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TimelySubmissionOfGrades 23 - 16 Jun 2012 - Main.MarcLegrand
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| | Days after we finished our finals we received the following email from the Dean of our law school which I am reposting here:
| | | That said, I would have liked explanations of my grades or maybe multiple assignments throughout the semester. In Civ Pro, we were assigned to write a complaint and engage in a discovery exercise with a partner, both of which were actually more memorable to me than the exam itself or even reviewing before the exam. Even if the assignments weren’t graded or included in the final grade, having projects to complete would give students more incentive to talk with their professors in office hours or engage with their fellow students. I know many times I’ve thought I should go in for office hours but I couldn’t think of a “good reason” to be there—which is frankly just stupid for me to think in the first place. The thing that I like most about this course specifically is that it focuses on improving throughout the semester, and I think that can be true for any course regardless of subject matter. But to improve, you have to have something to improve upon. In my mind that something should be a project or assignment—written, oral, or quantitative—something more than just reading the cases for each class.
-- AnneFox - 15 June 2012 | |
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> | My civpro section didn't do anything like drafting a complaint, but I would have liked to. One of the problems I have in law school is that while I understand the theory is important, I feel like we do very little that relates directly to legal practice (except perhaps the LPW / moot court courses). Of course it's important to develop a background of knowledge in various areas of law, but I always think it's a little strange, for example, that we never saw (much less drafted) a contract in "contracts" (beyond isolated portions discussed in the cases). That's probably largely the case just because that's how things have been done for decades. It also reminds me of something I've heard too many times talking to 3rd or 4th year associates at biglaw firms: "Sometimes I get to edit some really substantive motions." I always try to hide my wince, but I suppose it's not surprising that those associates aren't given more responsibility in the first few years at a firm when they have little practical training from school and the firm's clients have little interest in paying bigbucks for that development themselves.
Anne, I think you're right that some form of assignments throughout the semester is a key part of meaningful feedback. More explanation of exam scores would be interesting, but largely pointless since it would come after the class ends (although some advice might apply to exams in later semesters). Including more collaborative projects for students (graded or ungraded) would encourage engagement without creating too much additional burden on professors, I think.
-- MarcLegrand - 16 June 2012 |
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