Design of the E-book
To help make college more affordable, this digital “textbook” for an undergraduate legal environment of business course is available free to any student with access to a computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone. The e-textbook is also structured to allow you to navigate easily between modules if you want to review a concept you have already studied or if you want to look ahead to see how a later module builds on what you are currently learning.
The design of this e-textbook is more responsive to the learning styles and preferences of today’s college students. Most traditional college textbooks, whether in print or digital format, require the student to read a fairly continuous narrative. Even when broken up by headings, images, textboxes, and problems, these textbooks can be intimidating and difficult for non-native English speakers, as well as visual and auditory learners, to read and comprehend.
This e-book is different! Instead of adopting a narrative format, we have organized the content into modules with more than 700 links to online readings, videos, websites and other open-source materials. We have screened thousands of available documents, videos and podcasts to identify informative, accurate and engaging content that we believe responds to a variety of student learning styles and preferences.
We designed this format to enable you to explore topics much as you would search the internet, with one topic raising questions that will lead you to select and investigate other topics, until you have mastered the content. For most topics, there are videos or podcasts available for visual and auditory learners, as well as readings and websites for students who prefer written text. Instead of assigning you particular links to review, we allow you to select those links that you believe will be most beneficial in helping you to understand the content of the module. Although some of you be initially uncomfortable selecting content instead of being told what to read, we believe this format promotes independent, self-directed learning, allows you to personalize your learning experience, and permits more interested students to delve more deeply into content and recent legal issues than is typically possible with a traditional textbook. We hope that you will give the e-book a chance and that you ultimately find it as engaging and informative as the students who have served as “guinea pigs” as this book has evolved.
Components of the e-book and how to use them most effectively
INFOGRAPHIC: Many of the modules open to an Infographic that visually summarizes the topics in that module and how they are related to each other. Examine it before you start the module to anticipate the topics you’ll encounter and then again after you have completed the module to reinforce what you have learned.
OVERVIEW: Each module begins with a short Overview to introduce you to the primary topics in that module; it may also highlight additional “enrichment” topics that allow you to enrich your knowledge by drilling deeper into specified topics, current legal issues, and examples from the headlines.
Beneath each Overview you will find several content-related Questions to Consider that you should be able to answer when you have mastered the content of that module. Reading them before you actually start examining content can help you identify topics are unfamiliar to you that you may need to investigate further; this should help you in selecting appropriate links that will enable you to “answer” each question. We recommend that you return to the Questions to Consider before you are tested on the material. Use them as a self-assessment or study guide to gauge what you have learned and what you may need to review again.
CONTENT: The Content link opens with the Learning Objectives for that module. Read them carefully; like the Questions to Consider, they identify the important concepts that you should understand when you complete the module.
The Content appears below the Learning Objectives and is organized like a Table of Contents with topic headings that allow you to locate topics more quickly and easily. Beneath each subheading, you’ll find numerous links identified by format (e.g., Reading, Video, Podcast or Website) so that you can select the format that best matches your preferred learning style. For example, students who prefer traditional readings can select actual chapters from open source textbooks; links to explanations of legal terms and doctrines in online dictionaries or posted on law firm websites; news articles that illustrate a current legal controversy or lawsuit; sample legal documents; or lengthier articles. If you are a more visual or auditory learner, you’ll soon discover that many of the linked materials in the digital textbook are short videos produced by academics, lawyers, and news outlets that have been posted on YouTube, TedTalks, CNN, the New York Times, and other media websites. We also provide you with links to informative websites maintained by government entities and agencies, e.g., the Supreme Court and U.S. Courts, the Small Business Administration, the Department of Labor, and the EEOC, many of which have interactive features and videos.
Within each module, we also identify optional “enrichment” materials for interested students who wish to drill down into particular topics to deepen their understanding of the content. For the Dispute Resolution module, for example, you’ll find video clips of actual depositions, Jury Orientation films, links to Juror Handbooks with sample voir dire questions, video excerpts of actual or re-enacted trials, examples of mediation and arbitration clauses, and a panel discussion of whether mandatory arbitration is fair to workers and consumers.
Depending on your instructor, you may or may not be assigned specific readings, videos, podcasts or websites. If not, you are responsible for determining which and how many links to examine in order to master the basic content of each module so that you can do well in this course. Both the Questions to Consider and the Learning Objectives are useful in helping you identify what you already know and what you will need to research more. Some of you will be able to perform well on tests and quizzes by examining only one link for each topic area, while others may need to read multiple documents or watch several videos to fully understand the legal issues related to that topic and be able to apply them in class activities and on various assessments.
EXERCISES: Many of the modules have exercises to supplement the content of that module. Some of these exercises are essentially instructions for in-class exercises or written assignments, while others are links to interactive, online quizzes that you can complete as practice exercises to assess your understanding of the module or that your instructor may assign as a graded quiz.
To help you become acquainted with the e-book early in the semester, your instructor may assign you to complete designated exercises in the Introduction to Law and Courts and Jurisdiction modules. The questions in these exercises are drawn from specific readings and videos, selected to introduce you to a variety of the resources in the e-book. The exercise will indicate which reading or video you’ll need to review for each question (or set of questions).
RESOURCES: The Resources page is another distinctive feature of the digital textbook. Here you’ll find broader resources such as links to open-source traditional textbooks, online legal dictionaries, and other legal resources that could apply to any module. For example, we post an explanation of the IRAC Model of Legal Reasoning that you will use in analyzing legal problems, and in structuring much of your written work.
We have also posted instructions for possible assignments, team projects and in-class exercises that your instructor may assign or that you may want to do on your own to enhance your understanding of the content. In one assignment, your instructor may ask you to assess the content of a module, providing a Yelp-type rating for each content item reviewed. In another assignment, students may be asked to express their knowledge in nonlinear formats that utilize various online tools, such as digital timelines or infographics that can incorporate text, images, and video content into a visual representation of a case, broad legal topic or specific legal rule. You can find sample instructions for creating Infographics and interactive exercises here.
CREDITS: Since the Spring semester of 2016, honors students at Georgia State University enrolled in my Legal and Ethical Environment of Business class, have been assigned to create Infographics, study aids and interactive exercises using Google Forms. With their permission, I have edited many of these exercises and embedded into the e-book. Students who have participated in the development of the e-book are credited here.
REUTERS NEWS TICKER: To the right of the tabs at the top of each page of the e-book, you’ll see a continuously updated ticker of business news sponsored by Reuters. Stories are accompanied by a live link so that you can access any story as it appears.