Robert Prentice is correct about the rankings.  My original message was
based on our accounting dept meeting and a very quick look at the
PowerPoint slides.

The entire Albrecht/Sack report is on the AAA website now, along with the
PowerPoint slides.  The entire report is 72 pages and can be printed out
from the website.

See http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/

for AAA home page; the report is at

http://aaahq.org/pubs/AESv16/toc.htm

I still think the report has information that helps us argue for an
expanded role for business law in accounting and business education.  For
example, the authors' focus-group participants and survey respondents told
the authors that:

1) "There is too much emphasis on memorization...."

(page 53 of the report)

2) "There is too much lecture, reliance on textbooks as course drivers, and
'faculty knows best' attitude."

(page 53)

3) "We [accounting educators] are reluctant to develop creative types of
learning, such as team work, assignments with real companies, case
analysis, oral presentations, role playing, team teaching, technology
assignments, videos,
writing assignments, involving business professionals in the classroom, and
studying current events."

(page 53)

One focus group participant said "I don't think the purpose of education is
to teach specific content.  I think it's to teach students how to think and
how to navigate their way through new experiences...."

(page 54)

-----
It seems to me that modern business law education is responsive to many of
these criticisms.  From attending the ALSB meetings, I get the impression
that many if not most business law professors de-emphazize memorization,
preferring to foster analytical skills; use materials beyond the textbook;
use creative methods of learning, including many of those listed in
paragraph 3 above.  Doesn't business law teaching almost always use case
analysis?  Many business law teachers use oral presentations by students
and writing assignments in their courses.  Alan Roline (at the U of.
Minnesota) and others in the ALSB have published books and articles about
using the internet in business law courses.  Many of us have used video in
class for years.   And I think most (if not all) of us who teach business
law talk about current legal events in our classes (from OJ Simpson's
criminal and civil trials, to Clinton's impeachment trial, to US v.
Microsoft, to People v. Marty McSorley, to Napster, and beyond).

Dan Levin
Minnesota State


Dan Levin
Assistant Professor of Business Law
Minnesota State University, Mankato
Dept. of Accounting and Business Law
Morris Hall 150
Mankato, MN 56001
(507)-389-1827
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