Transcript Web-based Legal Research Instruction: Does It Work?

Web-based Legal Research
Instruction: Does It Work?
Rita Kaiser
Reference Services Librarian
King County Law Library
Getting Involved in Web based
Instruction
Previously taught in-person classes for
public librarians
Asked to develop synchronous webbased sessions for SPL
State Library contracted for sessions to
offer state-wide
Why did I agree?
Love new challenges
Opportunity to use web-conferencing
software
Adapt my training to online use
Wanted public librarians to understand
legal questions and referring them to a
law library
Were My Efforts Successful?
Yes, generally, I believe
First, answers to practice questions
improved after training
Second, increased referrals to our library
Third, requests for further training
What would I add or change in
future trainings?
To answer that let me explain what I
did for these sessions.
I based my training program on the
following elements:
5 Elements of a Web-based
Training Program – Specific
Methods I Used
1. Needs Assessment
2. Instructional Goals- Objectives
3. Instructional Strategy
4. Materials Development
5. Evaluation & Follow up
Needs Assessment
Were the objectives of previous class
still viable?
Could we use same objectives for both
in-person and virtual sessions?
Email survey of librarians to find out
what they wanted and needed.
Based objectives on this survey.
Instructional Objectives for
the Sessions
Participants will be able to:
Translate terms into legal search terms for
finding resources
Describe legal resources available through
Washington web sites (3 to 5 web sites)
Refer legal questions as appropriate to
KCLL
Instructional Strategy
Activities that would achieve the
training objectives – polls, exercises,
etc.
Building on what they already know –
develop skills to decode legal questions
Instructional Strategy
Use techniques that support adult
learning principles
Activities that fit the group size and
virtual medium
Materials Development
Introductory materials to establish
community
Photo – Avatar
Introduce themselves
Polls
Preliminary practice questions
Rita K
Examples: Poll
Which Washington legal web site is your
current favorite?
1. Washingtonlawhelp.org
2. LegalWa.org
3. State Court web site
4. KCLL.org
5. Other
Examples: Preliminary Questions
Question
1. I need a power of
attorney form.
2. I want a divorce and I
was told I could do this
myself. How do I find out
how to do this?
3. I need to find out how
long a cop has to file a
ticket he gave me.
4. I got some paperwork
that says my landlord is
evicting me. What do I
do now?
Yes, I would go to the
following web site…….
No, I don’t
know the web
site to use.
Practice Questions I need a form to garnish the wages of
a person that I took to small claims
court. Can I find that on the Internet?
Yes, state pattern forms – State Court
web site
Practice Questions I lost my job awhile back and I should
be getting unemployment benefits,
but I got a letter from the state saying
I didn’t do what I needed to do to get
them and won’t receive them any
longer. The letter said that if I didn’t
like this final decision I could
appeal to court to change it. How do
I do that?
Materials Development
Learning component
Power Point – simple with live links to
web sites
Handout – Legal Glossary
Whiteboard - Annotations
Legal
glossary
leads to
research
guides,
which
lead to
web sites
– can
start
here.
Materials Development
Wrap- up
Practice questions – 2nd set to reiterate
skills
Discussion board – for participants –
after classes
Refer to Law Library - Examples
You can’t lead the patron to a resource
with the direct answer (that is, form or
guide with instructions)
You are not sure of the jurisdiction that
may apply (federal, state, local)
Evaluation/Follow Up
Evaluation of sessions – online via web
site
Final practice exercises – posted on
discussion board or sent via email
Follow up – discussion board
Web Based Evaluation – Sample Questions
Web Based Evaluation – Sample Questions
Everyone who
took the online
version said
they would do
so again.
Practice Questions - Example
My husband and I are going through a
divorce and we have a temporary
parenting plan in place. He isn’t
following it. I was told that I need to
file a motion for contempt, but I
don’t know how to do it. Can you help
me?
Student Answer
www.courts.wa.gov
/ court forms
/ ending the marriage (contempt of court)
/ Motion/Declaration for an Order to Show Cause re
contempt
/ Download and print Word form.
Rita’s Answer-- You can use either walawhelp or the state court
web site to answer this question. If Washingtonlawhelp, choose
Family law, then choose Contempt of Court, then choose Filing a
Motion for Contempt in a Dissolution Action – you can also have
your patron look at the Contempt of Court in a Family Law Case;
the Basics. These will include the necessary forms (motion and
order) and instructions – with a caveat. Or, you can send them to
the state court web site at www.courts.wa.gov and choose Court
Forms, then choose Contempt of Court under the Ending the
Marriage heading. The forms here are in Word format and the
patron can fill them out online, print them or save them. My
inclination in this case usually depends on how much I think the
patron understands. If the patron needs an overview before they
start the process, I will usually start them at Washingtonlawhelp.
If they need the forms in Word format – with the most up-to-date
forms and instructions, I will send them to the court site – as
Walawhelp is not always up-to-date, so they could inadvertently
be using pattern forms that have been replaced. This isn’t as likely
Outcomes of Training
Public librarians able to handle legal
questions more easily
Increased use of web sites – even KCLL
Many more referrals to law library
But – What would I do
differently?
Materials seemed to work well.
But – I would require they do practice
questions before first class
Helps encourage discussion
Require answers to second set of
practice question be posted on
discussion board
No emailing to instructor
But – Really - what would I do
differently?
Follow Up one to two months later for
additional questions
Ask for comments (annotations) from
class participants during the sessions
Not so much chalk and talk, try to
involve the students more.
Add anything else?
No, But – you never know.