Business Law in Action – Interactive Workshops in an Online Environment

Business Law can be an academic, theory-based module which business students find challenging in terms of relevance to their overall programme and everyday lives. It is no different in LYIT where it has a history of poor attendance, and on some programmes, high levels of exam failure. However, experiential learning has the potential to break down the boundaries around academic subjects and transform student learning by grounding it in reality. This project was enabled by capitalising on existing expertise within
Letterkenny IT (LYIT) from both Street Law and the REAL Project (Reimagining Experiential Academic Learning). Participation in Street Law, an elective module on LYIT law programmes, teaches undergraduate law students to create and deliver workshops using interactive teaching methodologies to provide legal education to public audiences. The REAL Project, while its focus is on law, aims to build and share resources to transfer experiential learning to other disciplines.

A series of interactive Business Law in Action workshops were built using this interactive and experiential learning expertise in LYIT. A past law graduate was engaged to design and deliver Street Law workshops in areas of law relevant to business: legal systems, company law, employment law, contract law, consumer law and business ethics. Participation in the workshops was intended to facilitate improved engagement, learning and success, in 1st year business studies students studying Business Law (level 6) at LYIT.

Originally planned to take place face-to-face, the Covid situation moved this teaching and learning project online where 3 x 1 hour workshops on Blackboard Collaborate Ultra were trialled at the end of Semester 1 2020/21 delivered by the graduate with the two module lecturers. Joint delivery provided an opportunity to educate the lecturers in the experiential, interactive and online teaching methodology and to build capacity for its continued use into the future.