TEACHING ACTIVITIES
Overview
The creation of a Chair in “European Protection Law for Individuals in relation to New Technologies” (PROTECH) at University of Naples Suor Orsola Benincasa aims to stimulate teaching, research and debating activities in a crucial area of European integration studies in order to promote a balance between technological innovation and development, from one part, and, from the other, the protection of some specific categories of “vulnerable persons”, where concept of ness is not related to disability but to the relationship of an individual with the technological habitat or with the technological tool that in itself could represent a major exposure to risk. This is meant to increase the trust of people in digital environments and, most of all, in the European Digital Single Market as a secure place. The three-year teaching course will provide a knowledge base on European Union Law in a multi-disciplinary approach, with a particular focus on the field of legal integration in the protection of the subjects in “vulnerable” position in the technological context.
Target group
The target groups of the teaching compulsory course will be the Law students of the University Suor Orsola. Students from other Faculties (Economics, Psychology, Literature, and Science of Primary Education), LLM and Ph.D. candidates, scholars, civil society, institutional representatives and policymakers at the local, regional and national levels will be invited and involved.
Teaching Course
The teaching course will consist of 370 hours of frontal lectures, tutorials, and exercises concerning the analysis of European Protection Law with reference to the protection of humans.
Modules
The course will be structured in 3 modules per year (each counting around 40 hours), of which the third one varies each year, being focused on specific topics.
INNOVATIVE TEACHING METHODOLOGIES
2 approaches
A. Case-by-case-approach:
This educational framework is aimed at resolving real problem by challenges. Therefore, the activities for learners will regard both theoretical and practical issues. For the practical part of the course, we will propose simulations of legal cases that have to be managed and eventually solved. We will ask all participants to cooperate in identifying the problem and the challenge, to discover and solve the problem. This will be done according to the operational principles of the problem-solving method, as well as that of Challenge Based Learning (CBL) Methodology. Indeed, the Challenge Based Learning approach is an effective learning framework initiated at Apple, Inc. which is currently in use at the Apple Foundation Program at UNISOB and which this Chair wishes to introduce as a novelty in the field of Law studies. The framework empowers Learners (students, teachers, administrators, and community members) to address local and global Challenges while acquiring specific content knowledge (Nichols, M., Cator, K., and Torres, M., 2016).
Furthermore, an experiential learning method will be employed (Legal Clinic approach) to foster the growth of knowledge, personal skills, and values as well as promoting social justice. This approach uses practical-oriented, student-centered, problem-based, interactive learning methods, including, but not limited to, the practical work of students on real cases and social issues.
B. Adaptive approach:
Furthermore, during each teaching module, students will be given specific tasks related to the acquisition of some competences: management of the learning materials to be properly organized and uploaded on a dedicated website. At the same time, students will be required to solve the issues related to the application of the European Protection Law by using the legal design method (i.e. the application of the principles of human-centered design to the world of law), analysis legal text to identify imbalances between the parties.
ABOUT
Academic Years
Seminars
According to the interdisciplinary profile of the proposed Chair, workshops, seminars, and lecture series will be organized each year on topics concerning the protection of subjects within digital environments, the promotion of solidarity and equality, the study of law in relation to new technologies. Academic staff members and guest speakers will be invited to present their ongoing research.
These activities will involve the participation of scholars and experts from a variety of Institutions and with different scientific backgrounds (including economists, engineers, computer scientists, designers) as well as civil society and practitioners from the private sector. In fact, these events will be aimed at promoting contamination, discussion, and debate on the aforementioned topics. Therefore, seminars and workshops are intended to be freely accessible to a general audience and all the contributions presented will be available on the course web page.
12 hours per year will be dedicated to seminars and special lectures:
Academic year 2019 – 2020: Seminar series on “Advanced studies on Minors and Privacy”.
Academic year 2020 – 2021: Seminar series on “Advanced studies on Consumer Behaviour and Consumer Law”.
Academic year 2021 – 2022: Series of Seminars and Lectures on “Advanced studies on the legal aspects of medically assisted procreation (MAP) intersection between Ethics and Science”.
Workshop
According to the interdisciplinary profile of the proposed Chair, workshops, seminars, and lecture series will be organized each year on topics concerning the protection of subjects within digital environments, the promotion of solidarity and equality, the study of law in relation to new technologies. Academic staff members and guest speakers will be invited to present their ongoing research.
These activities will involve the participation of scholars and experts from a variety of Institutions and with different scientific backgrounds (including economists, engineers, computer scientists, designers), as well as civil society and practitioners from the private sector. In fact, these events will be aimed at promoting contamination, discussion and debate on the aforementioned topics. Therefore, workshops and seminars are intended to be freely accessible to a general audience and all the contributions presented will be available on the course web page. Workshop contributors will be selected through an annual Call for Paper to be published in well advance on UNISOB’s website site as well as on this specific Jean Monnet Chair website.
8 hours per year will be dedicated to workshops, which will gather contributions through specifics call for paper:
Academic year 2019 – 2020: Workshop series on “Social Networks and Multimedia habitats”.
Academic year 2020 – 2021: Workshop series on “Legal Design for Transparency in Consumer Contracts”.
Academic year 2021 – 2022: Workshop series on “National Cases on Human Embryos and the EU Court of Justice”.
Module Formats
The format of the a.y. 2019-2020 Workshop will be structured as follows:
Social Networks and Multimedia habitat
- Introduction from the Chair Holder
- Keynote speech on an ongoing research/projects
- Discussion with PhD candidates and Key Staff Members
- Roundtable with stakeholders and policymakers
The format of the a.y. 2020-2021 Workshop will be the following:
Legal Design for Transparency in Consumer Contracts
- Introduction from the Chair Holder
- Keynote speech on an ongoing research/projects
- Discussion with PhD candidates and Key Staff Members
- Roundtable with stakeholders and policymakers
The format of the a.y. 2021-2022 Workshop will be the following
National Cases on Human Embryos and the EU Court of Justice
- Introduction from the Chair Holder
- Keynote speech on an ongoing research/projects
- Discussion with PhD candidates and Key Staff Members
- Roundtable with stakeholders and policymakers