Jayden Houghton (Rereahu Maniapoto) is a Lecturer and the Assistant Dean (Teaching & Learning) at the Faculty of Law. He teaches a range of topics, including: Land Law, Māori Land Law, Mātauranga Māori and Taonga, Cultural Property and Indigenous Intellectual Property, and Law and Social Justice. Jayden has won several teaching awards, including Faculty and University Early Career Excellence in Teaching Awards.
Making human connections
In each course, Jayden seeks to establish a human connection with his students from the beginning. When introducing himself, he talks about being the first in his family to go to university, and navigating stress and anxiety. Student responses have been very positive, including many students reaching out to express their appreciation at a lecturer talking openly and normalising conversations about mental health.
(Connection students to teacher)
Supporting students’ values
A study of New Zealand law students found that the most common reasons that students chose law were a passion for justice and the law, a desire to help people and wanting to make a difference1. However, law students often encounter pressures such as heavy workload, competition, pressure to succeed, concern about student loans and job prospects, and family, disciplinary and professional expectations. These can lead to unhealthy coping mechanisms and compromised wellbeing and life satisfaction2.
In LAWPUBL: 405 Law and Social Justice, a 110-student elective course, Jayden encourages students to reflect on their values and their Law School experience. For the first substantive lecture, Jayden asks students to read an article on law student values and experiences. In the lecture, he sets an activity in which students draw pictures to represent who they were before law school (on the left), who they are now as fourth year students (on the right) and how law school has contributed to those changes (in between). With student permission, Jayden then shares some of the drawings with the class using the document camera, relating the drawings to key themes in the Krieger reading. Jayden also discusses strategies, such as pursuing meaningful work and staying true to core values, which the literature suggest should lead to improved satisfaction and happiness2.
Instructions for the drawing activity are provided under “Examples” below.
(Connection students to self)
Modelling legal problem-solving
Jayden also actively engages students to collaboratively solve legal problems. In LAW 301: Land Law, a 420-student compulsory course, Jayden organises a three-lecture topic in three parts, each concerning a different issue: rights to airspace; rights to subsoil and minerals; and rights to fixtures and non-fixtures. Jayden divides each part into two sub-parts: first, presenting the fundamental law on that issue; and, secondly, working with students to advise a client on that issue. For the second sub-part, Jayden uses two screens: on the first screen, he projects the problem; and on the second screen, he projects a Word document in which he models how to answer the problem. Jayden asks the class to identify the issues and suggest how to develop the answer. Jayden narrates his thought process, including what he would be looking for in an answer as the question-setter and marker. The problem-solving is iterative, and the learning is collaborative and scaffolded as the issues increase in difficulty and complexity.
Jayden’s approach is informed by the literature on modelling. Jayden has kindly shared the following excerpt on modelling from his forthcoming article on “transparency in assessment”:
The case for modelling is premised on its efficiency in helping students learn new skills and knowledge3. Social biologists have recently advanced the notion that humans evolved to transfer knowledge to, and receive knowledge from, one another4. Thus, human behaviour is learnt via the observation of others, using the information gained by observation as a guide for our future actions. The benefits for enhancing understanding and developing skills are especially pronounced when the model verbalises their thought processes while engaging in the activity: combining verbal and non-verbal modelling gains and holds attention, and helps to produce lasting improvements in cognitive skills3. The benefits of modelling are such that Abdullahi Salisu and Emmanuel Ransom claim that learning can be difficult when students have to rely solely on the effects of their own actions to inform them about what to do3.
Student feedback has been extremely positive, with students commenting:
“Jayden’s approach to teaching and his guidance on how to tackle problem questions is super helpful. You are not spoon-fed answers, instead you are being guided and lead through the thinking process when faced with a land law issue. Jayden makes things clear and simple and easy to follow.”
“Going through problem questions during the course was super, super useful! Please continue to do this and tell your colleagues to do the same in their lectures instead of at the end of the year or in the lecture before a test.”
Modelling the application of legal knowledge consistently attracts student appreciation in SET evaluations.
(Connection students to application of knowledge)
Examples
Drawing activity: Self and discipline
Distribute A4 sheets of plain paper, then give students the following instructions:
“Divide your page into three columns. In the left column, draw a few pictures and write some keywords that capture who you were before you came to law school. In particular, focus on your family, relationships, friendships, hobbies, sports, instruments, school experience and values.”
Allow students 5 minutes to complete the exercise. Write those aspects on the board to remind students. Then, give the students the following instructions:
“In the right column, draw a few pictures and write some keywords that capture what you think and how you feel today as a law student. Focus again on your family, relationships, friendships, hobbies, sports, instruments, school experience and values.”
Allow students 5 minutes to complete the exercise. Then, give the students the following instructions:
“In the middle column, articulate the change and how law school contributed to the change. In doing so, you might find it helpful to add pictures and keywords to the left and right columns to illustrate contrasts.”
Allow students a few minutes to complete the exercise. Then, give the students the following instructions:
“When you have finished, talk to the person sitting next to you about your activity (as generally or specifically as you are comfortable) and what, if anything, you have learned from the exercise.”
When conversations are starting to go off track, give the students the following instructions:
“Now, I would like to share some of your drawings with the class using the document camera. Remember they are anonymous. Please draw a circle with a tick in the top right corner of your drawing if you are comfortable for me to share it with the class. Then please, everyone, hand your drawings to the front of class.”
Share a few of the students’ drawings with the class, identifying key themes in the drawings and making connections to themes in the literature — for example, the stresses and strategies for de-stressing in the Krieger reading.
Modelling legal problem-solving
Lecture slides: “The Extent of a Landowner’s Rights in Land — Law”
Problem document: “The Extent of a Landowner’s Rights in Land — Problem”
- Taylor, Lynne, Ursula Cheer, Natalie Baird, John Caldwell, and Debra Wilson. The Making of Lawyers: Expectations and Experiences of First Year New Zealand Law Students. Christchurch: University of Canterbury, 2015. ↩
- Krieger, Lawrence S. “Roasting the Seeds of Law School Stress.” Journal of College and Character 5, no. 8 (2004). ↩
- Salisu, Abdullahi, and Emmanuel N Ransom. “The role of modelling towards impacting quality education.” International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences 32 (2014): 54-61. ↩
- Hattie, John and Gregory CR Yates. “Acquiring complex skills through social modelling and explicit teaching.” In Visible Learning and the Science of How We Learn, 72. New York, 2014. ↩