Using TWEN to Reach Evening Students
by Larry Cunningham
recently taught courses in the part-time evening
divisions of Texas Wesleyan University School of Law
and Stetson University College of Law. Part-time
students are a pleasure to teach in many respects. Most
exhibit a tremendous dedication to their studies, particularly
since many part-time students also work full-time jobs and
have families. Yet teaching this group of students presents
some unique challenges for the professor because the
students' chaotic and busy schedules can impair communication. They often study at times-weekends or late at
night, for example-when I am not available in my office to
answer questions. Students may also live or work far from
the physical law school building, so getting access to the
library or to my office may be challenging. This article
discusses my use of The West Education Network (TWEN),
a free, electronic service of West and Westlaw, to better
communicate with my part-time evening students.
TWEN is an on-line meeting space where students and
faculty in a course can exchange documents, engage in live
chats, respond to one another's posts in discussion forums,
take quizzes, and link to live research and news on Westlaw.
A similar product is offered by LexisNexis and uses the
Blackboard system. Other universities have a site license
for a similar, standalone product called WebCT. Many of
the features of TWEN that I will discuss here are also
available on Lexis and WebCT.
When I create a course on TWEN, I typically begin by
adding several discussion forums. These allow students or
me to post messages, much like placing notes on a bulletin
board. Participants can read and respond to these notes on
their own time. This fonn of communication is "asynchronous" since the poster and the reader do not need to be online at the same time-an advantage for evening students
given their hectic schedules. Unless deleted by the course
administrator (me), posts are penn anent. A user can go back
and reference earlier announcements or posts without
having to sort through their e-maiL The discussion forums
that I typically create are:
I
Course Announcements - Here I post administrative
announcements, such as class cancellations or
changes to a reading assignment.
Ask the Prof- a place for students to ask me or their
classmates questions. TWEN has a feature that
allows users to post anonymously to forums. I turn
on this feature for this forum to allow students to ask
the proverbial "dumb" question without fear of embarrassment. Often, I find that students will answer
each other's questions before I get a chance to.
Questions also lead to further debate or discussion
about a topic.
Additional Class Discussion - I teach Criminal Law,
a hot-button topic that frequently generates lively
class discussion. I encourage students to use this
forum to continue the discussions we have in class.
12-THE LAW TEACHER
Since TWEN is seamlessly linked to Westlaw, users
can link to judicial decisions or news articles. The
forums are threaded, which means that all of the posts
on a given topic can be grouped together for easy
vIewmg.
The discussion forums are particularly suited for
evening students since it allows them to communicate with
me and with each other at any time or any place they have
access to a computer and the Internet. They need not worry
about catching me during office hours, since I can just as
easily answer a question on-line. An advantage over regular
e-mail is that students can see questions their classmates
have asked and what my responses were. (Obviously I also
make myself available via phone, e-mail, and office hours
for students who prefer to talk privately.)
TWEN also has a synchronous communication feature
that is similar to a "chat room." To use the chat room, all
participants must be on-line at the same time. I have used
this feature to meet with study groups during their lunch
hours or on the weekends. Each user can log on from the
convenience of their horne or workplace.
I also create a number of "document pages." These are
repositories or folders for files of any imaginable typeWord documents, PowerPoint presentations, Excel spreadsheets, or even audio or video. My part-time students have
reacted favorably to receiving handouts in electronic fonn,
since it allows them to access the files during their lunch
break, at home, or on the weekend. I likewise group these
pages by category:
Syllabus - for easy downloading before the first day
of class. I require students to register for TWEN by
telling them that this is where they will find the
syllabus, which in turn has the reading assignment
for the first day of class.
Class Handouts
PowerPoint Slides
Old Exams - I have myoId exams scanned into PDF
fonn. Students can view these at their leisure, without
worrying about when the library is open.
The quiz feature can be educationally beneficial,
although time-consuming to create. A professor can create a
quiz that consists of multiple-choice questions. I typically
post a quiz for each major subject we cover in class,
although I do not count the results towards students' final
grades. I do have the ability to see their results, although
students cannot see how each other did. I can also track
how the class as a whole has done on particular questions.
The quizzes are time consuming to create initially, although
the interface is fairly easy to use. Once created, quizzes can
be saved for use in future semesters by "copying" the entire
course to a new semester.
Continued on page 13
Using TWEN
Continuedfrom page 12
The "Assignment Drop Box" feature has also been
helpful to part-time students. In lieu of coming to the law
school to submit a paper or other assignment, they can
submit it on-line. I can grade the submissions (anonymously if! select that option) and submit written feedback,
and students can retrieve their comments and grades, all online. This has an advantage over manual e-mail submissions because TWEN keeps all of the submissions in one
place. You do not have to wade in your inbox through
listserv postings, blog updates, and spam to find a student's
rough draft TWEN can even calculate a student's final
grade, if you tell it how much weight (e.g., 20%) to give to
a particular assignment and grade. Alternatively, grades can
be downloaded into a spreadsheet such as Excel.
Tied in with the Assignment Drop Box is the Calendar
feature, which allows the adruinistrator to post due dates,
reading assignments, and set e-mail reminders. If you
would like to set up individual, in-person meeting times, the
"Sign-up Sheet" function is particularly useful. You set the
available dates and times, and students can sign up for slots
on-line. Once a slot is filled, other students cannot sign up
for that time.
Instead ofrelying on the law school's listserv to send a
mass e-mail to students in a course, I use TWEN's e-mail
feature. It automatically generates a delivery receipt, a copy
of which is delivered to the sender's (my) e-mail box.
If you use any of the CALI lessons, you can link to
relevant ones directly from TWEN. There is also a forum to
add your own links to relevant sites. In my case, I typically
provide links to criminal law-related blogs and agency Web
sites.
TWEN is fully customizable, easy to use, and supported
by Westlaw's technical assistance department I have used
West's technical support several times and my questions
were answered quickly. On the user end, students have told
me that TWEN, Blackboard, and WebCt are all easy to use.
While TWEN and services like it cannot be a complete
substitute for face-to-face interaction, it can serve as a useful
supplement, particularly when teaching a class with busy
professionals who are going to school part-time.
Forfurther information
http://lawschool.westlaw.com/twen/
http://www.lexisnexis.comlZawschooliwebcourses/
http://www.webct.com/
[From] The Learned Hand
1. How do you respond to cynical comments, such as
saying that to be an effective lawyer you must be dishonest
or half-truthful?
I usually try to treat any student comment as a serious
matter. I first tell them that if such a question is being asked
in class, that attitude is certainly reflected in society as a
whole. I then ask them several things: (1.) If someone filmed
all of your conduct for a reality show, would you feel proud
of the way you acted as a attorney? (2) If you saw a $20 bill
sticking out of an ATM would you take it? Why or why not?
Then I say that the real ethical issues often arise when no
one else is looking. As the discussion winds down, I tell
them that being effective means being prepared and proud
of the way you hanclled the matter-not simply whether you
won or lost. The means do not justify the ends. Some good
lawyers will lose despite their efforts and some bad lawyers
will win despite their efforts.
Steve Friedland
Nova Southeastern University
Shepard Broad Law Center
In an old song, "The Last Time I Saw Richard," Joni
Mitchell makes the claim that cynics are romantics at heart,
romanticizing pain. When I hear a student make a cynical
remark, I remember that song. It seems to me that cynicism
is a protective device, a defense against distress and deep
disappointment, a way of saying "this can't hurt me because
I don't care." A student making a cynical remark is a student
in distress, contemplating a dark and depressing future. I see
and respond to the distressed human being. Because I teach
in the clinic and work one-on-one with students, I have the
opportunity to gauge what each student needs in the
moment. Usually the student needs compassion and acknowledgment of his or her worth and distress. By listening,
I find a way to shift the focus, to help the student see that
pain and distress are not the only facets of the law school
experience. I never try to make the student feel foolish for
making the cynical remark. They already do feel foolish, or
they wouldn't be saying cynical things.
Gail Hammer
Gonzaga University School ofLaw
THE LAW TEACHER-1.3