Course Description - "Law & Aging"

Welcome to the world of Elder Law. "Law & Aging" is the study of medical, social, financial and legal issues related with aging. As our elders age, their health, legal, and personal needs change. At that point, they and their families will need legal and health care advice to adjust their lives.

Law & Aging introduces the student to advance directives, wills, guardianships, patients' rights in healthcare decision making, entitlement programs, managed care and long-term care insurance, viatical settlements, managed care, long term-care insurance, living facilities for the elderly, financial planning, social security, elder abuse, and resources for the elder law team.

The format of the course is to read a chapter in the textbook, discuss various topics, post your analysis under a "threaded discussion",  prepare written assignments, report on visits made to various agencies, and individuals involved in our health care system, and take quizzes on each chapter you read. The mechanics of the course, and what you will need to do, are described in detail below.

This 18 -week course may be delivered in the customary "on campus" manner, or may be taken "online". It is designed to give the student familiarity with the substance of Elder Law as it applies to "Law & Aging" You will learn to "think critically" in law, and in the area of Elder Law. You will learn how to draft various legal documents including advance directives, wills, and other relevant legal documents to this type of law. You will also learn how to do legal research in the area of Elder Law and "Law and Aging". You will improve your legal writing skills and legal drafting/writing skills. Finally, you will improve your study skills, and you will improve how you study law.

This course is offered online in order to meet the student's needs for flexibility in time and space. Many of our elders have transportation limitations due to financial reasons. You should consult with our Counseling Department to discuss any school or career goals. You may also wish to email a counselor at our college. 0-92963-38-7. Our College also has courses in Gerontology. You may wish to contact Sandi Lampert at email: sandilamp@aol.com, or visit her excellent webpage at http://www.vcsun.org/~slampert., or contact her at 818/364-7696.

Types of Classroom or Online activities:

Lectures will be posted under "lectures" on our homepage for this class. The lecture will be both a summary of the reading assignment and a filling-in of the gaps in that assignment. One purpose of the lecture is to answer the question, "What do you really need to know?". It will help the student focus on the major concepts in the textbook.

Reading Assignments are listed under "assignments", and will be given from Textbook :Textbook: Our textbook for this class is Law & Aging - Essentials of Elder Law by Ronald J. Schwartz (red paperback book) 1st Edition, Pearson Publications Company, Dallas, Texas, ISBN 0-92963-38-7. Available at the Campus Bookstore or directly from Pearson Publications(972) 661-8800 · Fax (972) 661-8701 e-mail address: pearsonpub@aol.com

Threaded discussions (or Bulletin Board): student participation in asynchronous
online discussions (read the information and theory behind "threaded discussions") will form a significant part of the grade (see grading below). Discussion questions based on text and Website readings will be posted weekly in the Bulletin Board page. Discussions will take place using the Bulletin Board.

Online Quizzes: The quizzes  will consist of one or more short-answer essay questions. Since these quizzes are online with no time limit other than a deadline for submission, they are equivalent to a take-home test. Thus, the questions will probe a deeper understanding of the concepts, which requires critical thinking and an intellectual tying-together of the reading material and the Web sites. The answers will be submitted to the instructor via email.

Legal Documents: These will consist of a will, a living trust, and other legal documents.

Course Evaluation:

The final grade will be determined by:

Quiz average: 33 %

Discussion participation: 33%

Assignments: 34%

Required Resources:

System requirements: IBM or compatible (486/33 CPU minimum) with Windows or Mac or compatible with 6.05 operating system or higher, 8 megs of RAM, 20 megs free hard disc space, modem with a 9600 baud rate minimum.