Lecturer makes Pokémon Go-inspired game to teach land law

17 Jul 2017

Law’s most daunting subject is now in the running to be the most fun with this lecturer’s method of teaching using augmented reality games.

According to UK legal news site Legal Cheek, Nigel Hudson, a Nottingham Trent land law professor has created a Pokémon Go-like game to help his students understand land law better.

Woop! I'm in the news! Propertymon Go! Lecturer uses augmented reality to make land law interesting https://t.co/JEIA2TDGmC @Lawyer2Bmag

— Nigel Hudson (@nghudson) July 13, 2017

Student feedback has been generally positive, according to Hudson, who said:

The timing of the release of Propertymon Go! was not ideal as it coincided with the end of last term. It will be offered to the students at the start of next academic year when I’ll be able to better assess both response and success in my aim of engaging students with land law.

Using an app called Aurasma, Hudson’s students have to scout for buildings and objects on the streets of Nottingham, the same way gamers hunt for Pokémons. When they’ve found the location, they then play a video of Hudson explaining a land law topic on their smartphones.

Hudson, who previously practised as a property solicitor at Edge & Ellison, said he challenged himself to make land law interesting when he joined the university as a senior lecturer last year.

…and another one #EULawRocks pic.twitter.com/4kL9geF6QA

— Matthew J. Homewood (@mjhomewood) May 12, 2015

Hudson’s novel teaching method follows the footsteps of a fellow colleague, Matthew Homewood’s Twitter Q&A initiative where he successfully used the social media platform to answer the scores of questions for EU law using the hashtag #EULawRocks. Homewood’s 140-character move landed him the Teaching Law with Technology Prize in 2014, the same prize Hudson is in the running for this year.