Starting with Spring Term 2019, the course “Fundamental Rights and Constitutional Procedural Law” will be taught in the State Examination Program (First Law Examination) of EBS Law School in a concept based and competency-oriented way (CORE).
(1) For each of the ten study weeks, there are learning objectives displayed on an overview, which gives students not only an overview of the subject matter, but also enables students to self-check at the end of each study week whether they have achieved these learning objectives or not.
(2) Students are provided with weekly videos of approximately six to 30 minutes in length to watch in preparation for the face-to-face course – a total of 67 videos for 10 weeks (streaming in MP4/HTML5 format using the H5P-Frameworks developed for higher education didactics). There are three types of videos: a) basic videos on general fundamental rights dogmatics and constitutional procedural law – b) videos on the dogmatics of individual fundamental rights – c) videos on central decisions of the Federal Constitutional Court. These videos provide an overview of the respective topics, which is then deepened in the classroom lectures and the application of which is practiced in the study groups.
(3) At the same time the students have access to a lecture script (with further literature references, in particular to the relevant passages of the relevant textbooks), so that they can also follow the content of the videos on paper and take notes directly there.
(4) In the classroom sessions, comprehension questions are first discussed and an initial learning objective check takes place in dialog: Have the contents of the videos been understood in essence, have cross-connections become conscious, is it clear to the students how they must use and apply this knowledge in the case solution? For the critical reflection on the state of fundamental rights dogmatics, which is indispensable for the application of the material, its development is traced historically and contextualized politically. Furthermore, current developments in fundamental rights dogmatics (especially recent case law) will be discussed. In small peer-teaching lectures, students deepen their overview knowledge acquired through the videos. Role plays sensitize students to conflict situations specific to fundamental rights and to the political dimension of fundamental rights. — A strict “no screen policy” applies in the classroom1.
(5) After each of the classroom sessions, the working group repeats the topics covered in the respective week and practices how to practically implement the contents in case solutions. It is the decisive “transmission belt” that enables the students to practically apply the knowledge they have internalized.
6) In the self-study group, students review the week’s content and work on small assignments: they prepare the cases to be discussed in the study groups or draft small peer-teaching presentations for presentations in the classroom session. The self-study group preparations have proven useful for preparation immediately before the first exam.
All six “modules” or components of the teaching and learning concept are closely interlinked and coordinated. They ensure excellent preparation for the state law exam.
Below, as a “sneak preview”, is the first video of the event – which briefly summarizes the concept presented here in writing.
Click here for the — weekly unlocked — videos for the course “Grundrechte und Verfassungsprozessrecht | Spring Term 2019” (only for EBS students with access data).
And here is another “foreign video” that explains blended learning and flipped classroom concepts quite clearly (in English):
Flipped or Blended Learning from Michele Pistone on Vimeo.
- Cf. instead of many Arnold L. Glass & Mengxue Kang (2018): Dividing attention in the classroom reduces exam performance, Educational Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1080/01443410.2018.1489046; cf. furthermore Milos Vec, Away with the Screens! F.A.Z. No. 194 of August 22, 2018, p. N4 (Research and Teaching) and the debate between Milos Vec and Jürgen Handke, Handys raus?, F.A.Z. Nr. 268 v. 17./18. November 2018, p. C1 (Profession and Opportunity).