My Teaching Philosophy

My personal characteristics - play the video below

My Teaching Philosophy_Dr Ashraf Booley_29March2022 (1).mov

My teaching philosophy has been strongly influenced by my early experiences growing up as a member of a marginalised and as well as in a minority community in Cape Town, and the time that I spent involved in private practice. This theme deals with learning theories and specifically my teaching philosophy:

When I look around myself each and every day, it is difficult not to realize how interrelated the law is with all aspects of life. My passion is linking the real world to law and how fortunate am I that there is an academic programme doing just that. The LLB degree. Therefore, when the question of: “Why do you teach?” is posed to me, the answer follows effortlessly. I enjoy learning! Through interaction one learns continuously and develop to become a better person.

The module I teach is theoretical but requires regular application linking to real world issues. My belief is that understanding and being able to apply the Law of Contract is critical in the process of becoming a well-trained legal practitioner.

My teaching ambition is therefore to inculcate my knowledge, experience and passion for my subject, into my students, leaving them with a sound knowledge base which would allow them to be the best they can within a competitive profession. I would like my students to leave with more questions than answers when they first set foot into the lecture venue.

Authentic learning

Maina (2004) defined authentic learning as learning through real-world situations, which is meaningful and an extension of the students' world, with the student central of instruction. To quote directly from Lombardi, 2007: "Developmental psychologist Jerome Bruner reminds us that there is a tremendous difference between learning about physics and learning to be a physicist. Isolated facts and rules do not take on meaning and relevance until students discover what these tools can do for them". The Components of Authentic Learning (Rule, 2006) is summarised through application and theoretical inquiry by:

asking questions - in other words identifying the real-world problem;
conducting studies - applying the rules;
drawing conclusions - summarising the information;
communicating results to students - advising, thereby possibly providing an answer to the real-world problem or if not then provide methods and further inquiry-focussed outcomes which ulitmately might lead to solving the problem.

My teaching is based on authentic learning, since I believe that you learn through practice, application, visualisation and creation. My module is theoretical in nature which can only be taught and in my opinion, be fully understood through, applying and practicing some memorised facts and laws. To be a good lecturer in my subject area, one must be very knowledgeable in the discipline of law but also be able to convey and demonstrate the application of this knowledge towards real-life scenarios which a legal practitioner will encounter during their career. Through my teaching I want to achieve the development of well-rounded students and ultimately effective legal practitioners. My learning and teaching efforts should allow students to be able to participate in real-life problem solving discussions, to be able to work independently but most importantly as part of a team within the legal professional industry. My ultimate teaching goal is to provide them with the necessary skill set through relevant and application based pedagogy.

In line with UWC

It is imperative for me as a lecturer to realise that I must align with the institution, which provides me the opportunity to grow and develop as a lecturer. This is where I need to reflect on how my teaching philosophy becomes one with the goals and strategic imperatives that UWC has for our students and staff. My teaching should address globalisation and most importantly equip my students to be resilient in their profession. Ultimately, me as the lecturer must be able to expose my students to regional and international challenges and I must be able to guide them so that they may develop into individuals being able to influence global policies and regulations. This does not exclude my attempts to address the issue of decoloniality in legal education. Law is a globally recognised profession which has fundamentals applied in all countries.

It is my perspective as law lecturer, that it is important that my students debate, practice, and formulate ideas around current and real-life challenges experienced. That being the reason why I task third year students with a problem-solving assignment linking with the application to theory.

Flexible learning

As a lecturer in the fourth industrial revolution and with the impact of the pandemic, I am very receptive to new methods of learning. I am also sensitive to the fact that not every student learns in exactly the same way. Knowing this I aim to provide students with different types of learning materials, giving them the opportunity to have more tools at hand to make their learning more effective. I would for example discuss the Will Theory during a lecture, providing the textbook reference and linking it with a case, students would be required to identify or indicate if they have observed it in their day-to-day lives.

For example: I would ask them to tell me more about the intention to contract using simple examples such as asking a friend to build a house, or the buying of a mobile phone.

I would further engage my students with videos, citing examples from movies. This is used to stimulate student's critical thinking about issues around them and its application to the real-world. Lectures are now also recorded and made available for students. These recordings are provided to students so that they can learn from them in their own time and at their own pace.

Understanding different Learning and Teaching - play video below

It is accepted that not all theories are applicable to all learning situations. I considered the theories of Vygotsky and Piaget in developing my teaching philosophy. I try to incorporate the constructs of Constructive Alignment and Scaffolding within the theory of Social Constructivism. Below are recordings of my interpretation these constructs.

Constructive Alignment_29March2022.mov

Scafolding Intro_29March2022 (1).mov

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