2:33, 10 January 2010
Source: Google
The ASIL Teaching International Law Interest Group, in cooperation with the Society’s Legal Education Advisory Committee, has created a trial compilation of teaching materials on a limited number of international law topics. The materials are available at http://www.asil.org/search.cfm?displayPage=1149
How to approach such sharing? Wouldn’t it be plagiarism if a lecturer uses other lecturer’s teaching aids? To what extent would such sharing be tolerated?
I think that such compilations are a valuable source advancing science – because sometimes one just needs a push to go forward with his / her own ideas. The receivers in study processes are students who have the right to receive the best education available. From the other side – a lecturer must critically analyse other lecturers’ study materials and methods, because the lectures are, for example, not peer-reviewed, usually no references are made to the scientific sources used, all lecturers are humans, humans cannot be objective and err.
I already found some valuable hints – Instead of producing written lecture materials, some lecturers encourage the students to do independent work, indicating only the pages or cases to be read in order to master the topics:
An example (excerpt of professor Westerman’s Syllabus):
PART ONE: THE CONSTITUTIVE PROCESS IN THE GLOBAL
COMMUNITY CONTEXT (Classes 2-4 approx.)
I. How Shall We Conceive International Law?
Read pp. 1-13
II. How International Law is Made and Applied: A Nuclear Scenario
Read and Brief pp. 13-28;
notes pp. 33-36
Read and Brief pp. 36-73
Read and Brief pp. 73-103
III. The Interaction Between International and National Actors in Applying
International Law
Read and Brief pp. 103-140
Read and Brief new case on Medellin (cite to be provided)
And a nostalgic link to Sunday’s sense of humour: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-p8bOoFlPo
