Journal Articles

Flowcharts Facilitate Learning I:  Using Flowcharts to Engage Visual, Aural, and Kinesthetic Learners While Energizing Classroom Discussions, manuscript in preparation.

Provides an overview of the various VAK Learning Style Theories.  Examines how flow charts can be used or adapted to assist students whose preferred method of information intake visual, aural, or kinesthetic to help these students better comprehend and adapt to the demands of law school.

Flowcharts Facilitate Learning II:  Using Flowcharts to Engage All Meyers-Briggs’ Temperament Indicator Learners While Energizing Classroom Discussions, manuscript in process.

Provides an overview of the Learning Style Theories based on the Myers Briggs Temperament Indicator.  Discusses how flow charts are the preferred method of information intake for different styles in each theory.  Examines how flow charts can be used to assist students whose preferred method of information intake is not flowcharts to help these students better adapt to the demands of law school.

Facilitating Peer Collaboration Via Structured Study Groups Using Wiki Technology, manuscript in process.

Discusses how writing professors can use wiki technology to facilitate peer collaboration.  Suggests using structured peer feedback to optimize peer learning through collaboration.

Do First Semester Law Students Understand Learning and Exam Objectives:  A Comparison between Faculty Course and Assessment Objectives and Student’s Perceptions Prior to First Semester Exams, manuscript update in preparation.

Evaluates how well first semester, pre-exam 1Ls understand both the learning and exam objectives by comparing student and faculty responses to both open ended and content-given questions.  Also examines student’s sources of learning objectives.  The goal of this study is to provide educators information about which they can use to teach students how to be better students.

Current Status of Rape Reform Legislation II: A 50 State Statutory Survey of Rape Law, manuscript update in preparation.

Analyzes current rape law practices against 27 different measures across all 50 states for how much improvement rape law has made since the beginning of the feminist movement.  Follows up and expands Bienens’ 1976 survey and Searles and Burgers 1986 survey, both of which examined how far much the women’s rights movement had influenced rape law.  Follow up articles will analyze the impact the Violence Against Women’s Act had on changing Rape law using my own 1996 statutory dataset.

Environmental Impacts of the Beef and Dairy Industry:  An Examination of the US Western Rangeland Policy, manuscript update in preparation.

Examines how current federal western grazing land policies negatively impact the environment with respect to habitat destruction, water pollution, air pollution, and global warming.  Discusses possible policy changes and the impacts they would have on national and international markets, culture, and the environment.

Judicial Restraint Catch 22:  The Inevitability of Judicial Activism Within Our Current Framework of Judicial Philosophies, manuscript in preparation.

Demonstrates the inherent conflict between judicial restraint philosophies using traditional “activist” opinions.  Discusses the contradictory uses of the term judicial activism.  Provides the foundation for future research that analyzes Justices’ activism toward their own stated philosophies and priorities of judicial restraint.

Moderated Legal Blog Submissions

Another View of Wikis in Classrooms, Law School Innovation Blog, 15 November 2007.

Discusses benefits of implementing wiki technology within courses and Academic Success Programs to facilitate collaborative learning, disseminate sample exams and answers, and reduce the time it takes professors to provide writing feedback.

Eliminate Writing Programs or Make Every Class a Writing Class?, Legal Writing Prof Blog, 9 November 2007.

Responds to Professor Gordon’s Smith’s suggestion to eliminate legal writing courses, law journals, and moot court competitions from law school offerings by arguing that students should have more opportunities to improve their writing through feedback. 

An Interesting Take on Scoring Class Participation (Strategies to Encourage Class Participation), Law School Innovation Blog, 5 November 2006.

Discusses strategies for increasing class participation in ways that rewards students for participating and encouraging all students to participate in classroom discussions.

(Student Time Management) Tip from Professor Burgess, Law School Academic Support Blog, 28 October 2007.

Provides a book resource and tips on time management in law school.

Response to the Grading Diet, Legal Writing Prof Blog, 16 October 2007.

Discusses strategies for scheduling assignments while teaching multiple sections or multiple classes that involve writing assignments to maximize the professor’s ability to provide extensive feedback on improving student writing.

Thank Someone Who Helped You Make It Law School Academic Support Blog, 16 October 2007. 

Reminds the academic support community to thank their mentors.

Using Minute Papers to Assess Student Understanding Mid-Semester, Law School Academic Support Blog, 17 September 2007.

Discusses using short, minute long, feedback papers to assess student understanding of material mid-semester.

New ASP Wiki Announced, In Review.

Announces location and purpose of a wiki available to Academic Support Professionals.

Summary of Williams’ Style and Craft Books, In Review.

Provides a brief summary of Joseph Williams’ Style:  The Basics of Clarity and Grace and The Craft of Argument books and how they might benefit law students.

Moderated Wiki Contributions

Editor-In-Chief, ASP Wiki, 2007 – Present.

Contribute resources, links, and information for the Academic Support Community. Manage content submitted by other members of the Academic Support Community.  Administer the availability and security of the ASP Wiki.

Exam Accommodations for ESL Students, ASP Wiki, 6 November 2007.

Discuss possible solutions for English as Second Language Students when taking exams.  Provide overview of and links to randomly selected schools’ policies.

ASP Resources, ASP Wiki, 6 November 2007.

Maintain a list of resources available to the Academic Support Community.

Technical Manuals

Using the Dunham Telescope, (co-author/editor), published by the Astronomy Department at the University of Chicago.

Introduction to Astrophysics Laboratory Manual, (co-author/editor), published by the Astronomy Department at the University of Chicago.