To: CLS Participants
From: Nicholas Johnson
Re: Credits and Exams
As you are aware, our joint adventure is a little unusual -- some would say bizarre.
Originally, playing by law school rules, the class was limited to eight seminar participants. Additional students were wait listed. Then, when it turned out there were over 30 who wanted to take the class, we bent the rules and created what is, in effect, two courses: (1) a conventional class with readings, discussion, and a final exam (in which most of you are enrolled). ("Conventional" to the degree anything called "cyberspace law," taught without a casebook, can be considered conventional.) And (2) an additional class within that class -- although scarcely a "seminar" in the traditional sense -- made up of a handful of you who will be writing papers.
You are wondering -- shucks, I have been wondering -- "How is this going to work?"
After talking with my law school administration guru, Deb Paul, here is what the two of us have worked out.
(1) The procedure is simple for those of you who are not signed up for writing credit. You will do the readings, take the quizzes, participate in discussion, take a final at the end of the semester, and receive two academic credits and a grade based on all of the above (90 percent final; 10 percent all other). (And recall the contents of the memo on our Web page headed "'Assignments, First Class Meeting' (January 10, 2000; hardcopy mail slots and e-mail distribution)" which makes reference to attendance and other requirements.)
(2) Those of you who are signed up for writing credit . . .
(a) will be doing virtually none of the work normally undertaken by seminar students (except for writing a paper), and will, therefore, be doing somewhat more of the regular class work in exchange for the academic credits you will receive.
(b) You will do the same as those who are not writing with regard to what is specified in (1), above. Like the others, you will also receive two academic credits for doing so.
(c) Your final exam, however, will be somewhat different. You will be already demonstrating your ability to do a substantial amount of writing. That is, on the assumption you meet the deadlines and do, in fact, have your paper in "final, final draft" by the end of the semester. If you do, your final exam will consist only of those portions of the exam other than "essay."
(d) For writing a satisfactory, Web-published paper you will receive, in addition to the two academic credits just mentioned [1] an additional one, or two, academic credits, and [2] one or two "writing credits." The number of such credits, as laid out in the Student Handbook, turns on the length of your paper. I now have from the main office a registration list that indicates the total number of academic credits you are getting for the course. Until you notify me to the contrary, I am assuming it is accurate. (That is, if it indicates three (or four) credits I assume you are writing, and a paper of the length required by the credits indicated -- and are, therefore, following the deadline/mileposts schedule laid out in the Web-posted memo "'Seminar Papers Procedure and Deadlines' (January 17, 2000; Web posted only with e-mail alert).")
(e) Your grade for the course (all your academic credits) will consist 80 percent of the grade on your paper (as discounted for missed deadlines in accordance with the "Seminar Papers Procedure and Deadlines" memo, above) and 20 percent of your combined grades for the quizzes and such portions of the final exam as those writing papers will take.