Law School Survey of Student Engagement

Want to do well in law school? Try some extra face time with professors and fellow students.

A large-scale survey of law students found that those who interacted more with faculty members and classmates experienced benefits including keener critical and analytical thinking, writing and research skills, and ethical development.

That was one finding of the Law School Survey of Student Engagement, an annual study of law student satisfaction conducted by Indiana University's Center for Postsecondary Research, which surveyed more than 25,000 students at 81 schools.

The researchers found that students benefited from a variety of faculty interactions, including in-class discussions and timely feedback on their work. "Our analysis reveals that interaction with faculty relates significantly to students' perceptions of their own gains in both academic and personal dimensions," the authors wrote.

Not only did these interactions help students develop key legal skills; they also helped them earn better grades. Students who reported more interaction with their professors tended to be more satisfied with their law school experience.

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http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202584415825&slreturn=20130031092429