To Semesterize or to Not Semesterize

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The significant changes to the 1L curriculum are designed to address problems with student workload, learning, and stress. This year, I was the 1L student on the Curriculum Committee that made the recommendations.  Overall, I am in support of the changes. 

These changes include making admin an upper year course, adding a credited LRW course, a two-week ungraded Legal Methods course in August, an extra week of regular classes in each term in 1L, and semesterizing all classes except for small group.  While there is some concern about elements of all proposed changes, I will focus this article on semesterization.

Early in the process, the Committee identified a number of concerns with semesterization.  These included a desire to avoid mid-semester exams (to reduce student stress and professor grading), concerns that students that have a more relevant background would be better prepared, and that fewer marks after first term would increase the randomness in 1L hiring.

These and other concerns have been largely addressed.  The largest outstanding concern is that students will learn better when they have an entire year to engage with the material.  Although some people argue that the semester model will improve student learning by giving students more time to focus on one subject, I still expect that semesterization will adversely affect students’ learning.  I think the loss of real time for engaging with the material (including reviewing first semester material twice for exams) is greater than the added benefits from being able to concentrate on a single course.

Yet overall I supported semesterization because I believe that it is better for student stress levels and student wellbeing.  If something happens that causes a student to get completely overwhelmed, only a single semester is at stake instead of a full year.  There is also a hope that fewer exams will reduce student stress, as will only needing to recall material from the past four months instead of the past eight.

There are certainly counter arguments to both these claims.  We don’t have information that can prove that semesterization will improve student health and wellbeing.  Yet we know there is currently a serious (and increasing) problem.  I think we need to make an attempt to address these problems.  And I think there is reason to believe that semesterization will help.

Despite the student learning and wellbeing concerns that motivated the change, I strongly agree with arguments that semesterization is not an adequate solution to either problem.  At the faculty council meeting, Professor Phillips criticised the argument that semesterization would improve student wellbeing on the basis that debt and tuition are greater causes of stress. Professor L Katz highlighted how she was improving her student’s learning by providing review exercises after every unit in property.  She argued that professors could significantly improve the quality of student learning by similarly providing more opportunities for feedback.

While I think that there is an overall benefit from the curricular reforms from improved student wellbeing, either Professor Phillips’ or Professor Katz’s suggestion would independently do more to improve the 1L experience.

 

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