The Shark

multiple choice exams aren't necessarily the preference of multiple kinds of law students.

[brian lauter]

Choose the best answer:

1. Which do you prefer, multiple choice tests or written tests?

a. Multiple choice, because you always have at least a 20% chance.

b. Multiple choice, because they’re way easier for professors to grade.

c. Written, because they give you the opportunity to regurgitate an entire semester’s worth of information (or one outline) in three hours.

d. Written, because if you don’t know the answer you can write something tangential and hope for a few pity points.

e. A and B only.

f. All of the above.

g. All of the above, but not C.

h. None of the above.

Sorry if that question was worded poorly; I’m sure you did just fine.

Yesterday, an item on PrawfsBlawg asked about the pros on cons of multiple choice law school exams. It ended up being a pretty polarizing question.

Some of the commenters focused on the nature of the material. Those who favored multiple choice questions said that many questions of law are more discrete and are better suited for multiple choice exams, while others argued that the law is inherently gray and reasoned answers should be required.

Other commenters focused on the practice of law. Those who favored written tests argued that writing well under pressure is an important skill for practicing law; others argued that being able to make quick decisions on points of law is also important.

The multiple choice/written test debate is about as polarizing in real life as it was on Prawfsblawg. I know people who say they always do horribly on multiple choice tests (here are some tips) and don’t think they’re fair, and others who love them.

Personally, I prefer multiple choice tests. For me, having the correct answers on the page makes having a good foundational understanding of the subject matter more important and deemphasizes memorization, which isn’t really my thing.

I’m glad to see that professors do think about this stuff. And if you’re wondering how a multiple choice question should be worded, don’t use mine as an example, check this out.

another alternative career option: web 2.0 know it all.

[cynthia foster]       

A boy genius JD has made headlines (well, with the ABA) for forsaking the law to become a podcaster. 

Andrew Brody, who scored a perfect 180 on the LSAT and received a scholarship to NYU's law school, decided against practicing law, instead opting to train LSAT teachers and produce LSAT Logic in Everyday Life.

According to the ABA Journal, the "podcast finds flaws in arguments about current events, such as the recent trampling of a Wal-Mart greeter or flaws in labor statistics."

Brody's podcast gets between 20,000 and 30,000 listeners each episode.  One's gotta wonder if any of the 25 out of 125,000 LSAT-takers who will receive perfect scores on the exam are among them.

as if you need more ideas: top internet-based finals procrastination strategies.

[brian lauter]

Yesterday I wrote about the scientifically documented rise of internet-based procrastination during finals and its psychological roots.  Since then I’ve conducted a methodologically rigorous “observational study” in an attempt to document this phenomenon.

In honor of the upcoming finals season, I’ve put together a list of the most common forms of internet-based procrastination I witnessed.  If you enjoy long titles, you can call it my 2008 List of Top Internet-Based Finals Procrastination Strategies.

1. Facebook

This one’s pretty obvious, nothing beats studying for finals like reading pithy Facebook status messages complaining about studying for finals.

2. Netflix Queue

This is a relatively new one, at least to me.  I don’t have the Netflix, but my cinemaphilic friends tell me they spend hours browsing new movies and rearranging their Netflix queues, even when they haven’t dared watch a movie in months.

3. Holiday Shopping

Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or Festivus, chances are you’ve spent a significant amount of time frittering your financial aid money away at online retailers. Sure, you could just go shopping after finals are over, but bricks and mortar is just not as much fun.

4. Blogs

I’m not privy to traffic information on this blog, but I’d bet that it increases substantially during finals. There’s no better way to feel like you’re still part of the outside world than to read commentary on it from other people who never go outside. (Ed. note: He's right!)

5. Downloading Software

Scratch #1.  Nothing says finals like new software.  This year I plan on spending a few hours a week messing around with Digsby, which I hear is “life-changing.”

And last, but not least:

6. Internet Dating

Don’t be confused, this is not internet dating in the sense of going out on dates with people you meet on the internet – its finals, you can’t leave the desk, remember?  The real value of internet dating is that it vests in its users the power to judge thousands of people without leaving the privacy of their homes/law libraries.  To get started (or to have a good laugh), check out lawyersinlove.com.

I know there are many more quality internet-based procrastination methods.  Let me know if you have any additions — I’ll probably be bored with these in no time...

finals racket, literally.

[cynthia foster]

As you head on into Finals Time and begin feeling really sorry for yourself, try to get over it by repeating after me: at least you're not at Boalt.  Unless you are, in fact, at Boalt.  In that case, well, please continue feeling sorry for yourself.

the laptop-free life: give a pen a chance.

[justin gosling]

After my laptop-free semester, it's time to evaluate my decision to take all of my law school notes by hand.

For those who don't print out my blog posts and frame them (shame on you), let me give you a recap about my little experiment. Basically, my laptop died right as fall semester began, and I was forced to take notes by hand until the repairman replaced my motherboard. I found that I took better notes and payed more attention in class than I did with a laptop on my desk. I decided to jump in feet first and abandon the laptop for all my classes, and law school has been a completely different experience.

Overall, I found that taking notes by hand is superior to using a laptop and I will continue to do so in future classes.

That's right, my laptop is staying at home again next semester. I maintained focus for longer periods of time and internet temptations were nonexistent. I did bring the laptop for certain days, like when there would be a recap on material and I knew that my typing speed would be important. I also brought the laptop when I knew I would need computer access and I didn't want to sit in a crowded computer lab. On a few occasions I tried to use a laptop and write notes, but putting a casebook, laptop, notes, pens, and a highlighter on my desk was just too much clutter to handle.

But not everything was rosy.

law professors, listen up: it's time to get on the oregon trail.

[abony holmes]

Call me juvenile, but I agree with Miriam Cherry at Concurring Opinions that more professors should use gaming in the classroom. Not only does it help students learn, but it keeps them engaged in the class and makes the memorization part of learning (which is unavoidable in law school) a lot easier.

The most important aspect of gaming in the classroom is that it makes learning fun. Yes, it sounds cheesy, but compare the number of times you got excited about playing Number Munchers or Bingo in elementary school versus the number of times you were excited about practicing your multiplication tables with no gaming angle. As Cherry describes, “If work is meaningless, or unfocused, it can become drudgery. Turn it into a contest, and those same tasks that were earlier a drag can become downright fun.”

I would probably have a greater understanding of Constitutional Law if Wii came out with a new game on the subject.

There are limitations to gaming in the classroom as a learning tool. The most complex ideas in the law are probably out of the reach of a game of Jeopardy. If the games become too competitive some students may check out (though most law students are competitive and would probably get really invested — this is a sort of scary thought). There is also a danger of over simplifying the concepts being taught in order to fit them on a Jeopardy card. Still, as a former high school teacher and current student, I know there is a great pedagogical value in it, and I would love to see more gaming in the classroom.

greta van susteren thinks your legal education is predicated on FRAUD!!!!

[cynthia foster]

I love TaxProf.  I know nothing about taxes (other than the fact that I pay them), but TaxProf always finds the best Internet stuff.  I don't know how he does it, but here he's done it again: Greta Van Susteren (Georgetown alumna and sometime professor) "going off" on a "four minute riff" on the more... suspect principles of law school grading.

let's revisit this electronic casebook issue, shall we?

[justin gosling & abony holmes]

Remember Amazon's Kindle?  We talked about its shortcomings for the law school set here and here.  Well, the folks at Seattle PI clearly don't read The Shark, because they just ran a story about the need for an electronic casebook for law students.

Intrigued by the case against casebooks?  You're not the only one - and not just because law students are cheap.  There are also those of us who are environmentalists/minimalists with a hatred of the overuse and under-use of technology.

For the time being, we're not huge fans of electronic books for law school because the highlighting and writing in the margins of an ebook feels artificial (and many helpful law students have structured their outlines around them). Maybe Lexis and West will market an ebook of their own that is tailored for law students. Until that happens, plain vanilla electronic books may be great for reading novels, but they do not work as well for law school.

Also, I would hate to be the first person to 'fess up when called on in class that I am unable to participate because I forgot to charge my electronic book's battery.

The one thing that struck me in the Seattle PI article was the suggestion that law professors could just write their own books by selecting certain cases and building their lecture around the exact cases they want to use.

taking the "socratic method" one step further, into a more relevant land.

[brian lauter]

This morning on Concurring Opinions Professor Paul Ohm (University of Colorado Law School posted) an interesting item on the Socratic Method.

The Socratic Method is a traditional favorite of many law school professors (possibly due to a lack of competition in the discussion methods industry). However, as most law students and (hopefully) law professors know, the Socratic Method we use is a bastardized version of the Socratic Method envisioned and used by Plato/Socrates a couple thousand years ago.

Old school Socratic Debate involved two people, or a relatively small group, propounding a series of probing and argumentative questions, back and forth, in the search for truth. Law school Socratic Debate usually involves a number of people getting called on in a given class period. Usually several of these students are not paying attention, and are asked to recite the facts and rationale of cases. Sometimes a student may be asked what they thought of the decision, did it make sense to them, etc. These are not Socratic questions, and this is not Socratic Debate.

laptop, out. blackberry, in. oh yeah, pen and paper are in, too.

[justin gosling]

One of my favorite parts of modern life is when your computer only shows hostile vertical lines when you just want Windows to boot up.  And just in time for law school, no less.  Awesome.   Thank goodness I have a phone with email capabilities and the nimble thumbs of a tween. Yep, I'm phone blogging.  Phlogging.

One piece of good news is that the professor in my Con Law class has a 'no laptop' policy, so I'm not at a disadvantage compared to the other students in that class, despite my computer's failure at life.  The professor actually laid out a decent argument for banning laptops in the classroom, and I am going to give the laptop-less second year a try. 

So far I actually feel pretty good about sticking to pen and paper, but I do miss the ability to check my email and read the news during a dry moment in the classroom.  The big benefit to using a pen and paper is that it forces you to think about what you want to write because you can't just hit delete to make a correction.  This added level of focus seems to help, but it may be too early to make any firm conclusions.

I did notice that during class some people using laptops were taking down an insane amount of unnecessary notes and spending waaaay too much time not focusing on the task at hand.  I kept asking myself if I did the same things before converting to life sans laptop.

Okay, maybe 'sans laptop' isn't entirely correct because Tony the Repair Guy is going to fix my computer, and I do plan on transcribing my handwritten notes onto it once it's up and running.   Cutting out the technology 100% is probably just as bad as relying on it 100%.  I thing there is a strong argument for using computers (and other technology) to supplement tried and true methods of taking notes.  If you can take notes well on the computer, e.g. in the same way as you would with a pen and paper, then by all means continue on.  If, however, you are taking unnecessary notes or find yourself browsing for shoes on eBay, then maybe you should use the computer to supplement your studying rather than letting it subvert your studying.

I'm willing to be the test case, but first I need to call up Tony the Repair Guy because typing on this tiny keyboard is killing my thumbs.

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile