Law 741. Law & Education Online - Summer Term 2019
Course Description
This online course focuses on legal issues in K-12 public
education. Topics will include student and teacher free
speech rights both in school and on social media, the
constitutionality of student dress codes, prayer in the
schools, religious exemptions from mandatory immunizations,
searches of student lockers and other personal belongings,
due process limits on student discipline, integration of the
public schools, and constitutional issues concerning school
funding and access to education. The casebook for the course
is prepared by the instructor and will be available at no
cost as a PDF. There are no prerequisites for this course.
(Limited to 16 students) This course will be taught online.
(Take-Home Final Exam)
Notice:
Our first class is on Tuesday night May 21th starting at 6
p.m. To try out the software, I will be online in our
classroom on Thursday, May 16th at 6 p.m., the Thursday
before our first class. I hope as many of you as can will
join me at that time so we can test out our access to the
classroom, our microphones, some of the pods I will be
using, and other aspects of the software. Steve Narmontas,
the Director of Educational Technology and Training at the
University will join us in this pre-semester session to
troubleshoot issues that arise. I hope by holding this
session, our class on Tuesday will be able to focus on the
first reading assignment rather than issues with the
technology.
Syllabus:
The syllabus contains a list of assignments for the semester, grading information, attendance policies, and other information about the course.Questions Before Class
In addition to the reading, there are a series of questions
in connection with each assignment that you should attempt
to answer prior to class to help you prepare for class
discussion. You do not need to write out your answers. These
questions are listed by assignment number. They will be
posted several classes in advance on the Questions Before Class
page.
Classroom Material:
All material shared during the online classes
will be available to students throughout the semester on the
classroom material
page.
Exam Preparation Materials
Below are two exam questions from my past Constitutional
Law exams, an equal protection question and a question with
both due process and equal protection issues. Each question
is followed by a detailed grading sheet with allocations of
specific points to various parts of the legal arguments that
are available on behalf of the parties. While these
questions are not from past Law and Education exams, since
every student in the class has taken Constitutional Law, I
think the posted material will be helpful in understanding
my grading process.
Equal
Protection Review Question
Equal Protection Review Question Grading Sheet
Equal
Protection/Due Process Review Question
Equal
Protection/Due Process Review Question Grading Sheet
Below is a link to a document that details methods for
improving your exam performance. It is a general description
rather than geared toward any specific subject area.
Improving Your Exam
Performance
Below are a sample exam question, a model answer, and a
grading sheet from my First Amendment Rights course
materials. This question does not involve student speech in
a public school setting and therefore it does not utilize
the forms of First Amendment analysis included in the Law
and Education course. However, since we have studied some
aspects of the First Amendment Free Speech Clause, I thought
it might be useful material.
Optional Reading Material:
In addition to the assigned reading, I have prepared a list of links to material related to each chapter of the required reading as well as some additional categories of links. This list of optional class material will be updated frequently.E-Mail Addresses
I am in the process of obtaining email addresses for student in the class and I will be sending an email with information about me and about the course as well as a link to a "getting to know you" questionnaire I would like students to fill out in advance of class. If you do not receive email at your law school email address, please contact me to provide me with your preferred address. My email address is lharpaz@lharpaz.com and there is an email link in the side bar of this page as well as at the bottom of the page. Please contact me with any questions about the course and any difficulties you have accessing course materials.Adobe Connect
The online classes for this
course will use Adobe Connect software. For information
about Adobe Connect, you should consult the informational
TWEN page for summer online classes. It includes
instructions to help you use Adobe Connect, a video to
help as well, and contact information for technology
support.