FIRMS (Updated)

On the first day of class students will be assigned to a team or "firm" of 4-6 students, through a transparent selection process designed to produce diverse groups of teams. These teams will sit together for all classes. On quiz days, after individual responses are tallied through the response device system ("clickers"), for some questions the instructor will set aside time for team discussion after which individual students will be able to respond again, and the second answer will be counted along with the first. Studies of team-based-learning indicate that effectively functioning teams will usually outperform individual student scores. Other tasks will regularly be assigned for teamwork during class time.

The quiz score total for the semester will be adjusted to include a component that reflects * the quality of your own assessment of your fellow firm members. **

• The Instructor can add 1-3 points to your total quiz points for the excellence of the peer evaluation memo you fill out (see Glesner-Fines, p. 7-8)
• or subtract 1-5 points for a poor peer evaluation memo (so a student could end up losing points from the cumulative quiz score)
  

For more information on the application of team-based learning to teaching Professional Responsibility, see Reading 4 assigned for Class One (Glesner-Fines).

* Deleted from prior policy:
*" both what your fellow firm members think of your contribution to the work of the firm and"

**"The peer evaluation score will be calculated as the average of scores assigned by other members of your team (each student has a total points to assign equal to 3 times the number of team members, e.g. 18 points for a team of six)."