AN EXAMPLE OF AN EUROPEAN CREDIT TRANSFER SYSTEM EXPERIENCE: THE CASE OF CIVIL LAW AT THE FACULTY OF LAW AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LA LAGUNA

In this paper we intend to announce the results of an experience that has been carried out during the last four years in the Faculty of Law of the University of La Laguna, according to an official call for Pilot Projects to test the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS). The scope of this call is to help the participant teaching staff to be prepared for the implementation of the Bologna process and the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). We will explain a concrete case of development of a Pilot Project, that intends to use new teaching methodologies (combined with the classical ones) to improve the students’ skills to organise his or her process of learning. We will describe the Project carried out in Civil Law, a topic that is taught in four of the five courses of the degree in Law. Our attention will be focused on the teaching methodologies that we have used (especially lectures, cases, seminars and interdisciplinary activities), as well as on the assessment activities (“traditional” written exams, portfolio, student participation), paying special attention to those ones that are quite innovative. We will try to show the advantages of the new system that have increased in an important way during the last two years, mainly thanks to the use of the new Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), especially with blogs (used to present information and to communicate in an easier way with the students) and the Moodle platform.(a free and open source e-learning software platform, designed to help educators create online courses with opportunities for rich interaction) used not just for the same purposes as blogs, but also to organise the teaching and learning activities. At the same time, we will talk about the problems and difficulties we have met during this experience. As a conclusion, we will try to establish some kind of connection between innovation and quality of teaching.