Review 1
When did you complete this unit? Semester and Year
2021 Semester 1.
Teaching of the Unit (lecture, class and tutorial style)
2 x 1.5 hour seminars each week (tended to be lecture-style for the first part and discussions for the rest).
What are assessments and exams like?
Assessment was a research essay, 10% participation in either class or forum or both, and a take-home exam which was 3 questions comprising at least one policy and one problem question.
Essentiality of readings? i.e. Must complete or are lectures sufficient?
Readings are fairly important as some are journal articles etc which Andrew does not cover in class, but talks about.
Difficulty of unit on a scale
Quality of the unit
Pros and Cons of the Unit
Pros: Super interesting content for the most part, some dry weeks but generally good. Andrew is great and very passionate about the topic. This subject ends in week 11 with the take home which is great. Marking was fair, and assessments weren’t too difficult. Pretty policy-based, with a mix of structured torts and very speculative torts, where the discussion hinged on opinions and other jurisdictions. Cons: you do have to work hard to do the readings and keep up with torts law generally in order to be able to participate in the class and forum, which is a marked part of the grade.
General feedback + tips for students
Do the readings, even if its a quick skim and noting down the main points made by the authors in the articles, or the judges in the cases – participation marks can be made by simply answering Andrew when he asks someone to sum up a case or what a particular author said.
Review 2
When did you complete this unit? Semester and Year
Semester 1 2021.
Teaching of the Unit (lecture, class and tutorial style)
There is a 2 hour lecture every week (but Andrew usually only uses up the 1.5 hour) that is conducted in seminar style where Andrew will go over the content and then there will be time for discussion.
What are assessments and exams like?
Participation (10% – talking in class/moodle forums), Research assignment (40%) and Take-home exam (50%).
Essentiality of readings? i.e. Must complete or are lectures sufficient?
Yes! Andrew doesn’t always go through the readings in depth in class and they are required for the take-home exam. Also good for class participation in raising discussion.
Pros and Cons of the Unit
Pros – Very interesting unit exploring torts from a policy perspective. I liked how the readings/course we explored elements of human rights in tort law e.g. concepts of dignity. Also really interesting from a practical perspective because the unit explored how torts law is evolving to cover newer areas e.g. to protecting privacy. Exam was also very do-able if you’ve wrapped your heads around the readings.
Cons – The lectures are not sufficient enough and the readings are super pivotal and need to be done at some time during the course. Also the exam requires a mix of policy/problem questions, but problem questions structure etc. are not really discussed in class until the week or so before the exam.
Difficulty of unit on a scale
Quality of the unit
General feedback + tips for students
Readings are essential for this class for class participation! Make use of the Moodle forum as well.
progressivelawnetwork.org 