THREE EXPERIENCES OF INNOVATION BASED ON THE USE OF ICT IN LABOUR AND SOCIAL SECURITY LAW

1. THREE EXPERIENCES OF INNOVATION BASED ON THE USE OF ICT IN LABOUR AND SOCIAL SECURITY LAW Autores: Mª Belén Fernández Collados, Francisco A. González Díaz y Carmen Sánchez Trigueros.

2. The use of ICT in legal disciplines • Lecturing is not only the prototypical teaching method of the previous university system to the EHEA (European Higher Education Area). It is also the most used in the transmission of knowledge in legal disciplines, among other reasons because of its usefulness in those subjects with a broad theoretical content. However, lecturing as the sole method of teaching in the university suffers from certain limitations

3. The use of ICT in legal disciplines • The establishment of the EHEA leads to the reformulation of the role of the teacher and their involvement in teaching tasks. Teachers are no longer a mere transmitter of knowledge from a position of magisterial authority. Instead, teachers become a learning guide. • The main obstacle for the use of ICT is still the fact that there are not enough resources, which implies certain problems of organization and coordination, more workload and dedication for the faculty to prepare teaching materials, a simplistic adaptation of complex theoretical and practical contents, and even the lack of training in the use of ICT by both the faculty and students

4. Theory of CollectiveNegotiation in the Open CourseWaresite • The University of Murcia firstexperiencedpublishingcontentonthe OCW University of Murcia in 2007-2008. • Giventheinterest in incorporating ICT in teachingcourses of LabourLaw, itwaspresentedan open publishingcontentontheSite OCW fromtheUniversity of Murcia forthecourseTheory of CollectiveNegotiation, coursethatispart of theDegree in WorkSciences. Once thescholarshipwasgranted, thecontentwaspublished in accordancewiththeparameters and standardsestablished in thisregard, as can beseen in thesite OCW fromtheUniversity of Murcia http://ocw.um.es/cc.-juridicas/teoria-de-la-negociacion-colectiva

5. Theory of CollectiveNegotiation in the Open CourseWaresite • Just designing a coursefor a Degreefollowingtheoutlineforpublishing in the OCW sitemeantgreatreflection and adaptation of thecourseto new teachingtechniquesspecifictothe EHEA. Italsoinvolvedtheneedto use ICT byboththeteacher and thestudents. Onemaythinkthatthepublication of a courseonthe OCW meansthatitbecomes a virtual course, butitisnot so. • Thecourseisnotdesigned as a form of online education, amongotherreasonsbecause online educationsimplyinvolvesthepublication of content of thecoursebut has no posts, email orothermeans of interactionbetweenteacher and student.

6. Theory of CollectiveNegotiation in the Open CourseWaresite • Once thecourseTheory of CollectiveNegotiationwaspublished in the OCW in theacademicyear 2008-2009, thedelivery of thecoursewasperformedusingthesite. Thisdidn’t mean thatlecturingwasnotused as themaintool in theteaching- learning of thecourse. In factitwasanotherinstrumentforteaching (alongwithotherinstruments, such as regulations, forms, examples, or case studies) tostimulatelearning and create a climate of debate. Studentscouldfirsthave a look at theteachingmaterialsthatlectureswouldbeabout. Theresultwasaninterestingexperiencehalfwaybetween on-line teaching and classroomteaching, whichfacilitatedlearningtobothstudentswhocould and couldnotattend regular classes.

7. Text-Guide as a new teaching resource for new methodological needs • Text-Guide is a teachingresourcehalfwaybetween a manual and a teaching guide. Participation in a series of teachinginnovationprojectswiththegoal of publishing a text-guide isnot in itselfanexperience of teachinginnovationbasedonthe use of ICT. Butdesigning a text-guide thatisorientedtowardsplanning, organizing and coordinatingthecoursebasedonthe use of ICT, and preparingpracticalactivities in whichthe use of new technologies (with virtual tutorials, informationsearchonthe Internet and databases, etc.) is a must, isdefinitely a way of teachingbasedonthe use of ICT.

8. Text-Guide as a new teaching resource for new methodological needs • Theteaching of thecourse Social Security I withthetext-guide, first in LabourRelations and later in Labor Relations and HumanResources, has ledtothepossibility of following a more flexible model of education, tothedevelopment of self-directedlearningtechniques and tothemerge of traditionalclassroomteachingwiththe use of new technologies. Therefore, and thankstothetext-guide, students and teachershaveto use the Virtual Campus of theUniversity and the virtual tutorialsto complete manyactivitiesthatrequirethe use of ICT.

9. Text-Guide as a new teaching resource for new methodological needs • The result has been quite good because there is substantial improvement in the successful learning of the course if we compare the results with former years. Students agreed on the importance of using ICT in a legal course, especially when they have to work with the Social Security Website, contribution programs, legal databases, and carry on information search on the net.

10. Text-Guide as a new teaching resource for new methodological needs • However, amongtheweaknesses of thetext-guide itshouldbementionedthatnotallstudentsunderstandthemeaning of thetext-guide as a teachingresourcethatenhancesself-directedlearning. Instead, somestudentsconsiderthetext-guide closerto a syllabus thanto a manual, and thusdemandgreatercontentwhichdecreasesthepossibility of having true autonomouslearningonthepart of thestudents.

11. Video-guides in the course Fundamentals of Technical Improvement of Working Conditions • The University of Murcia offered financial aid for production of digital educational materials for the academic year 2012-2013 to promote the design, production and publication of digital material for teaching in the Bachelor’s Degree and Master’s Degree in its various forms (in-person class, a blend of in-person and on-line class, or virtual learning).

12. Video-guides in the course Fundamentals of Technical Improvement of Working Conditions • Takingadvantage of thiscall, theresearchteamrequested a projectforthecourse in theMasters in Risk Prevention at Work: TechnicalBasisforImprovement of WorkingConditions. Forthiscourse, a set of materials of differentnaturewerecreated: allthecontents of thecourse in PDF, whichalsoincludessome of thepractices, thecorresponding PowerPoint presentationsforeachunittosupportthelectures, and a video-guide foreachcourseunit. These contents have been published in the Portal OCW from the University of Murcia with the invaluable help of the Support Group for “Tele-enseñanza” (ATTICA).

13. Video-guides in the course Fundamentals of Technical Improvement of Working Conditions • Thanks to the elaboration of these materials, students not only become a very important part in a course that is quite relevant for the prevention of occupational hazards, but also get interested in the academic contents from an educational perspective. Besides, students have the chance to familiarize with practical issues that will permit an adequate competence in the professional performance.

14. Video-guides in the course Fundamentals of Technical Improvement of Working Conditions • In the academic year 2013-2014 this course has been taught using all material produced after the call for aid for the production of digital educational materials for theacademicyear 2012-2013: the syllabus withpractical cases, transparencies and video-guides. Theexperience has beenvery positive because, forthefirst time sincetheMastersistaught at theUniversity of Murcia, studentshavehadalllearningmaterials in advance.

15. Video-guides in the course Fundamentals of Technical Improvement of Working Conditions • The video-guides producedbytheresearchteamhaveworked as anintroductiontoeach of theunits and havemanaged, togetherwithadditionalcontent-related videos, tomakeclasses more attractive. Thus, theclasses of thiscourse (whichtakefourhours in theafternoon and are somehowtoolongforstudentswho come from more technicaldegrees) havenotbeenlimitedto oral presentationsonthematterortothereading and discussion of case studies, buttotheprojection of video-guides and other videos as well. Consequently, classes are more dynamic and give a new image of legal disciplines in a degree in whichthenumber of studentsfromtechnicaldegreesisverysignificant. In fact, the academic results of the January exams support this positive experience because students have obtained good academic results.

16. Conclusions • Legal disciplines may seem to have little to do with the incorporation of ICT in the teaching-learning process, but we have seen that this is not so anymore. In fact, students need to acquire competencies related to ICT for an effective performance of their profession.

17. Conclusions • Although lecturing has been the most useful teaching methodology for legal-related science, that does not mean that lecturing itself is not compatible with the use of ICT, which actually add a greater dynamism to the classes and increase the level of student attention. We should not, however, overuse ICT in the classroom because students may end up paying more attention to the way in which the course is taught than to the actual content of it.

18. Conclusions • In this regard, along with the mainstream media (i.e., PowerPoint presentations) it is very satisfying the experience of combining the actual lecturing of a course with other methodologies, such as publishing content from class lectures on sites like the OCW, using video-guides, or exploring case studies with self-created videos. Such videos should provide the fundamental contents and have a particular duration that suits the educational needs of the course