Welcome back to the Law School Toolbox podcast! Today, we’re talking about what different law schools are doing about grades in light of the COVID-19 new reality.
In this episode we discuss:
- Adapting to the new (and hopefully temporary) reality created by the coronavirus
- How different law schools plan to implement the pass/fail system
- Are any law schools still opting for traditional grades?
- What consequences can we expect as a result of pass/fail grading?
- Looking for internal motivation in the absence of competition over grades
Thanks for listening!
[Read more…] about Podcast Episode 238: Pass/Fail Grading in the Time of COVID-19
“I simply don’t have the time,” was a phrase I had prepared on the tip of my tongue anytime I found myself: going weeks without exercising, ignoring my personal development goals or justifying my inability to communicate with family and friends on a regular basis. This was a phrase that rolled off my tongue oftentimes without thought. I made this declaration without actually looking into my schedule because I just knew without a shadow of a doubt that if I didn’t have work to do, I certainly had a series that I needed to complete on Netflix, a social gathering I needed to attend or memes that I needed to review in my social media inbox. Three weeks ago however, the concept of insufficient time came to a screeching halt. The COVID-19 pandemic took hold of the nation and in response, schools and many businesses transitioned to a work from home format as a tenet of the new social distancing framework many states have now instituted for its residents. 
In the wake of the global outbreak of the novel coronavirus (or COVID-19), many law schools made the difficult choice to close their physical campus and transition exclusively to online course instruction. As of the date of this post, some law schools have yet to determine how to administer final exams and whether graduation ceremonies will be held for the class of 2020. This is an unprecedented set of circumstances that is understandably causing a lot of stress and anxiety for law students at a critical point in the spring semester.