This is a collaborative project with several different skill sets coming together to create the website:

Content:

Professor Bosselman and Professor Tarlock created the casebooks and have specified the extra content they wanted added to the casebook supplement sites. They trained Rishi Nair to research additional content, while the library staff reviewed the formatting guides to be sure the content was clearly entered.

Design:

Customization:

The customized features and plugins were designed by the library student workers according to specifications defined by Emily Barney
.

• Updates: new legislation, regulations, etc.
• Corrections: replace out of date information or illustrations
• Additions: more illustrations, videos, and other content formats

Connect with More Students

• Available to any student using the book anywhere, not just in one class
• Allow students to subscribe to specific areas, broadening use for specialized areas

Broader Audience

While the built-in audience would obviously be the students and faculty using the original casebook, not every audience that is interested in a topic is likely to buy the casebook.  A site like this – especially if optimized to show up in search engines – could attract and audience interested in the topic but unlikely to ever use a casebook.

• Connect with students beyond the class period
• Connect with other faculty using the textbook
• Practitioners in related fields
• Media & others interested in specialized topics

Beyond the Casebook

Depending on the time and resources available, a site like this could also incorporate more original content or become more interactive:

• ebook chapters (like eLangdell?)
• comments or a way for users to submit updates
• Q&A (like on this site)
• forums, etc.

Casebooks are limited: the time it takes to publish them makes it difficult to stay up to date in areas of the law that are constantly changing. Basic cost and format requirements limit the type of illustrations that can be included.

Students loved it

Getting input from students on a project like this can be challenging: but when I presented it to them in class with an online form to collect their feedback, the responses were uniformly positive.

Quotes:

Every casebook should have one of these!

Great website! great way to stay updated on case book materials; great way to find information when doing research

My first impression is that the site is tremendously useful, navigable, and visually appealing and manageable.

Highlights otherwise implicit faculty expertise

Faculty expertise is usually highlighted through their activities and publications.  Their awareness of current developments in their area of specialization and the tools they use in class to illustrate and explain specific points is often shown primarily in personal interactions.

Some faculty run personal scholarly blogs that do address these points: but for those who don’t have the time to write regularly on the latest issues or examples, pointing to resources may be a much more manageable project.

One time setup/training

For the tech department, this is a project with long-term benefits but fairly limited up-front costs. On our side it’s taken more time to design the layout and write the instructions to help train student workers or faculty members to take on the project – but that work is now provided for you freely in this session!