I permit open book, open notes, etc.  The students can use any resource that they want.  The way that the tests are structured--one IRAC and M/C questions following a series of fact patterns--the materials do not help if they have not studied.  I encourage the students to make an outline and then have their notes and text there to help them with more detail.  I really try to stress that they have to synthesize and process the material on their own--that the exam measures their critical thinking skills, not their ability to memorize.  The average final grade in my class varies from a C+ to B-, but that is with a fair amount of extra credit.  
 
Jordan T.L. Halgas, J.D.
Assistant Professor
California State University, Sacramento
College of Business Administration
6000 J Street
Sacramento, California 95819-6088
(916) 278-7085
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________________________________

From: Dan Levin [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Fri 10/21/2005 9:43 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Open Book Exams in Intro Undergrad LEB course



Greetings ALSBers, 

i am interested in knowing whether any of you give open book tests in 
the introductory undergraduate Legal Environment course.  I am 
thinking about moving to an open book approach and would like to get 
some idea of what profs who have done this have experienced.  Also, I 
suspect open book tests in that course are rare, and wonder if that 
suspicion is true. 

Thanks, 
Dan Levin 
-- 
Daniel A. Levin, JD, MBA 
Associate Professor of Business Law 
Minnesota State University, Mankato 
Dept. of Accounting & Business Law 
Morris Hall 150 
Mankato, MN 56001 
507.389.1827 
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