Acting on Assessment: Increasing and Supporting Student Success Through Scaffolding

Abstract

As educators, we struggle with introducing complex, multifaceted concepts in understandable and effective ways that support student comprehension of materials. Scaffolding is an evidence-based practice that involves a progressive introduction of skills and knowledge to enable students with greater understanding and independence regarding the material introduced. Because of this progressive introduction, scaffolding is an effective strategy to support students learning complex ideas and skills. In this paper, the authors will briefly discuss the application of the scaffolding approach to teaching case briefing. In the law school setting, knowing how to brief (read) a case is a necessary skill for students. Case briefing is a dense exercise, and usually only introduced in one class setting. While students may get a general idea, it is not until this density is broken apart into clearly communicable pieces that actual understanding of the skills involved becomes clear. The authors will discuss how they tackled this issue for a wholly asynchronous, online undergraduate course using “scaffolding” by breaking one large exercise into seven easily understandable pieces and incorporating formative assessment, student reflection, and feedback along the way.