created a space for people who struggle to speak up in class to interact in a hands-on manner, this created an open and inclusive form of communication. Workshops also reduced the mental load of a full-course work lecture, and instead provided lighthearted memory consolidation.

As an A-level student you are accustomed to a more teacher-led learning approach with frequent check ins. I find uni can often feel like it’s ‘moving on without you’: the reflective workshops really help mitigate this feeling.

Being an international student, adjusting to a new education system in a new country can be very overwhelming. These workshops have helped me to better adjust to the curriculum and strengthen my understanding of the content

This approach mirrors a lot of what is done in primary and secondary education. Connecting with students and challenging their memory and application skills head on brings forward some of the established learning methods more associated with the history of education already established.