As a potential applicant for this year, I am more than happy to give some expectations! This is done from the point of view of a non-lawyer, but with 25yrs of technical experience. Please note, although I have studied offerings as decribed on websites I have no inside knowledge of detailed content, course notes or delivery software used for the presentation of the material.
I consider the following to be important:
a) Provision of practical legal knowledge that can be absorbed without onerous prerequisites that is likely to be applicable and useful to a director or general manager of a technical engineering company. The implications of the law to technology practitioners should also be covered.
b) Course materials that present the information in a coherent form, that could stand alone as a body of knowledge. What I mean by this is that the course materials should not just be a list of book references with no guide material binding them together. The learning outcomes should be clearly presented and if possible summaries and exercise questions provided with answers. I have seen one set of course notes that said: do this and this question from this text book no feedback provided.
c) Good information about examinations and the style of the questions contained.
d) A certificate awarded by a well-regarded university with a course title that reflects the overall core knowledge of the course. In the case of Queen Mary's and "LLM in Computer & Communications Law" this requirement is clearly fulfilled :-)
e) A wide choice of modules covering which permit a specialisation within the course (for example Intellectual Property). These modules should not have too many dependencies in terms of prerequisites which would limit the order in which they could be studied.
f) Course duration that is flexible and allows any sequence of modules to be undertaken: it does not require initial selection or schedule of all modules that will form the course. Additionally it allows the intensity of study to be varied and permits more than four years to completion.
g) Transferable knowledge and skills that are not UK specific (I live in central Europe).
h) Good online facilities:
1. library of books/resources (and necessary subscriptions)
2. real-time chat specific to the LLM
3. forum discussion groups general and per module
i) To have the option, but not the obligation, to attend workshops or occasional inhouse lectures or events.
j) Content of the modules that is up-to-date in a very fast-moving field.
k) Some elements of the course that force interaction with other students online but not necessarily in real-time.
l) Nice-to-have would be some scenario based online simulation, for example an unfolding sequence of events in slow time based on decision points made by the student.
m) Quizzes and interactive presentation also capitalise on the computer based environment and can make the subject less dry.
n) Some kind of support. Although this is self-driven distance learning. it should be possible to ask occasional questions of the tutors. I realise that this is difficult to regulate, but it is important.
The above is a series of ideas that pretty much reflects my thinking over the last few weeks. I hope this helps.
BigD
As a potential applicant for this year, I am more than happy to give some expectations! This is done from the point of view of a non-lawyer, but with 25yrs of technical experience. Please note, although I have studied offerings as decribed on websites I have no inside knowledge of detailed content, course notes or delivery software used for the presentation of the material.
I consider the following to be important:
a) Provision of practical legal knowledge that can be absorbed without onerous prerequisites that is likely to be applicable and useful to a director or general manager of a technical engineering company. The implications of the law to technology practitioners should also be covered.
b) Course materials that present the information in a coherent form, that could stand alone as a body of knowledge. What I mean by this is that the course materials should not just be a list of book references with no guide material binding them together. The learning outcomes should be clearly presented and if possible summaries and exercise questions provided with answers. I have seen one set of course notes that said: do this and this question from this text book no feedback provided.
c) Good information about examinations and the style of the questions contained.
d) A certificate awarded by a well-regarded university with a course title that reflects the overall core knowledge of the course. In the case of Queen Mary's and "LLM in Computer & Communications Law" this requirement is clearly fulfilled :-)
e) A wide choice of modules covering which permit a specialisation within the course (for example Intellectual Property). These modules should not have too many dependencies in terms of prerequisites which would limit the order in which they could be studied.
f) Course duration that is flexible and allows any sequence of modules to be undertaken: it does not require initial selection or schedule of all modules that will form the course. Additionally it allows the intensity of study to be varied and permits more than four years to completion.
g) Transferable knowledge and skills that are not UK specific (I live in central Europe).
h) Good online facilities:
1. library of books/resources (and necessary subscriptions)
2. real-time chat specific to the LLM
3. forum discussion groups general and per module
i) To have the option, but not the obligation, to attend workshops or occasional inhouse lectures or events.
j) Content of the modules that is up-to-date in a very fast-moving field.
k) Some elements of the course that force interaction with other students online but not necessarily in real-time.
l) Nice-to-have would be some scenario based online simulation, for example an unfolding sequence of events in slow time based on decision points made by the student.
m) Quizzes and interactive presentation also capitalise on the computer based environment and can make the subject less dry.
n) Some kind of support. Although this is self-driven distance learning. it should be possible to ask occasional questions of the tutors. I realise that this is difficult to regulate, but it is important.
The above is a series of ideas that pretty much reflects my thinking over the last few weeks. I hope this helps.
BigD
