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MarcLegrandSecondPaper 4 - 10 Jul 2012 - Main.MarcLegrand
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| | | The Way Things Are | |
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< | In my experience (which has been echoed by classmates in other sections and even at other schools), first-year courses typically include two rather unhelpful kinds of evaluation: the "Socratic method" and final exams. The only other feedback involves professors walking too close to the speakers while mic’d up. | >
> | In my experience (which has been echoed by classmates in other sections and even at other law "schools"), first-year courses typically include two rather unhelpful kinds of evaluation: the "Socratic method" and final exams. The only other feedback involves professors walking too close to the speakers while mic’d up. | | | | |
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< | During the semester, we’re occasionally called on to answer questions about a case from the day's assigned reading. The amount of feedback here varies from professor to professor; sometimes you learn whether they approve of your interpretation of the case, and sometimes you just learn whether they approve of your summary of the facts. In either instance, this feedback only pertains to a few minutes (or seconds) of on-the-spot student commentary about a single case. It doesn’t strike me as a very useful tool for students to use in determining how successfully they’ve been engaging the material on a broader, or deeper, level. | >
> | During the semester, we’re occasionally called on to answer questions about a case from the day's assigned reading. The amount of feedback here varies from professor to professor. At the lower end, you just learn whether they approve of your summary of the facts. At the slightly less low end, you may learn whether they approve of your interpretation of the broader case. In either instance, this feedback only pertains to a few minutes (or seconds) of on-the-spot student commentary about a single case. It doesn’t strike me as a very useful tool for students to use in determining how successfully they’ve been engaging the material on a broader, or deeper, level. | | | | |
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< | At the end of the semester, we dutifully take our exams. Here again, the feedback varies depending on the professor. I, for one, have never received a copy of my exam with comments. If that was an option, it wasn’t advertised. In most of my classes, the feedback from my professors consisted of a single letter on lawnet. It’s as if a novice pilot was sent on a mission to bomb a munitions factory and upon return his commanders told him he hit “pretty close to the target.” This information doesn’t tell him what went wrong, comes too late to affect the mission, and doesn’t even help him prepare for the next assignment. | >
> | At the end of the semester, we dutifully take our exams. Here again, the feedback varies depending on the professor. I, for one, have never received a copy of my exam with comments. If that was an option, it wasn’t advertised. In most of my classes, the feedback from my professors consisted of a single letter on lawnet. It’s as if a novice pilot was sent on a mission to bomb a munitions factory and upon return his commanders told him he hit “pretty close to the target.” This information doesn’t tell him what went wrong, comes too late to affect the mission, and doesn’t even help him prepare for the next assignment. There's the possibility of visiting the professor to discuss your exam, but this also comes too late and the intervening passage of time likely dulls most substantive benefits it may offer. | | | | |
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< | In my third class, the professor sent out some strong student answers as examples. This is slightly more helpful than a single character-long evaluation, but as far as feedback goes it would still need some air quotes. Not only did it fail to address what I wrote, but simply publicizing a “strong” answer doesn’t address which points in that answer were more compelling and which might have been flat-out wrong. | >
> | In one of my classes, the professor sent out some strong student answers as examples. This is slightly more helpful than a single character-long evaluation, but as far as feedback goes it would still need some air quotes. Not only did it fail to address what I wrote, but simply publicizing a “strong” answer doesn’t address which points in that answer were more compelling and which might have been flat-out wrong. | | | I borrow obscene sums to attend Columbia Law School. The name implies the money is paying for instruction, but too often it feels like I’m paying $55,000 a year for the privilege of being judged against my classmates based on four hours of writing. What can we do to get more out of our time in the classroom here? |
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