General Course Information
1.1 Course details
| Course code: | LLAW3276 |
| Course name: | The Rule of Law Education Project |
| Programme offered under: | LLB Programme |
| Semester: | Second |
| Designated research course: | Not applicable |
| Specialization: | Not applicable |
| Prerequisites / Co-requisites: | None. LLAW1008 Legal System of the HKSAR and LLAW2001 Constitutional Law are helpful contents but are not prerequisites. |
| Course offered to non-law students: | Yes |
| Credit point value: | 6 credits* |
*Students who do not wish to receive credits are also welcome to take part in the Project on a voluntary basis.
1.2 Course description
This interdisciplinary and experiential learning course lies at the intersection of law, education and communications. It aims to consolidate students’ understanding of legal concepts related to the rule of law on the one hand, and to train them to be confident and competent speakers to disseminate legal knowledge to the Hong Kong community on the other. This course has three components:
1. Course lectures: (to begin in November 2022, before 2nd semester) Students will attend a series of lectures and/or view recorded materials to develop a strong foundation in key legal concepts related to the rule of law. The course will present to the students the complexity of the concept of the rule of law and will not adopt a single definition. Instead, it will draw on various understandings of the concept, both thin and thick. Lecture topics may include:
-
- Major legal systems in the world and an introduction to law
- The common law system and its ideology
- The rule of law in comparative context
- Evolution of Hong Kong’s legal system
- The legislative process in Hong Kong
- Hong Kong’s court system and the origins of legal traditions in Hong Kong
- The legal profession in Hong Kong
- Hong Kong’s judiciary
- Access to justice in Hong Kong
- Hong Kong’s jury system
- Protection of rights in Hong Kong.
Note: topics above may vary depending on student interest and semester timing. Because of the schedules of our community partners, students are expected to begin reviewing materials in November 2022, in advance of the beginning of second semester. Detailed instructions will be sent to enrolled students.
2. Training workshops: Students will join training workshops to consolidate substantive concept knowledge and refine their skills in transforming complex legal concepts into laymen-friendly teaching materials for a variety of non-legal audiences. Students will also learn from education and communications experts and hone their teaching and communication in conveying and formulating materials for a younger, more general audience.
3. Presentations and school seminars: Using the classroom instruction as a foundation, students will select a topic for generating their own lesson plans for secondary school students. They will work in groups to produce a teaching plan that includes a range of components: from in-person oral delivery, to video content, to PowerPoint explanatory slides, to charts and other materials that secondary school teachers may also use when crafting their own lesson plans. Students will also deliver law seminars at secondary schools across Hong Kong to share their knowledge with younger students. The teaching materials prepared by the students will be uploaded to the ROLE project website and made accessible to the wider general public.
1.3 Course teachers
| Name | E-mail address | Office | Consultation | |
| Course convenor | Stephanie Biedermann | sbied@hku.hk | CCT 802 | By email |
| Course convenor | Isabella Liu | bellalwt@hku.hk | CCT 514 | By email |
1.4 Course enrolment
Applications to this course should be made in the prescribed form to the course convenors for consideration and approval. Please pay attention to the announcement from the Faculty – process TBA.
Learning Outcomes
2.1 Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) for this course
CLO 1 Demonstrate a solid understanding of key legal concepts related to the rule of law.
CLO 2 Use legal knowledge, teaching and communications skills and creativity to develop tailor-made teaching materials to promote understanding of the rule of law by secondary school students and the general public.
CLO 3 Refine abilities to create interactive elements on legal topics for a variety of audiences in ways that are memorable and experiential.
CLO 4 Explain complex legal concepts clearly and concisely through a variety of means, from delivering face-to-face and online seminars to developing multimedia materials.
CLO 5 Understand and be able to explain the major legal systems.
CLO 6 Critically analyze the common law system and its ideology.
CLO 7 Understand and appreciate the evolution of the Hong Kong legal system
CLO 8 Describe and explain the Hong Kong court system and the making of common law.
CLO 9 Critically reflect upon the check and balance function performed by the judiciary in Hong Kong.
CLO 10 Examine and analyze the protection of human rights in Hong Kong.
2.2 LLB Programme Learning Outcomes (PLOs)
Please refer to the following link: https://course.law.hku.hk/llb-plo/
2.3 Programme Learning Outcomes to be achieved in this course
| PLO A | PLO B | PLO C | PLO D | PLO E | PLO F | |
| CLO 1 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| CLO 2 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 3 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 4 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 5 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| CLO 6 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| CLO 7 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| CLO 8 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| CLO 9 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| CLO 10 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Assessment(s)
3.1 Assessment Summary
| Assessment task | Due date | Weighting | Feedback method* | Course learning outcomes |
| Participation | TBC | 15% | 5 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 |
| Oral presentation | TBC | 35% | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 |
| Final project# | TBC | 50% | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 |
# The final project will require that each student or student team develop a teaching tool or product related to one or more of the course topics listed above (or another one of the students’ choosing, with instructor approval). The specific content and scope of each final project will be determined during the semester in consultation with the instructors, and may include 1) content (text and/or multimedia) for lectures and seminars to be delivered to secondary school students or other designated community audience; 2) explanatory and teaching materials for the ROLE website; and/or 3) other related materials to be discuss and agreed with instructors. Final projects will be evaluated by instructors on the quality of the materials produced and their potential to enhance legal knowledge exchange with the Hong Kong community.
| *Feedback method (to be determined by course teacher) | |
| 1 | A general course report to be disseminated through Moodle |
| 2 | Individual feedback to be disseminated by email / through Moodle |
| 3 | Individual review meeting upon appointment |
| 4 | Group review meeting |
| 5 | In-class verbal feedback |
3.2 Assessment Detail
1. Lectures
Students will attend a series of lectures on rule of law topics and/or view recorded materials to develop a strong foundation in key legal concepts. This learning will define the range of topics from which law students can choose to focus on when preparing their teaching materials later in second semester.
Note: Because of the schedules of our community partners, students are expected to begin reviewing materials in November 2022, in advance of the beginning of second semester. Detailed instructions will be sent to enrolled students.
2. Training workshops
Students will attend training workshops to learn how to translate their legal knowledge into laymen-friendly materials. Students will acquire the teaching and communication skills needed to teach rule of law concepts to secondary school students and members of the general public.
3. School seminars
Students will work in teams to select a topic and then refine, customize, and re-package for the topic to be understandable and tailored to a secondary school audience. Each student team will produce a teaching plan and related teaching materials, which may take the form of PowerPoint slides, video explainers, infographics or other diagrams, visual graphic design media, or other written materials explaining the concept. After developing their teaching plans and other related teaching materials, students will deliver seminars at secondary schools using their materials to teach rule of law concepts. The teaching materials prepared by students will be uploaded to the ROLE project website and be made accessible to the wider general public.
3.3 Grading Criteria
Students will be assessed on a pass/fail basis.
Learning Activities
4.1 Learning Activity Plan
| Seminar: | 3 hours / week for 12 teaching weeks |
| Private study time: | 9.5 hours / week for 12 teaching weeks |
Remarks: the normative student study load per credit unit is 25 ± 5 hours (ie. 150 ± 30 hours for a 6-credit course), which includes all learning activities and experiences within and outside of classroom, and any assessment task and examinations and associated preparations.
4.2 Details of Learning Activities
1. Lectures
Students will attend a series of lectures on rule of law topics to develop a strong foundation in key legal concepts. This learning and classroom instruction will define the range of topics from which law students can choose to focus on when preparing their teaching materials later on.
2. Training workshops
Students will attend training workshops to learn how to translate their legal knowledge into laymen-friendly materials. Students will acquire the teaching and communications skills needed to teach rule of law concepts to secondary school students and members of the general public.
3. School seminars
Students will select a topic covered during the lecture portion of this course and then refine, customize, and re-package in order for the topic to be understandable and tailored to a secondary school audience. Each student will produce a teaching plan and related teaching materials, which may take the form of PowerPoint slides, video explainers, infographics or other diagrams, visual graphic design media, or other written materials explaining the concept. After developing their teaching plans and other related teaching materials, students will deliver seminars at secondary schools using their materials to teach rule of law concepts. The teaching materials prepared by students will be uploaded to the ROLE project website and be made accessible to the wider general public.
Learning Resources
5.1 Resources
| Reading materials: | Reading materials are posted on Moodle |
| Core reading list: | TBA |
| Recommended reading list: | TBA |
5.2 Links
Please refer to the following link: http://www.law.hku.hk/course/learning-resources/