HIST 340: American Legal History—A Peer Review of Teaching Project Inquiry Portfolio

This inquiry portfolio measures the success of revisions made to HIST 340: American Legal History after a previous benchmark portfolio revealed a number of problems in communicating to students the importance and meaning of the course objectives, in correlating assessments to the final grade, and in documenting student learning and quality of instruction. The findings, outlined below, indicate that identifying a clear course theme; more strongly aligning readings, assessments, and discussions to course objectives; and restructuring the verbal and written analysis of readings dramatically improved students’ performance and satisfaction. Measures used include formal and informal student evaluations of instruction, formal and informal written assessments of students’ reading comprehension, and quantitative analysis of student grades, evaluations, and assignment correlations. This portfolio is part of a larger effort to strengthen legal history instruction and broaden legal history course offerings in UNL’s History Department