Joseph Bazan

It staggers me when students complain that the offered choices or statements on a test "don't match the definition in the book." Somewhere, students are not being asked to do more than memorize words, and that is passing for "education." When I say "somewhere," I mean prior to college. It is rare that I take language directly from a textbook for a test question. Typically, during class discussions I use the text as a springboard to materials from other sources. Since I teach law, those other materials tend to be court opinions and statutes. When learning rules of law, verbatim… >>>

I do not use test banks. At most, I might take a peek just to get inspiration about a different general topic. For example, if I'm stuck writing questions about contracts for auto sales, I might use a test bank to remind me that contracts for cleaning services or produce is another good topic for a test. But I will not use the substance of the bank's question. Why? I have rarely found test bank questions to be appropriately drafted to adequately test knowledge ***and application*** of the materials. Banks have too many multiple-guess questions and too many short answer… >>>

In one of the pages for this module, the following statement was made: "Questions that are dramatically below (or above) the abilities of students will bore (or confuse) students. Target questions, even on difficult subjects, within the range of the ability level of the majority of the class." How do we find the level of the students' abilities? What can we do in a short course (small number of contact hours or only a few weeks)? I have trouble finding the general abilities of the students when one of my classes may have students who are nearly newbie status up… >>>

Law classes are very auditory or based on the densely written word. It is difficult to be tactile in law. Typically, the best we can do is have students draft documents, whether court-ready documents or traditional writing assignments, in an effort to do the actual work of the legal professional. But I could not disagree with anyone who argues that document drafting is just a different version of the written-word form of education. Even a task such as interviewing a client or negotiating with an opposing party is still more auditory than tactile, in my opinion. It's too bad we… >>>

For some time, I have not offered extra credit or bonus points. My assessments have sufficient variety and a balance of group work and solo work where there is no need for subjective grading. This helps me defend grades because students earn the grade they get - period. Students who ask for extra credit, in my opinion, are looking for easy ways to increase a grade despite the fact that the rest of the class was prepared timely and made the effort when the effort was required. Many of those students do not check their progress through available means, such… >>>

All schools have students with inadequate backgrounds. Not all are related to socio-economic backgrounds, in my opinion. I see many students with a desire to work and to learn, but few skills or habits that help them succeed. Many have no real habit of looking beyond the page that is before them. They do not look up words they don't know. They do not take time to put terms or concepts into groups of similar items. They do not know how to compare and contrast terms and concepts. Writing skills are often lower than some grammar school student's skills. I… >>>

I have found PowerPoint to be too limiting. I avoid using PowerPoint. Rather, I have found that I can project images onto a whiteboard and use the markers to highlight important points. This allows, for example, students to see how a criminal statute can be "redrafted" into a criminal charge, or a sentence from a student's writing project can be improved. I agree with other points in this discussion that PowerPoint is only a tool and not an end in itself. When prepping a class session, it is easier for me to set up web pages in many tabs or… >>>

I was a statue instructor when I started teaching 8 years ago. I also rarely strayed from my lecture notes and often used notes prepared by a textbook's author. My students did not like either method of teaching. I forced myself to move around and engage the students. I learned to write and rewrite test questions so I could avoid test banks and multiple-choice questions. I find that now that I know myself better I can better focus on content delivery in a more meaningful and engaging manner so that my students are more successful in their careers. Tests are… >>>