In this monthly column, law professors comment on the many academic opportunities and challenges presented by Web technology. I use the web and materials I have placed on the course websites every single day in class, and I think it has improved my teaching.
Students always comment how useful it is to be able to refer back to the materials at their leisure.
Further, students today are a video generation, and they appreciate the visual support of the teaching content. A threaded discussion list permits exploration of issues outside of the class time plus gives students who do not feel comfort talking in class a chance to raise questions and discuss issues for which there is insufficient class time available. Both of the courses that I teach particularly lend themselves to support from the web Intellectual Property and Cyberspace Law. The use I make of the web differs in the two courses but there are similarities. Both course webpages contain the syllabus and reading assignments, each course uses a threaded discussion list as well as an email listserv for announcements and other information, plus additional material is posted for students.