As a Last Resort, Ask the Students: What They Say Makes Someone an Effective Law Teacher

There is an adage among doctors that “as a last resort, ask the patient.” It is a not so facetious reference to the observation that because doctors are so highly educated and trained, they can start to believe they know what’s best for their patients better than the patients themselves. Consequently, these doctors may discount, or altogether ignore, the opinions of the very people they are suppose to be helping. The same observation could be made about the law professor-student relationship. Unlike doctors, though, our relationship with students is hierarchical, and thus we may be even less inclined to “ask the patients” for their opinions about how best to help them. To be sure, a teacher’s job is to establish, often unilaterally, appropriate classroom rules and requirements. Indeed, if teachers gave students an equal voice in all such decisions, students might never show up for class or do the assigned work. At the other extreme, it is a serious mistake to exclude students from the dialogue about how best to teach them because their input can only serve to better inform our own judgment about how to improve the overall quality of classroom instruction.1 To that end, this article discusses the results of a student survey I conducted at two schools, the University of Colorado School of Law (CU) and William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Las Vegas, Nevada (UNLV), during the spring and summer of 2002, respectively, that asked students to give their opinions about what makes someone an effective, and conversely an ineffective, law school teacher. In particular, the survey focused on asking students to identify the personality traits, personal characteristics, and classroom behaviors that make someone a good teacher. Students were asked to rate the importance of several characteristics generally associated with good teaching, such as respect for students, holding students to high standards, and teacher friendliness. The survey also included open-ended questions that asked students to explain in their own words what they believe makes someone a good, as well as a poor, teacher. This article, and the survey results discussed infra, are premised on the notion that teaching consists of two components. There is an instructional component which refers to the instructional techniques teachers use to facilitate learning, such as the Socratic method, syllabus design, and modes of performance assessment such as exams. The second component is the socio-emotional one, which refers to the teacher’s ability to influence learning through the emotional milieu she creates in the classroom based on her rapport and interaction with students. It is this aspect of law school teaching that this article explores. The purpose of the survey was to provide some feedback to law school teachers interested in improving their own classroom emotional intelligence skills

High Glucose-enhanced Acetylcholine Stimulated CGMP Masks Impaired Vascular Reactivity in Tail Arteries from Short-Term Hyperglycemic Rats

Impaired vascular endothelium-dependent relaxation and augmented contractile responses have been reported in several models of long-term hyperglycemia. However, the effects of short-term ambient hyperglycemia are poorly understood. Since oxidative stress has been implicated as a contributor to impaired vascular function, we investigated the following

Approaches for advancing scientific understanding of macrosystems

The emergence of macrosystems ecology (MSE), which focuses on regional- to continental-scale ecological patterns and processes, builds upon a history of long-term and broad-scale studies in ecology. Scientists face the difficulty of integrating the many elements that make up macrosystems, which consist of hierarchical processes at interacting spatial and temporal scales. Researchers must also identify the most relevant scales and variables to be considered, the required data resources, and the appropriate study design to provide the proper inferences. The large volumes of multi-thematic data often associated with macrosystem studies typically require validation, standardization, and assimilation. Finally, analytical approaches need to describe how cross-scale and hierarchical dynamics and interactions relate to macroscale phenomena. Here, we elaborate on some key methodological challenges of MSE research and discuss existing and novel approaches to meet them

Burden and Rates of Treatment and Control of Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors in Obesity: The Framingham Heart Study

OBJECTIVE— Obesity is associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). We sought to determine rates of treatment and control of CVD risk factors among normal weight, overweight, and obese individuals in a community-based cohort

RACE-IT - Rapid Acute Coronary Syndrome Exclusion using the Beckman Coulter Access high-sensitivity cardiac troponin I: A stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial

Background: Protocols utilizing high-sensitivity cardiac troponin (hs-cTn) assays for the evaluation of suspected acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in the emergency department (ED) have been gaining popularity across the US and the world. These protocols more rapidly rule-out ACS and more accurately identify the presence of acute myocardial injury. At this time, few randomized trials have evaluated the safety and operational impact of these assays, resulting in limited evidence to guide the use and implementation of hs-cTn in the ED. Objective: The main study objective is to test the effectiveness of a rapid ACS rule-out pathway using hs-cTnI in safely discharging patients from the ED for whom clinical suspicion for ACS exists. Design: This prospective, implementation trial (n = 11,070) will utilize a stepped wedge cluster randomized trial design. The design will allow for all participating sites to capture benefit from the implementation of the hs-cTnI pathway while providing data evaluating the effectiveness in providing safe and rapid evaluation of patients with clinical suspicion for ACS. Summary: Demonstrating that clinical pathways using hs-cTnI can be effectively implemented to rapidly rule-out ACS while conserving costly hospital resources has significant implications for the care of patients with possible acute cardiac conditions in EDs across the US. Clinicaltrialsgov identifier: NCT04488913

Detailed Structure of a CDW in a Quenched Random Field

Using high resolution x-ray scattering, we have measured the structure of the Q_1 CDW in Ta-doped NbSe_3. Detailed line shape analysis of the data demonstrates that two length scales are required to describe the phase-phase correlation function. Phase fluctuations with wavelengths less than a new length scale $a$ are suppressed and this $a$ is identified with the amplitude coherence length. We find that xi_a* = 34.4 \pm 10.3 angstroms. Implications for the physical mechanisms responsible for pinning are discussed.Comment: revtex 3.0, 3 postscript uuencoded figure

Opportunities to implement a sustainable genomic medicine program: lessons learned from the IGNITE Network

PURPOSE: While there is growing scientific evidence for and significant advances in the use of genomic technologies in medicine, there is a significant lag in the clinical adoption and sustainability of genomic medicine. Here we describe the findings from the National Human Genome Research Institute's (NHGRI) Implementing GeNomics In pracTicE (IGNITE) Network in identifying key constructs, opportunities, and challenges associated with driving sustainability of genomic medicine in clinical practice. METHODS: Network members and affiliates were surveyed to identify key drivers associated with implementing and sustaining a genomic medicine program. Tallied results were used to develop and weigh key constructs/drivers required to support sustainability of genomic medicine programs. RESULTS: The top three driver-stakeholder dyads were (1) genomic training for providers, (2) genomic clinical decision support (CDS) tools embedded in the electronic health record (EHR), and (3) third party reimbursement for genomic testing. CONCLUSION: Priorities may differ depending on healthcare systems when comparing the current state of key drivers versus projected needs for supporting genomic medicine sustainability. Thus we provide gap-filling guidance based on IGNITE members' experiences. Although results are limited to findings from the IGNITE network, their implementation, scientific, and clinical experience may be used as a road map by others considering implementing genomic medicine programs