Experiences on teaching International Private Law with the support of an e-learning tool

1. Experiences on teaching International Private Law with the support of an e-learning tool Dámaso Javier Vicente Blanco Mercedes Martínez González José Manuel Sánchez Felipe UNIVERSIDAD DE VALLADOLID

2. Experiences on teaching International Private Law with the support of an e-learning tool • Introduction • Topic characteristics • The tool and its utilities • First practice: the teacher participated in the design of the e-learning tool • Results and evaluation • Second practice: the teacher did not participate in the design of the e-learning tool The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting

3. Introduction (1) • Course: International Private Law, Faculty of Law, University of Valladolid (Spain) • The experience: • Electronic tool, created “ad hoc” • Conceived to assist in the teaching of the subject-matter ‘judicial cooperation in civil matters in Europe’ The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting

4. Introduction(2) • Goals: The students should… • Manage the set of normative texts about International civil procedure law • Community Law • Related with the European Economic Area • Verify in these documents • Relationships and dependencies • Parallelisms and differences, in the territorial scope and structure The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting

5. Introduction (3) • Two student groups, 5th year of Law degree. Teachers: • Dámaso Javier Vicente Blanco • José Manuel Sánchez Felipe • The tool used is the first prototype • We recognized difficulties that teachers and professionals (end users) can have to identify their needs The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting

6. Experiences on teaching International Private Law with the support of an e-learning tool • Introduction • Topic characteristics • The tool and its utilities • First practice: the teacher participated in the design of the e-learning tool • Results and evaluation • Second practice: the teacher did not participate in the design of the e-learning tool The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting

7. Topic characteristics • Set of normative texts about conflicts of jurisdiction • Wide • With several amendments in time • Whose relationships should be clarified • 1968 Brussels Convention: • Adhesion of new states to Brussels Convention • Amendments to content in San SebastianConvention 1989 • Lugano Convention: EFTA states • Regulation 44/2001 (Treaty of Amsterdam, EU, 1997) • Adhesion of new states (CCEE) to the EU • Why not use a learning tool to help students? The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting

8. Experiences on teaching International Private Law with the support of an e-learning tool • Introduction • Topic characteristics • The tool and its utilities • First practice: the teacher participated in the design of the e-learning tool • Results and evaluation • Second practice: the teacher did not participate in the design of the e-learning tool The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting

9. The tool and its utility (1) The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting

10. The tool and its utility (2) • Tool for the management of normative texts • Teachers decide what texts are available • Teachers can update the collection • Teachers decide what comments and documents the students will see The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting

11. The tool and its utility (3) The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting

12. The tool and its utility (4) • The structure of texts is always available • Teachers and students can navigate using it • Keyword search • Annotations • User annotations • Permanent annotations • A menu permits: • To open a text • To check the documents related with the current text • To open related documents • To see and create annotations The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting

13. The tool and its utility (5) The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting

14. Experiences on teaching International Private Law with the support of an e-learning tool • Introduction • Topic characteristics • The tool and its utilities • First practice: the teacher participated in the design of the e-learning tool • Results and evaluation • Second practice: the teacher did not participate in the design of the e-learning tool The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting

15. First practice: pre-conditions (1) • To fix a set of tasks that students should solve • The time available is 1 hour; Students can work in teams of 3 members • Each student should produce a document with the results • Each student should answer individually a questionnaire that evaluates the experience The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting

16. First practice: tasks (2) • Searches and comparisons of norms and solutions “Search exclusive grounds of jurisdiction and exorbitant jurisdiction in the original version of the Brussels Convention, the 1996 consolidated version, in the Regulation 44/2001 and in the Lugano Convention. What are the differences?” • Relationships between documents “Search documents related to the 1996 Brussels Convention” • Annotations “What is in your opinion the usefulness of the permanent annotations that appear in the consolidated version of the Regulation 44/2001?” The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting

17. First practice: facts (3) • 15 students from a class group with 27 students (2002 study plan). • Practical session in the schedule (elective). • After another (case-based learning) practice, with the same set of students (15) • In the ‘Computer classroom’ of the Faculty of Law • Time spent: 1h15 The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting

18. Experiences on teaching International Private Law with the support of an e-learning tool • Introduction • Topic characteristics • The tool and its utilities • First practice: the teacher participated in the design of the e-learning tool • Results and evaluation • Second practice: the teacher did not participate in the design of the e-learning tool The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting

19. Evaluation (1) • 15 students answered the questionnaire • Aspects covered: • General • About (tool) utility • About (tool) usability The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting

20. Evaluation: General aspects The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting

21. Evaluation: Tool utility The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting

22. Evaluation: Tool usability • Reasons: • Intuitive • Simple • Ordered menus and easy access to to text • Lack of knowledge in computing • No possibility to open two documents • No search capability The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting

23. Evaluation: Analysis • The tool is Ok and useful for the practice in its current state, but … • it needs improvements • To increase its utility • To increase its usability The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting

24. Experiences on teaching International Private Law with the support of an e-learning tool • Introduction • Topic characteristics • The tool and its utilities • First practice: the teacher participated in the design of the e-learning tool • Results and evaluation • Second practice: the teacher did not participate in the design of the e-learning tool The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting

25. Second practice: description • The teacher did not participate in the design of the tool • Number of students: 4 • Tasks: • Definition of ‘resolution’ and its occurrences • Bilateral conventions in which Spain and Italy participate • References to the Treaty of EEC and national normative texts • References to consumers and employees • The tool has limited capabilities for these tasks The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting

26. Second practice: evaluation • 3 students considered the tool ‘complex’ • Time was not enough to solve the tasks (4 students) • 4 students used the structure menu to navigate • Only 2 students used the ‘related documents’ menu, and both though it had the documents it should contain • No student used the annotations • The search button should be more evident and it was necessary to be able to open two documents simultaneously The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting

27. Conclusions • The tasks determine the results of the evaluation • The tool is useful, but it needs improvements • The first practice evidences the difficulties of end users to identify their needs • The second practice offered new possibilities to extend the experience and to improve the tool • Good students under the traditional learning method are reticent to the use of software tools The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting

28. Experiences on teaching International Private Law with the support of an e-learning tool Dámaso Javier Vicente Blanco Mercedes Martínez González José Manuel Sánchez Felipe UNIVERSIDAD DE VALLADOLID