Archive | 2021
Engaging students in an online format during the COVID-19 pandemic: A jury voir dire activity.
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in abrupt transitions to online learning, introducing challenges for faculty across the globe, including maintaining student engagement despite unprecedented stress In an effort to engage students in a psychology and the law course during this transition, a voluntary jury voir dire simulation activity was developed utilizing YouTube, asynchronous discussion boards, and journals The current study evaluated the efficacy of the activity for facilitating student engagement, learning, and critical thinking Seventy-nine students across two sections of the course worked in teams (defense or prosecution) via asynchronous discussion boards to eliminate potential jurors perceived as biased against their side of a case, and to write about what they did (did not) learn from participating A mixed-methods approach was utilized to examine primary hypotheses: students will participate at rates higher than typical for voluntary bonus assignments (Hypothesis 1);spontaneous expressions of engagement and interest in the activity will emerge in journals (Hypothesis 2);group decisions regarding juror eliminations will demonstrate content knowledge and critical thinking (Hypotheses 3 and 4) Supporting hypotheses: Participation (65%;45 women and 6 men) was greater than both prior participation rates in bonus activities in the course (31%), and those established in the literature (37 8%);the majority of students (58%) spontaneously indicated that the activity was interesting/engaging;and group decisions revealed good content knowledge and critical thinking (H3 and H4) Overall, results indicate that the jury voir dire simulation activity is a useful tool to promote student engagement and critical thinking in an asynchronous online format (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)