Title : Review of Butterworths' Electronic Tutorials - : Corporations and Associations Law Author : Geoff Barrett Organisation : School of Law, Murdoch University Keywords : Corporations, Associations Law, Computorials Abstract : This is a review of the Butterworths' Electronic : Tutorials on Australian Corporations and Associations Law. : It provides an overview of its structure and : usefulness as an alternative learning tool for : students in this area from a student's perspective. Citation : E Law - Murdoch University Electronic Journal of Law, : vol 3, no 1, (May 1996) ISSN : 1321-8247 Filename : barrett.txt, barrett.htm File size : 6 KB File type : Document File format : ASCII, html RETRIEVAL- EMAIL : message "get elaw-j (filename)" to majordomo@cleo.murdoch.edu.au URL : ftp://infolib.murdoch.edu.au/pub/subj/law/jnl/elaw/current/(filename) http://wwwlib.murdoch.edu.au:8088/ecolln/type/jnls/murdoch/elaw /elaw.html Contact Name : The Editors, E Law Contact Address : Murdoch University School of Law, PO Box 1014, : Canning Vale, Western Australia, 6155 Contact Phone : + 61 9 360 2979 Contact Email : elaw-editors@central.murdoch.edu.au COPYRIGHT POLICY: Material appearing in E Law is accepted on the basis that the material is the original, uncopied work of the author or authors. Authors agree to indemnify E Law for all damages, fines and costs associated with a finding of copyright infringement by the author or by E Law in disseminating the author's material. In almost all cases material appearing in E Law will attract copyright protection under the Australian *Copyright Act 1968* and the laws of countries which are member states of the *Berne Convention*, *Universal Copyright Convention* or have bilateral copyright agreements with Australia. Ownership of such copyright will vest by operation of law in the authors and/or E Law. E Law and its authors grant a license to those accessing E Law to call up copyright materials onto their screens and to print out a single copy for their own personal non-commercial use subject to proper attribution of E Law and/or the authors. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- REVIEW OF "BUTTERWORTHS' ELECTRONIC TUTORIALS - CORPORATIONS AND ASSOCIATIONS LAW Geoff Barrett 1. "Corporations and Associations Law" is a Butterworths computer disk that provides students with an interactive form of learning. The disk, which can be purchased separately at a cost of $20, is based on the Corporations and Associations Law, 3rd editi on, Workbook written by John Gooley - which is available from Butterworths at a cost of $23. The tutorials allow students to enter responses to the questions supplied. They then assess their own answers from the critical review questions in the program. 2. The software was easily installed and the screen formatted instructions were clear and straight forward. Each of the 26 tutorials identifies the topic and its objectives. The topics include: forms of business organisations; the choice-sole trader, partnership, company, joint ventures; company constitution; contractual, tortious and criminal liability; share capital; directors and officers; accounts and audits; meetings; and takeovers. 3. The format for answering tutorials was the same for each tutorial. When the student selects a tutorial the topic objectives are briefly stated. The objectives include the rudimentary knowledge that the student should have acquired before attempting the tutorial. When the student acknowledges the pre-equisites the screen format changes to reveal the number of questions for that particular topic. The number of questions for each tutorial ranges from 4 to 12, with the average being approximately 8. 4. The student should select the questions in numerical sequence as the questions for each tutorial commence with conceptual issues followed by questions involving a more complex application of those concepts. Once the student has submitted a response to a question the electronic tutorial will respond with the correct answer. At this juncture the student is requested to respond either affirmatively or negatively on whether their answer included the key issues. From these responses the program maintains a record of the student's progress in each tutorial and this information is easily accessible. 5. The answers to each question invariably include a specific reference to a chapter and paragraph number in the text book Corporations and Associations Law, 3rd edition, written by John Gooley. The text book, which can be acquired at a cost of $65 from Butterworths, includes the disk at no additional cost. 6. Law students who have had little or no exposure to commerce would find the self-paced interactive tutorials particularly helpful in acquiring a fundamental understanding in Corporations Law. Unfortunately the tutorials do not reflect the substantial changes that have resulted from implementation of the first two stages of the Corporations Law Simplification Program. In addition the duties of non-executive directors is not accurately reflected and there is no tutorial on the important topic of related parties. 7. In conclusion it is difficult to recommend purchase of the integrated text book, Workbook and disk package at a total cost of $88. However, law students without a commerce background, would find the disk alone does assist in acquiring a basic knowledge of Corporations Law.