Teaching on line and reading on line: two interesting articles

The first of these articles concerns how to prep faculty who thought they never, ever would teach an online course.

When I myself started teaching online for the Drexel law school about a year ago, my prior experience had been neither recent nor extensive: one online course on counter-terrorism law. In teaching for the Master's in Legal Studies Program in the Kline School of Law, I learned two invaluable, yet simple, lessons early on:

1.  Be attentive to your students.  Respond quickly to their inquiries and cries for help. and they will love you for it.

2.  Make sure you are on good terms with your IT man or woman.  S/he can make life on line very pleasant if s/he is good and if you have a good working relationship.  My tech support guy, Ian Kollar, is invaluable.

The third bit of advice I want to give to those who may walk the information highway as instructors soon is to make the Internet your friend, not you foe.  Use the unique resources it has to offer.  For example, I like to build my examinations around real-world phenomena.  In the HR Management course, I had the students visit the website of a real Philadelphia company, tease out important information and then analyze it, and then apply what they had learned in the course to develop company HR policies and the like.  I think it made for a great final exam that was both a valid assessment and a capstone learning experience.

Note that this assessment technique makes cheating a virtual impossibility, since students must critically think and problem solve.

Here are some samples from my end-of-course student evaluations:

What did you like about the course?

The course was very interesting... this course really opens your mind about the legal process and alternatives to disputes. Very enlightening. Jim is the man!! He chooses very good topics for us to write about, he was always engaged with our responses and his comments about the work you submit were helpful!

I learned so much about dealing with legal and non-legal disputes outside of the court room, through negotiation, meditation, and arbitration. I really enjoyed the course I found it to be very beneficial to life and career experiences. I even now considered mediation as it seems to fit with my personality.

This was one of my favorite courses thus far. I knew nothing about ADR and now feel I have adequate knowledge and enjoyed taking the class.

The course material was thought provoking most of the time.

An understanding of arbitration and negotiation as a way to settle dispute. In business it is especially important to resolve any disputes without litigation if possible. Learning about the three stages of negotiation; interest based, rights based, and power based, is the most helpful in preparing arguments. To address dispute as interest based first and transition to rights or power if necessary. Attempting to base negotiation on interests can maintain important business relationship rather than immediately forcing power.

The professor is personable  and easy to understand. The tests and quizzes are easy to understand and align directly with course material.  I enjoyed the content and a professor that brought personal experience and enthusiasm to the course.  The professor was passionate about the material and gave relevant, real-life examples/problems. IT really enhanced the course and solidified the material  What about the course needs improvement?  NOTHING!!!  Nothing, no improvements that I can identify great course.  I really see no negatives connected with this course. This professor is very organized and provides adequate time and resources to complete his homework and tests.  Thanks Jim you nailed yet another course, I learned much and I appreciate the last 14 weeks! thanks for your effort to get the information across and thanks for responding to side bar emails about my issues and concerns!  Great Professor, the way the material is delivered makes a world of a difference thank you professor for such a great style in teaching!! Best wishes.  My favorite thus far.  I really enjoyed this course.  The recorded lectures are a great component of Drexel's online education. Phoenix had many great elements but did not have video recorded lectures. It is great to see professors and hear the text presentations.  This was my first semester at Drexel. The professor in this class was by far one of the best because I could really tell how much effort he put into the class and how passionate he was about the material. His personality shone through and it was a joy to be part of his class. We were able to receive our grades on assignments and feedback about our work almost immediately. I would love to take another course with him.

Convinced?

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The second article I want to call to your attention this morning involves whether students read with the same comprehension from a computer screen as from a book or paper.

I'm an old timer and will always prefer the printed page.  Having made that admission, however, let me add that I find that effective proof reading of a document means for me printing it out and reviewing a hard copy.  And I fancy that this does not reflect my age.

Let me add that, whether we are talking computer screen, Kindle, or printed page, the good proof readers are mostly passed and gone.  Texting, emails, snap chats and what's app have all contributed to the virtual demise of proof reading.  This can have disastrous results when these messages become implicated in a law suit, agency investigation, union grievance or the like.  Convincing my colleagues of this has met with only mixed results.

When I taught legal research and writing at the Widener Law School some 20 years ago, I devoted a full class to published court opinions in which the litigation at issue had arisen from a typographical error or the like.  Whether it made an impression or not, I don't know.

I do know that, even as I teach this summer my first full-fledged law course on line for Drexel, I continue to find need of counseling my students to proof read their postings, reminding them that lawyers cannot afford to be sloppy.