Reading Law: Motivating Digital Natives to 'Do the Reading'

Abstract

It is a 'truth universally acknowledged' that a sizeable proportion of university students, including law students, do not complete the prescribed reading load. The current generation of law students is largely comprised of 'digital natives', who because of their lifelong immersion in technology, prefer to receive information fast, to parallel process and to multi-task. Reading is still of pedagogical, professional and institutional importance, and it is part of the role of the law teacher to motivate students to read. A self-reinforcing 'virtuous circle' can be achieved if we set a reading load in a format and content compatible with the digital natives’ learning preferences, check they have read it, align set reading with teaching and assessment, reward students for doing the reading, and impose consequences for not doing the reading.

Keywords: Legal Education; Motivation: Reading; Digital Natives; Blended Learning

JEL Classification: K00