Poster Presentations, Academic-lite! The LLB Experience

Abstract

The use of poster presentation assessments has long been accepted practice in medical and scientific teaching in Higher Education. There seems to be however a feeling that the use of poster presentations as part of a summative assessment for a Law degree lacks academic gravitas and the rigour of more traditional forms of assessment. This paper argues that the process of researching, planning and presenting a poster presentation on an area of criminal law provided a student cohort with a challenging yet rewarding assessment opportunity. Students taking the assessment provided feedback to suggest a strong sense of self efficacy and creativity during the preparation and delivery process. The paper examined the method of assessment for sixty undergraduate students enrolled on an access year that formed part of a four year LLB (Hons) award. The students were required to produce an academic poster and present for fifteen minutes to two assessors. The feedback from this assessment suggested that the students themselves considered the assessment to be relevant and provided a realistic flavour of the skills needed in working practice.