Cross-disciplinary Teaching of both Computer Forensics Students and Law Students Using Peer-Assessment in a Simulated Expert Witness Scenario

This paper describes a novel initiative of the Computing and Information Systems (CIS) Dept in conjunction with the Law Dept at the University of Greenwich. Postgraduate CIS computer forensics students, as part of their assessment, present their findings from a forensics investigation in front of a lecturer and up to five law students in a simulated expert witness testimony scenario. The law students are permitted to ask questions of the computer forensics students and eventually to give their assessment of the student’s witness evidence and presentation. This approach was devised to encompass several pertinent pedagogic issues. Firstly, it is cross-disciplinary, combining as it does, input from two very different departments – an initiative that brings together not only students but also staff who would not otherwise meet. Secondly, it involves the use of practical social/professional skills for both sets of students, as the computer forensics students must present their findings with the skills required of an expert witness in a court setting while the law students must act as cross-examining counsel. Thirdly, this exercise involves the law students assessing the performance of the computer forensics students – an application of peer-assessment that heightens the involvement of both sets of students. Lastly, both sets of students are themselves graded, the computer students by their own forensics lecturer and the law students by their law lecturer, according to their performance in this exercise. The findings from questionnaires sent out to both computer and law students were extremely positive. Both sets felt that they had benefited from the experience and that it would aid their further studies and professional development in their respective areas. It is the opinion of the C-SAFE forensics-law collaborative team that this approach represents an educational innovation in its use of cross-disciplinary problem-solving and peer-assessment in a growing and increasingly significant domain worldwide (cyber forensics).