Back in March, students and professors alike underwent an abrupt change to their law school experience. Over about a two-week period, they went from attending and teaching classes in person to trying to figure out how to do everything online while worrying about the health and safety of their family, friends, and colleagues. For schools on spring break when COVID-19 struck, neither students nor faculty were allowed back on campus to retrieve their personal items to protect their local communities.
This sudden transition to online classes was especially difficult since few law school professors or students had experience attending or teaching online classes. Some professors were still clinging to “no laptop” policies in the classroom, so going from the traditional Socratic lecture to using computers to conduct an interactive Zoom course felt earth-shattering. To be fair, even the most progressive courses had to shift to an online format, which provided technical and pedagogical hurdles. This is partly due to the accreditation restrictions the American Bar Association (ABA) puts on the number of course credits law students may receive online. Fortunately, the ABA issued a guidance memo to help schools serve their students while navigating this global pandemic. Schools worked quickly to acquire the required technical tools and support professors as they transitioned courses online.
Without adequate time to prepare, variations in online course effectiveness were to be expected. Many professors added new materials to their classes on the fly, such as video summaries of key concepts, formative assessment quizzes, and PowerPoint decks. Students had to access and explore new digital platforms since their printed books were stuck in a locked dorm room. All were experiencing a learning curve. As such, schools evaluated their grading policies and transitioned from letter grades to mandatory credit-fail grading. Many felt this adjustment was required due to the unpredictable nature of the coronavirus pandemic, as well as concerns over unexpected challenges to students. Whether they were caring for sick family members, home-schooling children, or worried about the financial crisis, students and professors had more fear and stress than ever before.
The confusion from the spring semester has led schools to plan carefully for the fall. Most schools expect to offer a hybrid experience – one that allows both professors and students to choose whether they want to be online or in-person. Fewer students on campus will help schools manage the new social distancing requirements as issued by the Centers for Disease Control. If they can only have one cohort on campus, they are recommending their 1L students attend in-person instruction, while 2L and 3Ls stay remote. Even with only one cohort on campus, schools might still need to stagger the attendance based on the number of students and size of the classrooms. Law schools are also making modifications to the academic calendar. Some are starting early so they can take finals before Thanksgiving and others are starting later and having all students be online after Thanksgiving. No one wants students coming back to campus after traveling “over the river and through the woods.” Some schools – depending on local COVID-19 rates and campus constraints – cannot open safely and are therefore deciding to be exclusively online for fall.
Whether online or hybrid, there’s no hall pass for the fall semester. Schools have been focused on their professors getting the time and training they need to prepare their classes for online delivery. Wolters Kluwer’s authors, for example, are helping their adopters by sharing additional resources they’ve created and used in their online courses. Organizations such as AALS are offering free on-demand webinars such as the “Top Five Tips for Teaching Law Online” by Michelle Pistone. Students can also ready themselves by taking advantage of webinars such as CLI’s Summer Webinar Series or Passport to Practice, both of which help students and recent law school grads gain insights and skills they will need to successfully practice law. With that said, the main advice from students who endured the spring semester is to be mindful of time management and to treat online classes as serious, in-person classes. Waking up late, missing classes or taking class from bed will not work. Letter grades are returning for the fall!
In my next post, I’ll share more insights from students on topics like thriving in an online environment and building community from afar. In the meantime, this increased commitment toward engaging, pedagogically rich courses led by professors who embrace technology has the potential to foster an even better law school experience. As one professor told me, “COVID is forcing law professors to be better educators.”
Nicole Jones Pinard is the Vice President & General Manager of Legal Education at Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory U.S. With more than 20 years’ experience in educational solutions, she sets the strategic approach for the unit with a focus on expanding its acclaimed digital portfolio and driving innovative content and learning solutions for the legal academic community.
