Learner’s and Educator’s manual:
• Outcomes should follow immediately after the chapter title.
Learner’s manual–Text:
• Outcomes should come straight after the chapter title (before the sections headings). • Text may be broken up with further exercises and practical steps.
• It is for the author to decide when it is appropriate to have a box with practical steps or an exercise.
• Golden rule: don’t have long text (1-2 pages) without any break up (break with practical steps and/or exercises). • Sometimes you can break up the text by highlighting important issues even if these are not practical steps. • Have an introductory text/paragraph to all chapters and sections.
Learner’s manual–Exercises:
• Make sure your exercises are related to your outcome and include them when relevant (no need to include exercises for each subsection if such is redundant, it is important only if they relate to the outcome).
• Exercises need to have a number (if more per chapter) and a name.
• Exercises can be designed to explain one sub-section/section or an entire chapter. When issues covered by one chapter are not too complex and one exercise (can have several scenarios) can capture them all, it is advisable to have one exercise for the chapter or for one section rather than a small exercise for each sub-section or section (authors should be guided by time concerns and what the best way is for teaching the paralegals the respective issues).
Learner’s manual–Practical steps:
• Practical steps are a guide on how to do certain things.
• Practical steps should be included only when relevant (when theoretical issues are explained there is no need for inventing practical steps).
• Practical steps are part of the learner’s manual. In the educator’s manual instead of answers, if relevant, the authors can make reference to “see for answer the practical steps.”
• There is no golden rule about where to put practical steps, the authors should decide where they are relevant: after the text and before the exercise, or after the exercise.
Educator’s manual:
• Explanation of the lessons plans:
– Procedure–should explain in detail how to do the proposed exercise in the learner’s manual. – Time duration for doing the exercise should be outlined in a separate box.
• Authors should always make sure to have a reference to exercise in the learner’s manual (at the drafting stage the authors should not worry about concrete pages, it is enough to have the chapter and/or the section headings as relevant).
• Exercises—there is no need to repeat the facts in the educator’s manual, unless the facts are only in the educator’s manual (e.g., the Mongolian and Moldovan manuals paralegals’ skills parts).
• If there are special resources needed for a particular lesson, the authors can indicate so in a separate section. E.g., “Resources”. Example of resources:
– “reading materials”—additional books or handouts as needed – Tools—e.g., flipcharts, markers, photos etc.
• The lesson plans should include a section on “Answers” to the questions in the exercise. The answers should be clear, but if they are not (e.g., the issues discussed can be solved in different ways, or are ambiguous), the authors should mention that. There might be different answers to the questions; in this case the authors should give the answers for and against, or dif- ferent answers. Often there is no single “right” answer to the given questions—the authors can include such questions and stimulate the participants (paralegal and learners) to think, but the answers should at least include the framework of possible answers.
General formatting notes:
• Authors should include the boxes in the text, not on the left side. A program staff member charged with doing layout or a publications design consultant can format the entire manual later before printing.
• The authors should not break the text in columns.
• To prevent confusion, the authors should number the parts (topics), chapters, sections and sub-sections correctly. • Use Boxes for:
OUTCOMES EXERCISES PRACTICAL STEPS
C.
Timeline for Paralegal Manual Development
Source: “Development of Paralegal Manual After 25 February-4 March 2006 Workshop,” internal memo for Open Society Justice
Initiative, David McQuoid-Mason, 2005.
1. Authors will incorporate revisions to the text based on suggestions from paralegals. Comments from David and Nadia on second draft of text.
2. Paralegals will field-test Legal Guide (Learner’s Manual) and Methodology Manual (Educator’s Manual) for three months and provide feed-back on:
2.1 How useful the Legal Guide is (chapter by chapter) for giving of advice to, and consultation by, ordinary citizens.
2.2 How useful the Legal Guide and Methodology Manual are (chapter by chapter) for providing legal education to ordinary citi- zens—paralegals will be required to conduct three trainings for ordinary citizens or public officials during the three month period.
3. Paralegals will report back to a two-day Author and Paralegals Workshop in June/July on feed-back regarding use of Legal Guide and Methodology Manual with suggestions for chapter by chapter changes.
3.1 Paralegals will attend a Second Training Workshop for three days on areas of the Legal Guide and Methodology Manual requested by them.
4. Authors will incorporate the changes suggested as a result of the field-testing, plus the Second Paralegal Training Workshop. Changes can either be done at a special Author’s Editing Workshop for three to five days—immediately after the Second Paralegal Training Workshop so that the Manual can be finalized there and then—or authors can be required to submit changes within one month after the Workshop.
5. After the final author’s changes have been made, the Manuscripts will be sent to the Mongolian editor for a final edit, to the translators for final translation, and to David and Nadia for a final check. David and Nadia’s check may not be necessary if the Mongolians are happy with the final product.
6. Once the final manuscript has been checked, Mongolian illustrators should be contacted if the Legal Guide is to be illustrated. It would be useful for the illustrators to show the authors and editor a sample of their work so that an appropriate style of cartoons/ pictures can be chosen.
7. Once the illustrations (if required) have been completed the Legal Guide can be laid out for printing. The Methodology Manual will not be illustrated except perhaps for the cover which can be the same as for the Legal Guide—except with the words ‘Methodology Manual’ on it in large letters—depending on if illustrated covers will be used.