FALL 2007

Computer Law

 
Course No.  9200 711 001
Th 6:30 - 9:30 p.m.
Room W-214
Professor Jay Dratler, Jr.
Room 231D (IP Alcove)
(330) 972-7972
dratler@uakron.edu, dratler@neo.rr.com
Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2007   Jay Dratler, Jr.   For permission, see CMI.
 

Course Requirements and Policies

Electronic Communication and Examination
Attendance and Class Participation
Evaluation of Your Performance


Electronic Communication and Examination


All class information and assignments will be posted on this website.  You should be comfortable enough with web "surfing" to navigate through this website, find what you want, save it on your hard drive and, if necessary, print it out.  Please be sure to check this website when in doubt as to your assignment or any changes in the class schedule.

Some time-critical or urgent messages may be sent by e-mail.  More important, you may receive your final examination and submit your answers by e-mail.  During the first class session, you will be asked to specify one or more e-mail addresses for communication in this course.  You should check the address(es) that you have specified for e-mail pertaining to this course at least twice per week, including once on the day before each class.  To avoid last-minute panic regarding the final examination, please try to select e-mail addresses that will be valid for the entire semester.

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Attendance and Class Participation


Both computer law and computer technology are complex and conceptual.  Therefore, this is not a course for "back benchers."   What you get out of it will depend strongly on your attendance and diligent preparation.  Regular attendance, good preparation, and participation in class discussions will be mandatory and will be considered in grading.  No more than twice during the semester, you may excuse yourself from class discussion and nevertheless attend class.  You may exercise this option only by giving give me an "unprepared" note before class.  Please use a full page (little slips of paper may get lost!), and please include (1) your printed name, (2) the date, (3) the words "I pass" or "unprepared," and (4) your signature.
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Evaluation of Your Performance


Your grade for this course will be based primarily on one of the following: (1) an e-mail "take home" examination to be completed within a 24- or 36-hour period, or (2) a thirty-page paper on a subject that you choose and I approve.  The choice among these options will be up to the class as a whole.

The examination (if chosen by the class) will have a time limit (no more than four consecutive hours) and a word limit (usually 2,500 or 3,000 words) and will be designed to give no credit whatsoever to pre-prepared or "canned" passages.  During the examination, you may consult any generally published material and any material that you yourself have prepared, including LEXIS and WESTLAW and other on-line resources.  The following materials, however, should be sufficient for the examination and are strongly recommended as part of your learning process:
    1)  An outline or issues checklist that you have prepared, on a single letter-sized (8-1/2" x 11") sheet of paper, both sides; and
    2)  Your Casebook and Supplement, as well as your own printouts of supplementary reading, with your own annotations.
The obvious purpose of recommending these materials and notifying you in advance is to encourage you to: (1) begin making an outline or other conceptual overview of the course as early as possible in the semester; and (2) annotate your reading materials in a way that will be useful for the examination and perhaps later in practice.  "Pulling the course together" is best done periodically throughout the semester, not just before the final exam.

Your grade will not be based entirely upon the final examination or paper.  Your class performance, participation in class discussions, and attendance also will count.  At the semester's end, I will assess your overall class performance; those whose performance is consistently superior (typically from 10% to 30% of the class) will receive a one-step advance (for example, from B+ to A-, or from C to C+) in their examination or paper grades.  As is true in all my classes, quality will count more than quantity.  Consistently helpful participation may boost your grade, but passing or "winging it" when called upon will count against you.


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Computer Law Home Page
Assigned Reading
Course Description

FALL 2007 COURSES