Mid-terms and more?
posted by Jason Mazzone
This is the time of the year when 1Ls have received their first set of law school grades and are asking what went right, what went wrong, and what they can do differently the next time around. These conversations inevitably raise the point that the final exam counts for the entire grade for the course. Many students who do poorly consider this unfair: they do all the work during the semester but none of that is rewarded if they have an off-day when the exam is given. In thinking recently about this issue, I have been asking upper-level students whether they would preferred as 1Ls to have had mid-terms and a series of other graded assignments during the semester so that less depended upon the final exam. Under the model I suggested to them, the professor would give back the graded assignment so students would know how they were doing during the semester. Many of these students have taken seminars and other upper-level courses in which there is component grading. The feedback I have received from upper-level students has surprised me.
Upper-level students tell me to stick with final exam as final grade model. This is as true of students who did very well as of students who did poorly during their first year. These students tell me that component grading would have been much more work for them because they would have had to prepare for every graded assignment. (More work for professors, too, of course.) In addition, they say, component grading would increase the level of stress during the first year. Their reasoning is that students would be worried about every assignment; that getting a bad grade on a mid-term or other assignment would make them panic; and that it is less stressful to get a grade after the course has ended (and, in the spring semester, after everyone has headed off for the summer). Even if they would have done better under a component grading system, the costs, they say, are not worth the grade bump.
February 8, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Posted in: Law School (Teaching)
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Responses (8)
John Armstrong - February 8, 2009 at 12:28 pm
It’s interesting that they phrase their answers in purely pedagogical terms. The answers I’ve heard for this sort of thing usually amount to, “if you do all the prep work, but have an off day on the trial date, the judge doesn’t give a component ruling.”
vap - February 8, 2009 at 2:04 pm
Hmmn, it seems that this isn’t unique to your situation. I tried a few innovative things this semester, a 1L take home at the end of the semester, practice problems during the semester, and a few graded in class problems (short m/c) during the semester worth a mere 10% of their grade. I put tons of time into all of these, had office hours to mentor students on how to improve (time during which I probably should have been writing) and got slammed on my evals. Most comments were along the lines of: “increased stress of extra assignments” and “this was so unfair because it was so different from other professors.” Back to the in class issue spotter for me. My tip for other profs, especially junior ones…don’t try to be innovative. I’d like to say that some of my students appreciated it, but not enough to make it worthwhile, especially when few hiring committees will value the effort (as compared to a better article).
Howard Wasserman - February 8, 2009 at 3:55 pm
Up until this semester, I always did a take-home with my 1L class (civ pro)–including one year as a VAP. Reviews typically have been split almost evenly. To the extent it is different than in other classes, I pitched that as a benefit–it emphasizes different skills (so will give different students a benefit) and it gives you a break from the drudgery and stress of the 3-hour issue-spotter. The “unfair because so different from other profs” argument is non-sense–it only is unfair if you are made to do something different from the people against whom you are being graded. Besides, there already is a range among profs even for in-class exams–Multiple Choice/Short Answer v. Essay, Open-book v. Closed-book. Just as there is a range among profs as to teaching style–Socratic v. Lecture, cold-call v. volunteer, participation counts v. no oral grade. No one contests (or could contest) those differences. There is no meaningful difference with in-class v. take-home exams. So I would say to VAP “stay the take-home course.”
Interestingly, none of Jason’s students talked about *learning* and whether or not they understood thingsl better by having to deal with written testing and evaluation on components of the material. Their comments were entirely about workload, stress, and grades and not what better enables them to learn. And my understanding is that the education research shows fairly strongly that component testing promotes learning.
Jason W. - February 8, 2009 at 4:53 pm
Howard’s allusion to the educational literature combined with “vap”‘s experience with student evaluations shows to me the folly of over-reliance on student evaluations.
Colin Miller - February 8, 2009 at 6:23 pm
In talking with students, I have received the same reaction: that a graded midterm would unreasonably increase their workload and stress. This is the reason that I don’t give graded midterms. But I do give students (a) an ungraded take-home midterm at the midpoint of class (about 75% of students turn answers in), and (2) an ungraded practice final exam at the end of class. For the midterm, I give each student an individualized answer key which shows them exactly where they gained and lost points and the curved grade that they would have received if the midterm were the final. I also go over the midterm in class, and students can then schedule exam conferences to see how they can improve on the final. For the practice final, I go over the answers during the review session and e-mail an answer key to students.
Obviously, this doesn’t give students multiple points of grading, but it does allow them to see how they are doing at the middle and end (before the final exam) of class. I would love to be able to add a second point of grading to my classes, but I haven’t figured out a fair way to do it yet. So, until then, I will stick with my ungraded practice tests.
Hillel Y. Levin - February 8, 2009 at 8:12 pm
I have thought about doing component grading but have decided against.
However, I am convinced that the standard model of test-taking is not conducive to actually learning the material, so I have come up with (what I hope is) a middle ground.
At the end of each unit or two in Civ Pro II (I teach only the second–Rules–semester), I give them practice problems. I pitch this as an opportunity for them to learn the material through doing; an opportunity to force themselves to review and outline; an opportunity to learn what a test from me will be like; and an opportunity for an in-class review. I also review each student’s responses, which gives me an opportunity to see what the trouble-spots are for the class, as well as to identify any students who may need some one-on-one time.
In addition, I sometimes have them do the practice problems in groups. Although this prevents me from getting a read on individual students’ work, I think there may be some students who aren’t connecting with the book or with my classes, but who may be able to learn by talking things through with their peers. More broadly, I believe that law school does a generally poor job of preparing students to work collaboratively (which they will do as lawyers), and I hope that requiring them to work together once in a while might help in that regard. (I also have them work together in other, more structured, ways; so this isn’t the only opportunity.)
In other words, the goal here isn’t to offer them a way around harsh law school grading, but simply to give them other opportunities to learn the material. The emphasis is less on evaluation and more on education.
When I meet with them for lunch or coffee, the 1Ls (at least, those who choose to go to lunch or coffee with me) tell me that they appreciate these practice sets. But I am preparing myself for the evals, which I expect to tell a more, er, nuanced story.
Danielle Citron - February 9, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Hillel, I do the same and it has worked out really well. The students really appreciate those review hypos and you get a sense of where they are. I bet the evals will be terrific.
Hillel Y. Levin - February 10, 2009 at 7:25 am
Danielle–
Thanks for the words of support.
Which 1L subject do you do this for?
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