From Baghdad to Sunderland: Weblogs and reflective learning,or how i Learned to stop worrying and love the Blog

The question of whether open-book examinations (OBE) are preferable to closed book examinations (CBE) is not a new one. However, little has been written on the question of the use of OBE in the discipline of law or as a means of promoting more effective teaching and learning. This article will examine the arguments for and against the utilisation of OBE as opposed to CBE for students of law at university level. Utilising secondary data, as well as a primary small-scale empirical study the author explores student views of OBE and CBE and their significance for teaching and learning in law. It is suggested that the issue may not be simply a question of choice of assessment methods and their value but rather involves examining and evaluating approaches to teaching, learning and curriculum design. In conclusion it is argued that there are several factors which need to be taken into account when deciding what form of assessment is the most appropriate for these students but that the key requirement is that the course design and teaching, learning and assessment methods are aligned and considered as a whole, matching learning outcomes to teaching and learning activities and to the form of assessment chosen. Only within this context can OBE promote more effective learning.     

To block or not to block: European approaches to content regulation,and implications for freedom of expression

Based on the limited effectiveness of state laws, and lack of harmonization at international level a number of states started to introduce policies to block access to Internet content and websites deemed illegal which are situated outside their legal jurisdiction. However, blocking policies are not always subject to due process principles, decisions are not necessarily taken by the courts of law, and often administrative bodies or Internet hotlines run by the private sector decide which content or website should be subject to blocking. Therefore, increasingly, the compatibility of blocking action is questioned with regards to the fundamental right of freedom of expression. This article assesses significant developments at the pan-European level with regards to the development, and implementation of Internet content blocking policies. Adaptation of content blocking policies from certain member states of both the European Union and the Council of Europe will be used to assess the nature and implementation of access blocking policies. It will be argued that there could be a breach of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights if blocking measures or filtering tools are used at state level to silence politically motivated speech on the Internet.     

Negative reactions to the sexually abused victims,withdrawing the complaint and outcomes of the litigation: the first data from Turkey

In order to provide psychosocial services to children with sexual abuse (SA) histories, their needs and problems should be initially identified. In this study, it is intended to determine the psychosocial problems of victims. Participants were 73 victims between aged between 16 and 21. A telephone interview form was used to collect the study data. It is found that there were several problems noted by victims, including underage marriage (15.1%), teenage pregnancy (6.9%), revictimization (13.7%), need for psychiatric support (21.9%) as well as negative social reaction (84.4%) and not being supported by family (41.1%). One-third of the victims (30.1%) had withdrawn the complaint for reasons such as SA being heard among social circle, the negative effect of court process on psychological well-being, make a new beginning and reasons related to the suspects. Finally, it was found out that 21.9% of the parents did not know the outcome of the litigation, 34.2% of them were satisfied with the case result, 43.8% of them were not satisfied with the penalty, 43.8% of the litigation process was ended in favor of the suspect and 43.9% of the suspects were punished. This study shows the need for prevention and intervention studies to solve the problems of SA victims, and it is essential to make the justice system child-friendly.