MANAGEABLE FEEDBACK TECHNIQUES FOR LARGE CLASSES
Christina L. Kunz
William Mitchell College of Law

What’s Going on in Undergraduate Education These Days?

• lots of feedback from professors
  • 6-12 rounds per course per semester
  • my year of sabbatical at University of Minnesota
  • various types of feedback:
  • weekly exercises
  • collectible reading notes or reading questions
    • foster critical reading
  • pop reading quizzes
    • surface understanding, at beginning of class
  • online classes
    • synchronous and asynchronous
  • group papers
    • critiquing or applying that week’s reading
  • single-space one-page research papers
    • turned in before topic covered in class
  • “exam prep”
    • one of each type of exam question, for extra credit on exam
  • exams
    • problems, essays, multiple choice, T/F, short answer
  • end-of-semester papers
  • course notebooks
    • containing reading notes, class notes, handouts, papers
• tremendous impact on all students (top to bottom of class)
  • stay up on daily reading and other assignments
  • better classes because of better student preparation
  • better sense of what prof values or is looking for
  • better attendance, on-time arrival to class
  • increased sense of community among students; more studying together
  • student knows how well he/she doing in course
    • can change study methods or study partners
    • can see prof for additional help
  • prof knows how well each student is doing
    • can intervene with individual students
    • can rework or tailor own teaching to class’ needs
  • carrots and sticks

• reading quizzes
  • five questions, at beginning of class, unannounced, occasional
• individual or group papers/exercises
  • draft pleadings, motions
  • discovery plan
  • draft contract clause
    • covenant not to compete
    • intro to letter of intent
    • warranty disclaimer
    • exclusive remedy for seller’s repair or replacement
  • papers on assigned topics or old exam questions
    • open or canned research
• simulations
  • employment interview in front of class, then analyze
  • employment investigation
  • employment discharge
  • contract formation
  • contract negotiation
  • evidentiary objection and response
• individual performances of same skill, up and down rows in the class
  • reading cases, line by line
  • paraphrasing rules of law
  • fusing multiple statements of same rule
  • organizing chapter or unit material into cohesive hierarchy
  • applying rules to facts
  • problems
• multiple-choice exams
  • allow students to write boxed notes to you about questions they feel are ambiguous or wrong
  • respond to each note, before making the final key for the exam
  • safety valve for students
  • actually fun for prof to read!