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Introduction
This Course focuses upon the fundamentals of
legal ethics as they are applied to the practice of law, both
from the perspective of both lawyers and judges. Image In
doing so, it places primary emphasis upon the current versions
of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct and the ABA
Code of Juducial Conduct, both of which are accessible directly
via links from within the Course website.
In addition to regular weekly reading assignments which are
provided for each individual Lesson in this Course, students
are also required to submit written responses to specific
ethics problems as part of their individual weekly assignments.
To learn more about the general requirements for this Course,
go to the Course
Syllabus page, and to obtain information about some of
the more specific details and specialized feautures of this
on-line Course, go to the Course
Information page.
This Course does not follow the model utilized
by some distance education courses in which video/audio lectures
are viewed on-line in lieu of actual face-to-face class meetings.
Nor does it merely consist of a list of static "links"
to various cases, resources, etc. for students to read and
study on their own. Instead, this Course is designed to provide
a truly "interactive" learning experience for each
student in the class with respect to both the Course materials,
as well as the other students enrolled in this Course. In
addition to actively and personally responding to every assigned
excerise and Course activity, each student must also participate
regularly in the class discussions utilizing both synchronous
(i.e., real-time, live "chat" sessions) and asynchronous
(i.e., threaded discussions on the Course "Ethics Forum")
methodologies. Passive student participation is simply not
an option.
On-line learning may not be suitable for everyone.
Some students possess individual learning styles that simply
function best in a more traditional "face-to-face"
classroom environment. Other students may just not be sufficiently
self-disciplined to keep themselves "on-task" at
the proper pace throughout an entire semester. To find out
what kind of a "learner" you are, and to assess
your own potential to benefit from an on-line course, you
can take a brief self-assessment "quiz" which may
be accessed by clicking HERE.
Course
Website
This entire website has been specially created
solely for use in this on-line Course. As you can see, it
has many very unique features that have been designed to optimize
and, hopefully, to enhance each student's actual on-line learning
experience. Before proceeding to the Lessons portion of this
Course, it is highly recommended that you take some time to
explore this site thoroughly and to become familiar with the
many different features that have been provided for your use.
You can do this simply by "clicking" on each of
the "links" accessed from the Main Menu and then
in turn following those links internally within this website.
Sample Lesson
Of course, the best way to see if an on-line
course is really right for you would probably be to work through
one or two on-line lessons. Although actual Course Lessons
are reserved for officially registered students, you can try
a "Sample
Lesson" to get at least some sense of just
what is involved in an "active learning" on-line
Course such as this one.
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