Assessing the effectiveness of legal cast in enhancing students’ learning: a student perspective

Law subject seems to be a difficult subject as the course requires students to read extensively provisions and cases, comprehend legal principles, and doing research. The abundance of reading materials also makes it difficult for them to grasp legal knowledge. Accordingly, an alternative approach to assessment is designed through case-based learning (Legal CaSt) instead of traditional assessment such as pen and paper, which is becoming short-lived. This assessment approach is to develop student-centred active learning through case-based learning. Case-based assessment is based on problem-based questions that demonstrate students’ ability to apply the relevant laws and decided cases to legal issues where they will be given hypothetical cases based on real-world scenarios. The objective of this paper is to assess the effectiveness of this newly introduced assessment, ‘Legal CaSt’ in enhancing students’ learning abilities, research skills, and legal knowledge in the hypothetical case. To arrive at findings, a set of questionnaires is designed to gain primary data to know students’ perspectives towards the effectiveness of ‘Legal CaSt’. Using the online survey method, a total of 439 UiTM Foundation Law students participated in the survey. The findings reveal that Legal CaSt as an innovative assessment enhances law learning abilities and serve the needs of the students. These findings provide important insights into the effectiveness of this new method of assessment, where it is easier for students to understand the relevant laws by relates their knowledge and understanding to legal problems through their involvement in case-based assessment.