Law and Order: Introduction to Legal Studies

About This Course

Imagine if there were no laws and people could do anything they wanted. It’s safe to say the world would be a pretty chaotic place! Every society needs some form of regulation to ensure peace in our daily lives and in the broader areas of business, family disputes, traffic violations, and the protection of children. Laws are essential to preserving our way of life and must be established and upheld in everyone’s best interest. In Law Studies, you’ll delve deeper into the importance of laws and consider how their application affects us as individuals and communities. Through understanding the court system and how laws are actually enacted, you will learn to appreciate the larger legal process and how it safeguards us all. Prerequisites:  None

Course Objectives: Upon completion of this course, students will be able to...

• Explain the relationship between law and ethics, evaluating ethical decision-making models and their role in shaping legal principles
• Analyze the historical development of law, including the U.S. legal system, founding documents, and historical events that influenced legal frameworks
• Describe the lawmaking process, including how laws move through Congress, the role of courts in shaping laws, and how laws are amended
• Examine the structure and function of the state and federal court systems, identifying key participants and their roles in legal proceedings
• Differentiate between civil and criminal cases, outlining trial timelines, types of crimes, forms of evidence, and possible trial outcomes
• Interpret the rights guaranteed by the U.S. Bill of Rights, analyzing First Amendment protections, freedom of the press, and landmark Supreme Court cases
• Explore the development of international law and human rights, including the impact of the United Nations, the International Criminal Court, and civil rights movements
• Evaluate consumer rights and responsibilities, understanding consumer protection laws, the role of the Federal Trade Commission, and the impact of warranties on purchases

Course Outline:

Unit 1: The World of Law and Ethics

Unit 2: The History of Law

Unit 3: The Lawmaking Process

Unit 4: A Look Inside Our Courts

Unit 5: Civil and Criminal Cases

Unit 6: Bill of Rights

Unit 7: International Law and Civil Rights

Unit 8: Consumer Law

Resources Included: Online lesson instruction and activities, opportunities to engage with a certified, online instructor and classmates, when appropriate, and online assessments to measure student performance of course objectives and readiness for subsequent academic pursuits.

Additional Costs: None

Scoring System: Michigan Virtual does not assign letter grades, grant credit for courses, nor issue diplomas. A final score out of total points earned will be submitted to your school mentor for conversion to their own letter grading system.

Time Commitment: Semester sessions are 18-weeks long: Students must be able to spend 1 or more hours per day in the course to be successful. Summer sessions are 10 weeks long: Students must be able to spend a minimum of 2 or more hours per day, or about 90 hours during the summer, for the student to be successful in any course. Trimester sessions are 12-weeks long: Students must be able to spend 1.5 or more hours per day in the course to be successful.

Technology Requirements: Students will require a computer device with headphones, a microphone, webcam, up-to-date Chrome Web Browser, and access to YouTube.
Students will also require access to a presentation tool (e.g., Google Slides, Powerpoint, or OpenOffice Impress) and a word processing tool (e.g., Google Docs, Microsoft Word, or OpenOffice Writer).
To support some activities students will need access to a blog or website hosting tool (e.g., Weebly, Wordpress, etc.). Some tools may require users to create a user account.

Ensure that your school or district network and device administrator whitelists online resources relevant to the course in which you are choosing to enroll. Ref., Michigan Virtual Course Whitelist

Please review the Michigan Virtual Technology Requirements: https://michiganvirtual.org/about/support/knowledge-base/technical-requirements/

Instructor Support System: For technical issues within your course, contact the Customer Care Center by email at CustomerCare@michiganvirtual.org or by phone at (888) 889-2840.

Instructor Contact Expectations: Students can use email or the private message system within the Student Learning Portal to access highly qualified teachers when they need instructor assistance. Students will also receive feedback on their work inside the learning management system. The Instructor Info area of their course may describe additional communication options.

Academic Support Available: In addition to access to a highly qualified, Michigan certified teacher, students have access to academic videos and outside resources verified by Michigan Virtual. For technical issues within the course, students can contact the Michigan Virtual Customer Care by email at customercare@michiganvirtual.org or by phone at (888) 889-2840.

Required Assessment: Online assessments consist of formative and summative assessments represented by computer-graded multiple choice, instructor-graded writing assignments including hands-on projects, model building and other forms of authentic assessments.

Technical Skills Needed: Basic technology skills necessary to locate and share information and files as well as interact with others in a Learning Management System (LMS), include the ability to:

• Download, edit, save, convert, and upload files
• Download and install software
• Use a messaging service similar to email
• Communicate with others in online discussion or message boards, following basic rules of netiquette
• Open attachments shared in messages
• Create, save, and submit files in commonly used word processing program formats and as a PDF
• Edit file share settings in cloud-based applications, such as Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides
• Save a file as a .pdf
• Copy and paste and format text using your mouse, keyboard, or an html editor’s toolbar menu
• Insert images or links into a file or html editor
• Search for information within a document using Ctrl+F or Command+F keyboard shortcuts
• Work in multiple browser windows and tabs simultaneously
• Activate a microphone or webcam on your device, and record and upload or link audio and/or video files
• Use presentation and graphics programs
• Follow an online pacing guide or calendar of due dates
• Use spell-check, citation editors, and tools commonly provided in word processing tool menus
• Create and maintain usernames and passwords

Additional Information: See the Additional Costs and Technical Requirements fields of the syllabus for material and software requirements.