Ian Freer, MA(Cantab)
This is a legal web site with resources on English law.
My aim is to help those studying law as undergraduates with the Open University and elsewhere.
28 January 2008Re: Open University Law Course W201Region 05 Kettering/Leicester Tutorial Group, 2008Commencing Saturday 16 February 2008(10.30)Dear Student,
I have been assigned as your tutor. I am writing to introduce myself and welcome you to the course. I enjoy this subject and hope you will, too.
The first tutorial date will be Saturday 16 February. Although tutorials are optional, it is particularly important that you attend the first one. Regular attendance helps most students to achieve better marks. Please diarise now all your tutorial dates, venues and eTMA deadline dates. Most of our tutorials, including the first, will be in Kettering, but a few have to be in Leicester.
It is advisable to do this course only after you have successfully completed your first year of undergraduate law studies, because it builds on that experience; likewise you should pass this one and be competent in undergraduate study methods before tackling more advanced law courses such as W300 and W301.
I want to help you achieve your potential on the TMAs and in the examination. I ask you to keep up with the reading timetable, and if this proves impossible at some stage, then leave that part and move forward and keep up with the remaining published schedule. The time you will need to spend on this course alone, without any external reading, is equivalent to at least half a full time job. The degree is planned as 4 years of study. Time management skills are part of legal training.
Planning your time
You are expected to devote at least 15 hours per week to the course and should plan your schedule realistically. I advise putting a personal schedule for, say, the current month, on the fridge door. This will include tutorials, TMA cut offs, a warning 1 week before TMA cut offs, and reading and other work requirements such as DVDs. Internet use of about 10 hours for research will be required, together with any email correspondence. I will use your OU accounts for email. Take summary notes when you watch the DVD lectures. I can advise on which ones are of most assistance. The DVD will probably play better on TV than on computer.
Please collect press cuttings of recent stories with a public law angle to share in discussion at the tutorials, e.g. from The Times, which has a law section on Tuesdays, or see www.timesonline.co.uk (search for link to law and then link to public law). Tutorials are not lectures and will be used mainly to draw out your own accumulated knowledge so far and assist you in learning it by allowing you to explain what you know in your own words. Some of our work will be done in small groups. Please bring writing materials and your current manual.to all tutorials.
Please revise your own notes before tutorials so that you will have something to share, if asked about an area of law. For the First Tutorial on 16 February, complete in-depth study of Units 1-2, especially Values; plus a quick skim through Units 3-4 to round off the area beforehand. Also please be prepared at the first tutorial to say something about what you want out of this course. For later tutorials, I may email an agenda shortly before the date and I may indicate the scope at the end of the previous tutorial. Topics that arise will need to be analysed legally rather than politically. This is a course on law, not on politics, although an understanding of UK politics will be useful.
We will have a short break in the middle of tutorials, when I am available for questions, or you can arrive early for this. You are advised to bring a bottle of water. If you strongly wish to tape, I do not object, but please make this known at the start, in case others object. I leave promptly at the end as we have to clear the room.
Diversity
The OU has a strong commitment to equal opportunities and I wish to add that I have a strong positive commitment to respecting and cherishing the differences between people. You and I should be able to feel comfortable about our identity, which may include disability and other factors, as well as our natural ethnic and gender identity. Therefore I ask you to ensure that your comments made in tutorials are both sensitive and appropriate.
It is important that students promptly tell both their tutor and regional centre if they have a disability or medical condition which may affect their learning, the taking of examinations and successful achievement of their studies. The OU has a confidentiality procedure which I respect. I will try to contact individuals with known special needs, to check their current needs and situation.
When you speak in tutorials, please make a conscious effort to speak reasonably loudly and clearly, not too fast, facing the others, for the benefit of the hearing impaired. If you have a hearing impairment, even a minor one, please sit close to me.
I will give further help in tutorials and by handouts and question sheets, e.g. as published from time to time on my personal website at www.freerlegal.org. You should regularly check the following websites, especially before TMAs and tutorials: www.open.ac.uk/studenthome and www.college-of-law.co.uk Stop presses and changes to the course will be on the Support site only, not in hard copy. Legal databases are at: http://library.open.ac.uk/bysubject/law/index.html
Electronic Tutor Marked Assignments (eTMAs):
- If you need an extension of time, you MUST tell me before the cut off time, not later, and it may then be possible to grant ONE short extension per assignment, otherwise it will NOT be graded. The final eTMA must not be late under any circumstances and this may be jeopardised by earlier delays.
- If English is not your first language, please think in English as much as possible throughout the preparation of your eTMA.
- A high standard of written English is essential in professional legal work. If a student has difficulty at the level of essay construction or addressing the question, then the student is likely to be in need of help with study skills. In those cases I would recommend attendance at the Essay Writing Workshop and also do ask the regional centre for the Essay Writing toolkit. Essay writing is a vital skill for W201 and must be mastered before the later courses.
If you miss more than one eTMA, it will be extremely difficult to pass the course. It is therefore imperative to have a good shot at all of them in the time period allocated, in case of unforeseen circumstances later on.
Plagiarism and copying (from sources or other students) are not allowed and may lead to serious consequences. You must cite your sources adequately, for your own protection, which means taking care to source your preparatory notes as well as your finished work. Please read your plagiarism instructions carefully and refresh your memory periodically.
Above all, keep your answers relevant, sequential, and chronological and cite underlined authorities for every legal point you make. I will give written feedback comments to help you.
It is a good idea to write on your law books, in the margins, using pencil, when inspired, and use stickers to flag up useful pages.
My contact details are as follows:
Day time (Mon to Fri) – please ring only between 2 pm and 5 pm.
Evenings and weekends – Email only
Email: Short administrative queries can be dealt with in this way. It is not suitable for long answers about course content, TMAs and so on. I will probably contact you by telephone if it is that sort of query.
Please email me to acknowledge receipt. My future written communications will normally be made by email only.
Yours faithfully,
Ian Freer, MA
This is not an official
Open University web site.
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Last update: 17/8/2008
