Hitting the keyboard: The challenges faced by distance learning students in developing legal research skills

We are a small research team including Law School staff, a librarian and four undergraduate Law students. The Open University is an online distance learning university, offering open access to students. Legal research skills are embedded within teaching materials, with additional resources and training offered outside of courses. Data showed that not all students were able to demonstrate the Legal Research Learning Outcomes for a third year course. As Guth, Cownie and Jones (2020) identify, the teaching of law has focused on Law itself, rather than the ‘how to’. Against the context of a diverse student community studying remotely, the research team sought to give students a voice as to how they feel about online legal research skills. The methodology chosen was focus groups, to gather qualitative data to understand differences between student, staff and the wider university understanding of legal research skills (Morgan & Kreuger 1993). In total 8 second and third year law students, and 7 members of staff, attended online focus groups. Both staff and students reported different meanings of the term ‘legal research skills’, leading to confusion. Students also felt ‘lost’ and ‘overwhelmed’ at times. Others felt more positive, having on demand access to resources. Applying self-efficacy theory to ideas to address obstacles to learning whilst also being mindful of student welfare, it is proposed that these will further provide students with a belief they can control the outcome of their hard work and in turn increase the effort put in to achieve success(Bandura, 1977;Maddux, 1995). References Bandura, A. (1997), Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control, Freeman, New York​ Guth J., Cownie F. and Jones E. (2020) ‘The pasts and futures of legal skills in English law schools’, in Key Directions in Legal Education. 1st edn. Routledge, pp. 161–173. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429448065-11 ​​​​ Hewitt A. and Stubbs M. (2017) ‘Supporting law students’ skills development online : a strategy to improve skills and reduce student stress?’, in Research in learning technology, 25(2017), pp. 1–24. Available at: https://doi.org/10.25304/rlt.v25.1786 ​​ Maddux J. (ed) (1995), ‘Self-Efficacy, Adaption and Adjustment: Theory, Research and Application’, Plenum Press, New York​ Morgan D.L. and Kreuger R.A. (1993) ‘When to use focus groups and why’ in Morgan D.L. (Ed.) Successful Focus Groups. London: Sage ​​