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

The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting 18th -19th May 2007 Experiences on teaching International Private Law with the support of an e-learning tool 1. Introduction 2. Topic characteristics 3. The tool and its utilities 4. First practice: the teacher participated in the design of the e-learning tool 5. Results and evaluation 6. Second practice: the teacher did not participate in the design of the e-learning tool

The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting 18th -19th May 2007 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 18th -19th May 2007 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 18th -19th May 2007 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 18th -19th May 2007 Tool’s origin Research in the electronic manipulation of documents  application: legal texts  Using XML, information extraction, content architecture, and associated technologies Collaboration in the application to Colaboración de Dámaso Javier Vicente Blanco, profesor de Derecho internacional privado de la Universidad de Valladolid, como asesor. Utilización de documentos de esa disciplina, para ir más lejos en la utilidad de las aplicaciones informáticas.

The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting 18th -19th May 2007 Experiences on teaching International Private Law with the support of an e-learning tool 1. Introduction 2. Topic characteristics 3. The tool and its utilities 4. First practice: the teacher participated in the design of the e-learning tool 5. Results and evaluation 6. Second practice: the teacher did not participate in the design of the e-learning tool

The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting 18th -19th May 2007 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 Sebastian Convention 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 18th -19th May 2007 Experiences on teaching International Private Law with the support of an e-learning tool 1. Introduction 2. Topic characteristics 3. The tool and its utilities 4. First practice: the teacher participated in the design of the e-learning tool 5. Results and evaluation 6. Second practice: the teacher did not participate in the design of the e-learning tool

The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting 18th -19th May 2007 The tool and its utility (1)

The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting 18th -19th May 2007 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 18th -19th May 2007 The tool and its utility (3)

The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting 18th -19th May 2007 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 18th -19th May 2007 The tool and its utility (5)

The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting 18th -19th May 2007 Experiences on teaching International Private Law with the support of an e-learning tool 1. Introduction 2. Topic characteristics 3. The tool and its utilities 4. First practice: the teacher participated in the design of the e-learning tool 5. Results and evaluation 6. Second practice: the teacher did not participate in the design of the e-learning tool

The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting 18th -19th May 2007 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 18th -19th May 2007 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 18th -19th May 2007 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 18th -19th May 2007 Experiences on teaching International Private Law with the support of an e-learning tool 1. Introduction 2. Topic characteristics 3. The tool and its utilities 4. First practice: the teacher participated in the design of the e-learning tool 5. Results and evaluation 6. Second practice: the teacher did not participate in the design of the e-learning tool

The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting 18th -19th May 2007 Evaluation (1) 15 students answered the questionnaire Aspects covered:  General  About (tool) utility  About (tool) usability

The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting 18th -19th May 2007 Evaluation: General aspects

The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting 18th -19th May 2007 Evaluation: Tool utility

The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting 18th -19th May 2007 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 18th -19th May 2007 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 18th -19th May 2007 Evaluación de la práctica (2) 1. Aspectos generales A.- ¿Te ha resultado sencillo o complicado resolver las tareas?  Muy sencillo 1  Sencillo 6  Dificultad media 7  Algo complicado 2  Muy complicado 0

The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting 18th -19th May 2007 Evaluación de la práctica (3) 1. Aspectos generales B.- ¿Has tenido tiempo suficiente para resolver todas las tareas?  Me ha sobrado tiempo 1  Ha sido suficiente 7  Ha sido algo escaso 4  Ha sido insuficiente 3

The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting 18th -19th May 2007 Evaluación de la práctica (4) 1. Aspectos generales C.- ¿Qué herramientas informáticas has utilizado además de la aplicación que se te ha indicado?  Ninguna 11  Otras (enumerar) 4 Google 2 Word 2

The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting 18th -19th May 2007 Evaluación de la práctica (5) 1. Aspectos generales D.- ¿Te ha resultado útil la aplicación?  Sí 13  No 1  Regular 1

The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting 18th -19th May 2007 Evaluación de la práctica (6) 2. Sobre la utilidad de la aplicación A.- ¿Te parece útil tener un menú con la estructura a la vez que veías el contenido de los documentos?  Sí, y lo he usado 11  Sí, aunque no lo he usado 2  No, no he intentado usarlo 2

The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting 18th -19th May 2007 Evaluación de la práctica (7) 2. Sobre la utilidad de la aplicación B.- ¿Has utilizado el menú de documentos adjuntos?  Sí 7  No 8 C.- Si lo usaste: ¿te ha parecido que contenía los documentos adecuados?  Sí 6  No, no entiendo el criterio utilizado 0  No, entiendo el criterio, no me gusta 1

The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting 18th -19th May 2007 Evaluación de la práctica (8) 2. Sobre la utilidad de la aplicación D.- ¿Has utilizado las notas a elementos del articulado y documentos?  Sí 10  No, no supe acceder a ellas 4  No, no me fueron útiles 1

The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting 18th -19th May 2007 Evaluación de la práctica (9) 3. Sobre la interacción con la aplicación A.- ¿Te ha resultado fácil moverte por la aplicación?  Sí 7  Regular 7  No 1

The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting 18th -19th May 2007 Evaluación de la práctica (10) 3. Sobre la interacción con la aplicación B.- Sí ¿Por qué?  Se interactúa bien, es intuitiva  Es sencilla  Utiliza menús sencillos  Tiene un menú ordenado que permite acceder al texto con facilidad

The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting 18th -19th May 2007 Evaluación de la práctica (11) 3. Sobre la interacción con la aplicación B.- Regular ¿Por qué?  No sé mucho de informática  Escasa formación de informática por mi parte  No permite abrir dos documentos al tiempo para comparar (2 opiniones)  Al principio tenía más dificultad B.- No¿Por qué?  No tiene opciones de búsqueda para palabras (sic)

The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting 18th -19th May 2007 Evaluación de la práctica (12) 3. Sobre la interacción con la aplicación C.- ¿Qué modificarías en la aplicación?  Abrir dos ventanas al tiempo para comparar los textos (9 opiniones)  Poder minimizar las ventanas  Herramienta de búsqueda de palabras (2 opiniones)  Desplazarse de un texto a otro más rápido  Letra más grande  Incluir sentencias del TJCE (sic)

The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting 18th -19th May 2007 Evaluación de la práctica (13) Cabe considerar:  la aplicación desempeña su papel  precisa de mejoras, algunas ya consideradas  en su estado actual permite manipulación relativamente sencilla y realizar una práctica útil. Es preciso valorar las posibilidades  de mejora  de incremento de su utilidad.

The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting 18th -19th May 2007 Experiences on teaching International Private Law with the support of an e-learning tool 1. Introduction 2. Topic characteristics 3. The tool and its utilities 4. First practice: the teacher participated in the design of the e-learning tool 5. Results and evaluation 6. Second practice: the teacher did not participate in the design of the e- learning tool

The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting 18th -19th May 2007 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 18th -19th May 2007 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 18th -19th May 2007 Segunda práctica: Evaluación (1) La aplicación resultó preferentemente “algo complicada” (3 de 4) El tiempo dado para la resolver la práctica les pareció “algo escaso” o bien “insuficiente” (dos y dos) Los cuatro alumnos utilizaron el menú con la estructura para moverse a través de los documentos. Sólo dos utilizaron el menú con los documentos adjuntos, y a los dos les pareció que contenía los documentos adecuados. Ninguno utilizó, sin embargo, las notas existentes en los documentos.

The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting 18th -19th May 2007 Segunda práctica: Evaluación (2) Todos juzgaron “regular” la facilidad para moverse por la aplicación. Debían incorporarse nuevas opciones de búsqueda y parecía conveniente remarcar la palabra buscada. Debía hacerse más visible el instrumento de búsqueda y debían poder abrirse varios documentos al tiempo. Sugerían diferentes posibilidades de organizar los documentos (alfabética, cronológica, etc.).

The LEFIS virtual campus desing Albarracín Meeting 18th -19th May 2007 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

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