From challenges to connections: improving law students’ wellbeing through building community

12.30pm – 1pm GMT, 7 February 2025 ‐ 30 mins

Room: Victoria Suite 2

Presentation

Law students have some of the highest mental health issues of any university learners, and five years ago the Open University Law School started to explore ways of improving students’ wellbeing. In their research the concept of belonging came up again and again, and from this the Law School Belonging Project began. Introduced in 2020, the project includes an annual programme of online events for all law students, a staff  / student blog, peer-mentoring and a Student Voice festival.

This presentation explains how the idea was born and the development of its various elements. Key to the development of the project has been the mantra of ‘by the students for the students’, resulting in co-creation being used at every opportunity. The session shares the impact of the project on students’ outcomes, and concludes with suggestions for how Student Support teams can work with academic departments to set up their own projects to address the needs of specific student demographics.

Speakers

Carol Edwards

Assistant Head of Student Experience, Senior Lecturer in Law, The Open University

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Liz Hardie

Director of SCiLAB and Senior Lecturer (Open Justice), The Open University

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Carol Edwards

Assistant Head of Student Experience, Senior Lecturer in Law, The Open University

Carol Edwards is Assistant Head of Student Experience (Retention and Outcomes) and a Senior Lecturer-in-Law within the Open University Law School, and Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Her research interests include tackling student isolation and improving retention and outcomes through programmes such as online mentoring and the Law School Belonging Project. She is also actively involved in scholarship relating to employability, online teaching pedagogy and supporting armed forces veterans. Before joining the Open University Carol worked in further education and is still involved in the quality management of Open Access courses. 

: https://www5.open.ac.uk/scholarship-and-innovation/scilab/our-research/law-school-belonging-project
: carol-edwards-90312515b/

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Liz Hardie

Director of SCiLAB and Senior Lecturer (Open Justice), The Open University

Liz Hardie is a Senior Lecturer in law at the Open University Law School and Director of SCiLAB, the Faculty of Business and Law’s Scholarship Centre for Innovation in online Legal and Business Education. She works for the Open Justice Centre supervising law students carrying out pro bono projects both as part of their law degree and on an extra-curricular basis. Her research interests include online learning and the use of technology in legal education. Liz co-founded the Law School Belonging Project and has led it for the last four years with Carol Edwards. They have published an article and written a forthcoming book chapter about developing belonging in an online context. 

: https://www5.open.ac.uk/scholarship-and-innovation/scilab/our-research/law-school-belonging-project
: liz-hardie-b48831203