Levelling European Union law knowledge: e-module
The project proposes to implement an e-module for the prospective students of various master programmes offered by the School of Law and Department of Administration and different bachelor courses offered by the School of Law and the Department of Economics. The objective of the e-module is to improve the basic knowledge of EU law among new postgraduate and undergraduate students in order for them to properly follow the different courses they take throughout their bachelor and master programmes.
Background
Currently, the European Law master offers an introductory lecture in the first week of the programme which covers the basic EU law aspects students should have acquired prior to starting the programme. In addition, all prospective students receive a welcome letter accompanied by a checklist containing basic EU concepts which the students should be familiar with. However, the experiences of the lecturers involved in the programme clearly show that the above does not suffice to level the basic knowledge of EU law of students. In particular, foreign students and those from outside of the EU frequently do not possess sufficient knowledge of EU law required to successfully follow the programme. In practice, part of the students frequently lack basic knowledge of EU law and its principles (or lack proper understanding of those), leading to different levels amongst the students in the same groups. If teachers cater to the need of underperforming students to explain basic concepts in their classes, this lowers the overall level of the courses. Furthermore, since the material is vast and the program strives to familiarize students with the intricacies of EU law, valuable time risks being lost. This, in turn, can negatively impact the interest of students who do possess sufficient EU law knowledge. On the other hand, by not catering to this need, underperforming students risk quickly falling behind on the programme, and, therefore also risking to compromise the overall quality of the programme. In addition to the above, the experiences of the involved lectures confirm that also students who received more solid EU law training during their undergraduate studies, can substantially benefit from a brief but intense reactivation of the EU law knowledge which they already possess.
Project description
The module is based on a series of knowledge clips covering fundamental aspects of EU law which will be accompanied by several quizzes / tests allowing for a self-assessment enabling the students to localize the gaps in their basic knowledge of EU law. Even though the project initially targets students of European law LL.M, its potential outreach is much broader and includes other LL.M programmes offered by the School of Law in which basic knowledge of EU law is necessary (Law & Technology in Europe, Law & Economics, Law & Sustainability in Europe, European Criminal Justice in a Global Context) but also interdisciplinary masters such as the double degree European Governance and courses at the undergraduate level such as European law (3rd year bachelor), Foundations of European law, and European Union law (USE).
The project would take two years and would be led by Urszula Jaremba (associate professor of EU law). The major activities included in the project would take place in year 1 whereas activities in year two would be limited to testing the module, evaluation and, if necessary, implementing improvements. The project team includes several professors of EU law, i.e. Ton van den Brink (professor of EU law and director of the European Law LL.M), Salvatore Nicolosi (assistant professor of EU law and coordinator in the European Law LL.M), Lavinia Kortese (assistant professor of EU law).
Results
Plan of action, expected results and implementation.
Design of the format of the e-module and the content of the themes (learning goals) that shall be addressed in respective knowledge clips and the quiz questions relevant for each of the concerned themes.
Setting up the module in the Xerte application and recording professional clips (in a professional studio, supported by advanced PowerPoint presentations) which would also constitute the major part of the project. This task would be divided amongst the team members, based on their expertise. In addition to the knowledge clips, the creation of the quizzes in Xerte would also require some time, both from an educational (the questions must be well designed) as a technical (the test must be implemented in Xerte) point of view. To guarantee the quality of the provided materials and of the test itself, a professional consult with Teaching Support will be held. Urszula Jaremba and Lavinia Kortese will be responsible for implementing the different elements of the project in Xerte so that they all constitute a coherent, logical and compact module.
Initially, the project will be piloted in the European Law Master’s program. The project will be evaluated on several levels, to see whether the envisaged results are obtained. First, the students will be able to share their feedback within the module itself (upon completing it). Second, panel discussion with the students of European Law LL.M will be organized to find out what individual experiences of students with the module are and whether improvements in the module are necessary. The project leader would also actively consult colleagues involved in other LL.M courses to seek their feedback.
If the project proves to be successful, it can be expanded to all the LL.M programs that have a European law component offered by the School of Law and EU law related courses offered by in the Department of Economics (e.g. European Union Law) and the Department of Administration (e.g. the European Governance master). Finally, parts of the module can be useful for bachelor programs which contain a European law component as well, be it in an altered form. For example, at least four of the themes could be implemented in the Bachelor course of European Law (third year ) as revisory materials for knowledge acquired in the introductory course of European Law (first year – Bachelor of Laws). In student evaluations for this particular bachelor course, students have indicated a large interest for such revisory materials. This would help enhance the coherence between the first and third year bachelor courses on European law.
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