This is how I teach
This month we spoke with Professor Dale Stephens from the ÌÇÐÄvlog¹ÙÍø Law School, Faculty of Arts. Business, Law and Economics. Dale’s approach to motivating students to learn was recognised by a 2024 Commendation for the Enhancement of, and Innovation in Student Learning.
Here Dale explains how students often comment that his scenario-based teaching examples could come straight out of a Hollywood movie script!
How would you describe your approach to teaching/yourÌýteaching philosophy?
I have come to the University after a first career as a Navy Legal Officer. Hence, my two decades of military operational experience strongly inform my course design and teaching style. My students respond very positively to case studies regarding the application of international and domestic law to concrete situations, especially those that have involved the Australian Defence Force. Critically however, this pragmatism provides an ideal context for drawing out the deeper moral and social dilemmas that are encountered in the operational context under the law. These case studies allow an ideal pedagogical platform for calibrating and testing fine legal and moral judgement.
Students sometimes comment that my scenario-based teaching examples could come out of a Hollywood movie script. Ironically, such seemingly fantastical scenarios are often based upon real life experience. This allows for a sense of authenticity when discussing legal and policy choices that need to be made in such pressing national security contexts.
What do you like most about teaching in your discipline?
International law, and the law pertaining to national security and operations, is applied in a myriad of new contexts.Ìý At the current time, the rules - based world order is under threat. This allows ample opportunity for both applied legal reasoning and a high level of introspection regarding future directions.Ìý I seek to challenge students with both theoretical perspectives concerning jurisprudential inquiry and pragmatic application of contemporary legal doctrine and policy commitments by the Australian Government.Ìý Outside of military legal training programs, such a framework is rarely applied as a teaching tool, which in my view compromises the depth and nuance that is essential when navigating this dense body of law.Ìý
My goal is to simulate real word decision-making processes to permit a level of authenticity to how the law is interpreted and applied.Dale Stephens
ÌýSuch experiential learning and personal investment highlights learning outcomes and encourages a highly accentuated level of critique.Ìý The body of law and policy that is usually covered in my courses includes materials from both Australia and overseas.Ìý Drawing upon my own personal experience with post graduate study within the U.S., I often deploy a ‘gentle’ version of the Socratic method of teaching. This has proven to be popular with students undertaking my courses, as it encourages them to find their authentic voice and advocate positions with legal accuracy and personal commitment.Ìý Over the life of a course, I genuinely enjoy seeing students develop their thinking in a meaningful way as they master complex legal issues with skill and passion.
How does your teaching help prepare students for their future?
As mentioned previously, I seek to align my teaching with real world contexts and hence reinforce the nuanced way many national security law positions are determined. However, added to that is the very active research program that my unit (ÌÇÐÄvlog¹ÙÍø Law School Research Unit on Military Law and Ethics) undertakes. We have been successful in securing considerable external research funding over the years. This enables us to include many undergraduate students in assisting us with our research into many contemporary legal and policy areas. These have included research into military activities in outer space, maritime law enforcement, navigational rights and obligations at sea and in the air, and the law of naval warfare. All these topics have been identified by the Australian Government as having national strategic priority and our students at the Law School have contributed greatly to manuals, reports and papers we have developed on these topics. This research in turn informs the content of courses. Additionally, we run a highly successful mooting competition in the area of International Humanitarian Law that has led to great national and international success. Such advocacy experience prepares students well for professional life as lawyers following graduation.
Which approach to educating students about academic integrity have you found to have the most impact?
The majority of graduates of our Law School ultimately become lawyers admitted to practice in both state and federal jurisdictions.Ìý Upon admission, legal practitioners assume numerous professional obligations relating to trust and integrity that are overseen by bodies such as the SA Law Society.Ìý These obligations apply irrespective of whether legal practice is in the private or public spheres.Ìý From the first year onwards of university study in a law degree, we train our students to reason and act like lawyers. This involves not just acquiring technical mastery of the law, but also an internalization of the professional standards of conduct that will be expected upon admission to practice. Ensuring proper observance of the rules of academic integrity is a natural fit for instilling a set of broader professional commitments that is part and parcel of becoming a lawyer within Australia. This mutually reinforcing set of duties is emphasised throughout the degree.