Academic

Filling the Gap

By Tim Zinnecker

We come to the end of another semester.  And in a few days our students will take our final exams.

How do you handle student questions during this "gap" period between the last day of a scheduled class and the date of the exam?  Do you refuse to answer any questions during this period?  Do you answer questions during part, or all, of this period?

This sounds like an issue that co-authors Katz and O'Neill may have addressed in Strategies and Techniques of Law School Teaching:  A Primer for New (and Not So New) Professors (the topic of this recent post).  Indeed, they do, in Section IX:  "The Sensitive Interval Between the Final Class and the Day of the Exam" (pages 63-65 in my copy).  The authors seem to take different approaches.  One continues to be available to students ("regretting it all the while").  The other imposes a so-called "gag rule" and declines to address questions about the exam.

The authors offer two "basic advantages" to the gag rule.

It forces students to engage in ongoing review, so that they don't wait until the eve of the exam to assess their understanding of the material.  And it protects the professor from any accusation that he gave favored treatment to a particular student in the final days leading up to the exam.  (page 64, with continued elaboration through page 65)

If the first advantage is to discourage "cramming," then I suggest that the rule makes hypocrites of some of its followers.  Many of us "crammed" in law school, and we continue to procrastinate now and then for any of several reasons in our daily lives.   So I find the first advantage unpersuasive.  (And what is a student to do with new material covered during the final class period?  Sorry, no questions.  Say what?) 

The second advantage may indeed be true.   None of us want to be accused of taking action that favors one student over the other.  But I wonder how many of us find the allure of the gag rule not in its protection against charges of favortism, but rather in the ease in which we can assert it as a reason to be "left alone."  And can't the gag rule be modified in a manner that alleviates favortism charges while fostering the learning process?  As the authors themselves acknowledge, a professor could insist that all questions during this "sensitive" period be in writing, and all responses will be shared with the entire class, via email or otherwise (with names of inquiring students withheld, preserving anonymity).

So you can guess where I come down on the issue.  I enjoy the opportunity to convey knowledge, clarify understanding, and correct misunderstanding.  I am a teacher first and foremost, and I believe strongly that my responsibility to my students, to assist them in mastering the material, does not come to an abrupt end at the conclusion of our final class period.  I remain available and accessible until the exam begins, addressing concerns in person or via telephone or email.  There may be reasons to adopt a gag rule, but neither of the two reasons stated above convince me to change my ways.  (This may be the only point on which I respectfully disagree with the authors, and I continue to highly recommend their book to new, and not so new, professors.)

How about you?  Which path do you travel?  Am I walking alone on this one?

Full post as published by The Faculty Lounge on April 26, 2010 (boomark / email).