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MEMORANDUM FROM YALE LAW SCHOOL 

...

To:  

Faculty  

From:

Ian Ayres, Deputy Dean 

Subject:

Our Educational Environment  

Date: January 15, 2021

Cc:

Students, Faculty Administrative Assistants  

As a faculty, we collectively strive to enable all our students to achieve their greatest potential. Because our students are diverse in background, personality, and learning style, some approaches help some students thrive while different efforts work best for others. Students’ experiences in our classrooms and their development of a mentoring relationship with one or more faculty members are central to their success here.   

During the past several years, the office of the deputy dean has circulated a memorandum on “Our Educational Environment” at the outset of each semester. In addition to summarizing various rules and requirements that apply to faculty teaching and mentoring responsibilities, the memorandum also gathers “best practices” that have emerged from faculty committees, student groups, and other sources. In 2019, the memorandum was updated to reflect the findings and recommendations of the Working Group Report, many of which are incorporated as links below.   

This year the memo begins with suggestions and issues specifically related to teaching during the pandemic.    

The continuing challenges of the pandemic are heightened because of the shortened Spring semester calendar that foregoes Spring break.  Please consider including one or two respite class meetings as part of your teaching.  The idea of a respite class is a class meeting with less or no outside preparation.  A respite class, for example, could be used as a mid-semester review session, or an outside speaker could speak about their practice or an article or case on which they have worked.  Keep in mind the emotional and logistical burden our students are experiencing at this time.  Many are caretaking for family members and have other significant responsibilities. To reduce stress for our students, you might also consider being more flexible as to when writing and other assignments are due.  And as mentioned below, posting syllabi and reading assignments early will allow students to get a head start on their work.  

 

We have been working to add high efficiency air filters and to increase air circulation with goals of at least MERV 13 filters and more than 6 air changes per hour. Facilities, however, has still not yet been able to adequately assess the ventilation of faculty offices – and as a result, faculty at present will not be able to meet with students in their office (but will be able to reserve indoor or outdoor meeting places for office hours or hold Zoom office hours).    

  

Classroom podiums will have Plexiglas shields and professors must also wear face shields or masks. Professors will be responsible for enforcing students’ staying at least six feet apart and wearing masks in class. We will continue to have reservable, designated courtyard seating for smaller groups to meet 6 feet apart.  [We will decide later in the semester whether we will again have a sideless classroom tent for the Baker courtyard.]  Facilities will be cleaning the classrooms once a day.  We will be providing disinfecting wipes outside of each classroom and students and faculty will be expected to clean their personal spaces when entering class.   

  

Faculty can learn about Yale’s screening program and schedule a free COVID test here: https://covid19.yale.edu/screening . Faculty and students who are coming onto campus are encouraged to be tested once a week and we suggest that your urge frequent COVID testing for your students. 

 

Even if you plan to teach in person, you should be prepared to shift your course (as we were forced to do last Spring) to fully remote teaching.  And in person teachers should be prepared that some of their students will be learning remotely and that the identity of on-line learners is likely to evolve over the course of the semester.  Hybrid teachers (teaching in person, with some remote students) should use a lavalier microphone and strive to make sure that students can hear each other.  Remote teachers might consider taking advantage of Zoom-specific features (screen share, polling, breakout rooms) or consider the use of guest Zoom speakers to help engage with remote learners.    

  

We should strive to find new ways to create community in our classes.  Please try to hold in person (outdoor) meetings with subgroups of your classes or online social events of one kind or another.  Even students who are living in New Haven and attending classes in person may have difficulty making the normal connection with others in our community.  Be creative.  

 

Professors have tried a variety of ways to make connections with their students – including teaching some classes in person and some remotely and then consulting with students on which worked best.  Some teachers have had review sessions in person and/or office hours.  The registrar’s office stands ready to try to find spaces for as many classes as we can manage.  Even if you start teach a class remotely, please know that you can change your mind if and move to in person teaching later in the semester. 

  

Please consider scheduling a dry-run of your teaching environment before the semester begins – whether it be in person or remote – by emailing nicholas.cifarelli@yale.edu.  Logging into Zoom for in-person teachers will be slightly more involved because we’ll have more monitors and that might take some getting used to.    

  

Because of classroom capacity constraints students will have to audit courses via Zoom and will only be able to attend in person when they have been officially enrolled in the course.  Students will not be able to enroll in classes that have overlapping synchronous meeting times.   

  

Because all professors are likely to have at least some remote students, you should announce at the beginning of the semester your policies regarding attendance of class, student videos, and student use of the Zoom chat function.  My sense is that a majority of the faculty will be requiring synchronous attendance of Zoom classes, that students have their videos on and that student’s only use the chat function to alert the professor to technological problems with the Zoom – unless the professor explicitly exempts particular students from a particular policy.  But student reps have reasonably asked that we let our classes know that students can briefly turn off their video or microphones if, for example, they need to use the restroom.   

 

We also ask that you again find a faculty member who would be willing to step in to teach your course should you fall ill.  

  

Finally, you might consider acknowledging at the beginning of class the extraordinary circumstances in which we find ourselves.  The COVID virus that claimed more than 150,000 lives when I wrote to you in the fall has now claimed more than twice that in this country.  Many in our community have been shaken by the events of this year and finding a way to recognize these feelings and speak about them early in your class might make it easier for students to enter into the study of law.  At the beginning of the semester, it is prudent to proactively ask students – especially remote students – about challenges they are facing and accommodations they may need.  

 

The remainder of this email contains suggestions that would apply even if there were no pandemic.  As you review the following suggestions, I hope that they stimulate you to think of still other ways to foster an environment in which our students can realize their considerable potential. I will always be eager to hear those ideas.  

  

Course Syllabus  

Please recognize that your course syllabus is an essential method of communicating norms and expectations to your students. The Working Group compiled a set of syllabus recommendations that you should follow, including the importance of being transparent about the basis of grading, whether classroom notes will be open for use during a course exam, rules regarding attendance and participation, any applicable deadlines for papers or other requirements, and how to schedule an office hours meeting with you. In addition, you can help to foster a classroom in which students from diverse backgrounds and students with a range of views are treated as full participants by incorporating a diversity and inclusion statement in your syllabus.  
 

I encourage you to post on Canvas your syllabi, lists of required course materials, and your first course assignments as early as possible.  Doing that gives students ample opportunity to seek the best purchase options for their course materials and also to prepare for the first class meetings.  Please consider making the readings for the first-two weeks of your course available on-line (including scanned pages of casebooks) to make it easier for students to procure copies at competitive prices.  During the pandemic this is especially important for students in some remote locations with fewer opportunities to purchase materials.  On your syllabus please indicate whether earlier editions of a casebook can be used.  

  

Remember that a syllabus must be actively published once it is uploaded to the course site in Canvas to make it available to students.  For instructions on how to publish a syllabus on Canvas, click here. Also, as you know, the Registrar’s Office appreciates receiving a copy of your syllabus via email to Heather Abbott (heather.abbott@yale.edu) to assist the Office in responding to student queries regarding examinations and other course requirements.  

  

The basis of grading in your course deserves special mention. In a given course, both faculty and students must adhere to a clear grading basis that is established in advance. For example, in paper option courses, students must elect to pursue a paper before the examination period begins. Likewise, when a student has chosen to sit for an exam, faculty must use that exam as the basis for evaluation. If a student attempts to plead special circumstances in order to avoid the announced grading basis for a course, the student should be referred to the deputy dean.  

  

If your course is a writing seminar, please consider maintaining an up-to-date statement about your polices and standards for Substantial Papers or Supervised Analytic Writing papers on the Student Scholarship site.  

  

Finally, please include the following statement on your syllabus: “Students with documented disabilities should register (https://yale-accommodate.symplicity.com/public_accommodation/) with Student Accessibility Services (SAS) to request reasonable disability-related accommodation. Supporting documentation will be required. If approved, SAS will work with the YLS Registrar’s Office to implement accommodations. More information for G&P students can be found online.”  

...

Strive for excellence in your management of the classroom experience. Encourage inclusive and balanced class participation by avoiding dynamics in which only a select few come to dominate classroom discussion. Many students favor a system in which all are required to participate in class.  You can facilitate full participation not only by using a cold-call system but also by using panels that give students some notice about how frequently and when they will be on call. Using a randomized call sheet can help assure that all students have an equal chance of being called upon.  Relying purely on volunteers can result in having only a few students engaged in conversation with the instructor. That limits the voices heard and the views expressed, which disadvantages all in the class. Even with a panel or cold-call system, however, instructors need to remain attentive to classroom dynamics.   

  

Be attentive to the level of intellectual engagement, respect, and reciprocity that is being shown in your classroom. The Working Group offered concrete advice for ensuring that your classroom is one in which ideas are freely and vigorously exchanged by all.   

  

Consider also the Working Group’s recommendations for creating an inclusive classroom environment for transgender and gender nonconforming students. Most obviously, you should learn students’ correct names and pronouns. You should also adopt a gender-neutral approach when calling on students in class or writing to them; use students’ first names or first and last names instead of using the honorifics Mr. and Ms. If you are keen to stick with formal address in calling on students, consider a gender-neutral approach such as “Judge Alstott” or “Attorney NeJaime.”  

  

Finally, you should consult the Working Group’s recommendations regarding classroom accommodation and modifications, including the testimonials offered by members of ThinkDifferent and the model policies on laptop usage compiled by the Working Group. Even though the Working Group did not make an official recommendation regarding laptop policies and recognized that many teaching faculty have utilized laptop bans to reduce distraction and increase engagement, some faculty are now rethinking their policies in light of what they have learned from ThinkDifferent. Accessibility of course materials also deserves special mention – if you are relying on legacy materials, please work with the administration to improve their accessibility to all students.  

...

Students benefit from feedback on their performance and can reasonably expect to receive feedback. Accordingly, it is extremely important that faculty members explicitly invite students to speak with them about their performance both during the course and after it concludes. In particular, one way to assure that students have an opportunity to engage with you is to offer them feedback on their examinations and papers.   

  

For examinations, you might provide: individualized written comments on each examination; an individualized written statement about the student’s performance; individualized meetings about the examination; a comparison between each examination and a printed checklist shared with the students; a memorandum discussing the examination and describing common strengths and problems; making the best sets of answers available as models for other students to see. One of these approaches may suit you, or you may have a different approach. But providing feedback is pedagogically essential as well as highly valued by our students.   

  

In providing feedback, be actively on the alert for previously undiscovered talent. For example, if an examination stands out in quality and contains the germ of a publishable idea, yet you don’t know the student well, you might invite her or him to meet with you. When the two of you talk, you could encourage the student and provide guidance about how he or she might develop a scholarly piece on the topic. If the conversation reveals a common scholarly interest, perhaps you will want to suggest that the student apply for a research assistantship position with you.  

...

Our students highly value the opportunity to work as research assistants for members of the faculty. They can engage in such work only after their first semester in Law School and faculty must adhere to the policy of not hiring first-term students as research assistants. Students receiving course credit in lieu of monetary compensation for research assistant work may only receive credit on a CR/F basis.   

  

To assure that all students have available the full range of such opportunities and that our deep pool of research-assistant talent is well deployed, all student research opportunities should be advertised to all our students except first-termers, and faculty should give all applicants careful consideration., Research assistant positions may be posted through an online hiring platform that faculty and their administrative assistant are strongly encouraged to utilize.  

  

A faculty member offering a research-assistant opportunity and a student considering the position should share a clear, common understanding about the character of the opportunity. The faculty member should be very explicit about the scope of the student’s role in the project, and the student should be sure that he or she understands and accepts that role.

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