A Global Perspective on Argument Diagramming to Support Writing Skills

Can online argument diagramming help students learn written argumentation skills? Students at Moi University Law School in Erldoret, Kenya, received free tablet computers through the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Researchers at the Learning Research and Development Center created a learning module to teach legal argumentation skills to over 400 Moi students in three sections of a law course taught by one instructor. Two sections will receive a version that employs argument diagramming. The third section will retrieve a more traditional writing-only version. Objective tests and blindly graded written arguments will determine if/how argument diagramming facilitates learning.