COLLABORATION & GROUP WORK

Law students are often seen as competitive, individualistic, high-achieving and uncollaborative. It is certainly true that group work would rank as their list favoured activity and especially as a form of assessment. Here is how the idea of collaboration and group work between law students became a staple in my courses.

Reflections of members of the South Korean Group on Groupwork in the ALB:

In 2008, I offered the option of a collaborative group assignment (a written for-runner of the National Report) or an individual essay. I had no takers for group work.

Aware that the ability to work in teams and to collaborate was an important skill in the workforce I persisted. I also felt that providing the content on the variation in Islamic law across the world was not as engaging as it would be if they discovered this for themselves and shared. I wanted to directly involve them more in the learning process. Diversity is an important aspect of Islamic law.

In 2016:
I persisted. To highlight the diversity in Islamic law in Muslim majority nations, ten countries were selected: a mix of Shia and Sunni, including the four main madhabs; a mix of geographic locations from Middle East, Africa, Europe, South Asia and Southeast Asia; forms of governance including monarchies, theocracies; democratic, socialist, Islamic and secular republics; GDP; and ethnic, linguistic and cultural difference.

Students worked in groups of five (50 in the class held over summer semester) to jointly create a presentation on one of these countries for the seminar on the last day of class. The direction was I wanted them to provide a window in the nation. So, as well as accuracy, it had to be interesting, informative, succinct, and visual.

Each group had ten minutes to cover the following:

How, why, and when did the country become Muslim.
A snapshot of the country today – key demographic features.
The key features of the Constitution - the role for Islam and Islamic institutions.
Government & Courts – black letter and in practice [if there is a difference]
Human rights assessment.
Topical and interesting features or current issues in the nation.
Best sources of information on the country.

The group could decide who would speak (all or just one) and had freedom to use creative means to convey the information [ PowerPoints, multi-media, music, props, or any device that you feel will
best convey the character and key features of the country].

Again WOW! Most were done in person in class, some other did choose a video. One group (Malaysia) re-created a family at the dinner table discussing issues relating to their Muslim faith and what had been happening ‘in the news’. It was complete with food on the table which they then brought around for the class to try. Others hosted news programs and a talk-back radio show. The class responded with a SECaT of 5, both for teaching and for the course. I think their dislike and distrust of group work was eroded.

The group national report became a feature from thereon. During 2020 (Covid) and 2021 (dual steams) it was a genuine way to foster social connection through collaborative learning. Even the international students who had returned to their home countries worked together with their teams to make an impressive report.

In 2021, not wanting the groups to be larger than five, students had two options: Diversity in Muslim majority nations (similar to 2016) or diversity in secular nation’s legal accommodation of its minority Muslim citizens. There were five secular nations: China, India, France, England each with very
different legal positions.

The questions differed a little:

Data: percentage of the population, origins, schools of Islam: a brief snapshot of Muslims in the selected country
Protections for religion in Constitution and accommodations in the legal system.
Islamic institutions and role for Islam
Human rights assessment.
One or two topical, distinctive or interesting features pertaining to Islam in the nation.
Best sources of information on the country

Again, assistance from Learning designer, BEL’s Angie Knaggs, led to using Padlet. Click here for a live example of the interactive Padlet.

Example Secular nations:

Zoom stream: France:

In Person: England

Example: Muslim majority nations:

In-class stream: Afghanistan

Zoom stream: Iraq

2022: Asian Law Bulletin became a group work project as teams produce an online digital weekly New Bulletin

2023: More group work in Islamic Law with Sharia-in-5