Law School Exchange (LSE) is a new Web network that enables law faculty to find and share teaching and scholarship materials from their peers, as well as digitally access materials from West, Foundation Press, Gilbert Law Publishing and Carolina Academic Press. LSE includes built-in connection and collaboration tools that allow easy and seamless connection with law faculty everywhere. Functionally, LSE is a robust, fresh combination of a content management system for teaching materials and a professional networking site exclusively for law faculty. Eventually LSE will serve as a self-publishing platform for law professors.

The study of law has changed considerably and will continue at an accelerated rate. These changes demand a faster, more efficient sharing of ideas and materials. This platform provides a unique opportunity for law professors to:

• communicate with others teaching the same courses, including those who have adopted the same casebook
• share ideas and materials, including syllabi and teaching notes
• communicate with the author of the materials you use in your classroom

This digital platform, available 24/7, allows for the:

• on-line review, by a law professor, of a digital version of West, Foundation Press. Gilbert Law Publishing and Carolina Academic Press offerings, including casebooks, supplements, statutory materials, teacher’s manuals, nutshells, hornbooks, concise hornbooks, stories series , and other study aids, all in the same format and the same page-for-page representation as their print counterparts
• instantaneous updating of materials
• opportunity to publish materials too narrow in focus to publish in print (e-books)
• opportunity to self-publish

LSE illustrates the “greening” of contributing publishers, providing law professors easy access to available casebooks, teacher’s manuals and other materials of interest, all without the delay, costs and environmental impact of traditional printing and shipping.

Only law faculty will be allowed to access, post and share material on LSE. This will be controlled by your faculty-specific Westlaw password. Materials loaded to LSE may be tailored to suit the needs of the author/owner. Materials marked private will not be searchable by others in the network. They may be shared with select faculty through tools that keep distribution control in the hands of the author. Materials marked public may be searched against and added for use by other faculty using the system. Students may gain access to these materials but only if you decide to distribute via TWEN or through new class pages on lawschool.westlaw.com. In all respects, control is kept the hands of faculty.

Any content can be posted: syllabi, handouts, problems, updates and any other type of teaching and scholarship material can be loaded into the system. (Please see “copyright permissions” below.) These materials can be loaded as documents, PowerPoints, spreadsheets, web links, Westlaw links, or any other Microsoft Office product. When complete, LSE will also support blogs, Wikis and the opportunity to self-publish. Later this year, LSE will integrate delivery tools for multimedia (audio and video).

You find the content you deem most appropriate for your classes and distribute them electronically directly to your students. LSE reduces the need to hand out copies of course materials; also, by having access to digital materials from both your peers and contributing publishers, LSE increases the range and amount of content available.

Search through the system to find the materials most relevant to you. Materials loaded into the system are categorized and tagged in such a way that you can easily find what it is you are looking for based on: subject, author, publisher, type (document, presentation, outline, etc.), jurisdiction or key words. Like Westlaw or Google, simply type into the search box what you are looking for, and the system will suggest results. Additionally, through the connections you build to other faculty or groups of faculty, you will be notified of content based on what your peers are using or have added.

West, Foundation Press, Gilbert Law Publishing and Carolina Academic Press have materials available for adoption or recommendation, with new content added daily. Most of our materials will be digitally available on LSE, including casebooks, supplements, statutory materials, teacher’s manuals, recommended materials and study aids.

Yes, the print and electronic version will look exactly the same. Fonts, headings, page breaks, tables, etc., will all look alike so no matter what version is purchased by the student, all will be on the “same page.”

TWEN is a teaching platform or an extension of your physical classroom. LSE is a repository or library of materials for you to deliver through TWEN. LSE also connects you to faculty in ways not possible through TWEN, which is designed primarily to connect you and your students.

The two networks work together using your Westlaw password or your West OnePass. While they are separate systems, LSE and TWEN were designed to work together. Think of TWEN as the iPod and LSE as iTunes. Or think of TWEN as the classroom and LSE as the library or bookstore. In either case, you decide what you wish to deliver to your students and through TWEN your students access the materials.

We will be incorporating the next version of mark up technology, which will improve recognition and increase citation types.

Not currently. Please keep checking back for updates to LSE.

LSE provides faculty with a group function which makes collaboration, sharing and connecting with colleagues quick and easy. Groups can be created for departments, schools, national organizations, those who have adopted the same casebook for classroom use, etc. The functionality within each group is intuitive and consistent for all users.

The two primary tools within any group are the message boards and the document lists. Message boards allow group members to exchange short messages with one another. Document lists make distributing content amongst group members easy and aids in exposing materials to your peers.

Like TWEN, LSE groups allow you to connect with others by sharing messaging and materials. Unlike TWEN, the purpose of creating groups in LSE is to connect with colleagues, not students.

No. Students do not have access to LSE like a faculty user would. However, as directed by their professor, they will be able to access materials from LSE through TWEN or LSE course pages. Students will access the content loaded through LSE, but only after making a purchase in TWEN or by accessing the free materials in TWEN or on LSE course pages. Think of LSE as the repository and TWEN (or course pages) as the distribution mechanism for materials selected by faculty from LSE. Students will not be allowed into LSE as materials such as teacher’s manuals will be accessible. LSE was designed as a service for law faculty only, accessible only with a faculty password.

There is no cost for the law school or the professor. Law School Exchange materials consist of free and fee materials that faculty can adopt for their students to use. As with hard copy casebooks and supplements, students pay the costs of fee materials.

You select the materials the student is to purchase; when they go to access the materials, the students will be prompted to make payment with a credit card. The process is akin to creating a course pack in print.

Reflecting the cost savings of digital offerings, the student pays only 70% of the print version. While they may still choose to own a print book, this offering allows them a 12 month “license” of the material, at a 30% savings off the print price. Before adding any fee materials into TWEN or to a course page for students to buy and use, you will be provided with a total expenditure for your students. Materials will not be added until you have confirmed the charges.

Yes, if a student prefers ownership of a print book, they will continue to have that option. The student who wants digital access to the material, for a 12 month period, can license the digital book. The digital book will be an exact, page-for-page representative of the printed book so you can seamlessly teach to any mix of digital verses traditional print students. The e-version requires internet access for viewing and is not downloadable.

Faculty uploading materials acknowledge that they are only loading their own material or material they have permission to distribute. All materials will be tied to an individual along with posting time stamps. Materials that appear to have intellectual property issues may be flagged as inappropriate and once brought to West’s attention, West reserves the right to hide the content until the disputes are handled by the parties themselves without involvement by West.

Yes. You may remove your materials anytime. Anyone that adopts your materials will be notified if and when the materials are removed or updated to ensure that they are aware of changes.

Yes. For students LSE provides an alternative way to access course content. Having course materials online provides students with access wherever they go, whenever they need it. And, with the reduced prices that LSE offers, the students realize financial benefits as well. Further, in market research for ebooks, students claim that the two biggest advantages of electronic materials are the ergonomic benefits (not having to lug around heavy books) and the convenience of “anywhere/anytime” access.

Sharing materials will make it easier for faculty to prepare for class and design syllabi. We envision a collaborative community where faculty share their successes to benefit others teaching the same course at other schools.

Depending on how the contributor sets up the materials, LSE will allow the contributor to determine whether or not the materials are downloadable.

Eventually, we expect to make individual chapters, sections, and other parts of existing works available for adoption by the professor and sale to your student. This will enable faculty to create ensemble books consisting of pieces from several books and other materials.

West and Foundation and Carolina Academic Press have casebooks that are appropriate for virtually every mainstream class – adoption of a single casebook ensures a consistent voice and approach with every reading assignment.

LSE is seamlessly accessible from lawschool.westlaw.com. Simply sign on to the law school site; follow the links into Law School Exchange; and join. Once in, simply load your own materials or search for other faculty materials most related to your interests.

Additionally, you may access Law School Exchange directly by going to http://exchange.westacademic.com.