E-Seminar Instructions The difference between a traditional seminar and an E-seminar is that during the E-seminar (an electronic version of a traditional seminar), the following occurs: You will be asked to work as part of a GROUP in order to construct and present a legal argument. You will utilise online resources, databases and any other information available to you to help you in your preparation. The E-seminar has been constructed in this way in order to encourage you to work effectively as part of a group and in so doing to take advantage of the benefits of group work, such as peer learning and collaboration. Whereas in a traditional seminar you may be limited in your understanding of how another student has reached a particular conclusion, the E-seminar will bring this learning process 'alive' and allow group members to share thought processes in constructing the legal argument. You will have to work together in order to select relevant and appropriate material. The group will have to work effectively given that there is a time constraint, as is the case in the real world. Furthermore, because you have access to primary sources, you will be encouraged to use the ratio decidendi and case law in constructing your arguments. Where do the E-seminars take place? In the weeks of face to face E-seminars, prepare for your E-seminar as instructed in the module handbook and attend in the timetabled room. For the weeks you are in an Online seminar group then prepare for your E-seminar as instructed in the module handbook and attend the online MS Teams session with your tutor. Answering the E-seminar legal questions Although sometimes there is no "right" answer to legal problems, there is a standard technique for analysing factual problems of this nature. The analysis is structured in a four-stage progression. 1. identification of the legal problem(s) raised by the question. 2. examination of the principles which are to be applied in order to reach a solution. 3. application of those principles to the facts of the problem. 4. conclusion. This process should become more familiar as you proceed with the E-seminars because you will be expected to provide your answers each week in the Master Document using this approach, also known as IRAC. As you go through the E-seminars you will become better at using the skills listed above. In a sense, you are practising the very skills that will be used in answering assignment and examination questions.
Groups You will be allocated into a group for the E-seminars. The tutor will tell you which group you are in and it will be available on Blackboard as well. In an E-seminar, you will have 35-40 minutes cut off time constraint for answering the question. You can use any resources available to you on the internet or intranet. This can include secondary resources as well as primary resources. In order to work effectively as a team, you may want to discuss with your group on how you are