Teaching at Penn State Law

Getting Started

Welcome to Penn State Law. We hope the following information is useful to you as you prepare to teach. If you have any questions after reading this information, please consult the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.

Penn State ID Number and Access Account

You will need a Penn State ID number (a 9-digit number used to identify you in various PSU systems in lieu of your Social Security Number) and Access Account for a variety of purposes, including accessing the Penn State's course management system called Canvas. A PSU ID and Access Account (which will also serve as your email address) will be created as part of the hiring process at Penn State Law.  Questions regarding the hiring process at Penn State Law may be directed to the Human Resource Office in Katz Building.

Academic Affairs

Most information that you will want to know about the academic affairs of the law school is available on our website. Information on the website includes the academic calendar, exam schedule and grading policies. Please contact the Academic Affairs office with academic questions you may have.

Preparing Your Course

Final Assessments: Exam vs. Paper

You must decide on the method you will use to evaluate students in your course before the course opens for student registration. You can have students take a final exam during the scheduled exam period, or you can have students submit one or more written projects, interim quizzes, or other assignments. Academic Affairs will request this information from you as the semester course schedule is prepared.  We need to know your method of evaluation to provide students with this information in the registration materials and to plan the exam schedule before registration opens. If you choose to evaluate students on the basis of a final paper, you should plan to require students to produce 10 pages per credit (exclusive of endnotes). If you choose a final examination, you should plan for a two and a half or three hour exam period for a three credit course.

Anonymous Grading

Most final exams are graded anonymously, however, you may take class participation into account in assigning the final grade for the course. Our law school Registrar  will communicate the process for grading, including adding participation points. You should feel free to contact the Registrar at any time regarding the grading process. Papers are typically not graded anonymously.

Letter Grade vs. Pass/Fail

You may permit your students to elect to receive a pass/fail grade in your course. Academic Affairs will request this information from you as the  semester course schedule is prepared. If you permit students to take your course on a pass/fail basis, you will not know which students have made this election. You would submit letter grades for all students to the law school Registrar at the end of the semester. For students who have elected to take your course pass/fail, the Registrar will record a grade of “pass” or “fail.”

Choose Your Course Materials

Law publishers will provide complimentary copies of casebooks and other commercially available course materials for your review. Book publisher information is located here.

If you would like to compile a course packet for sale in the University bookstore please compile the material for inclusion in the course packet and forward it as a pdf document to the University's Copyright Clearance Office.  The email address is coursepacks@psu.edu and the phone number is (814) 865-7544. Staff in that office will  obtain the copyright clearance for the material, compile it in a book, send you a copy and send the remaining copies to the bookstore for students to order.

When you decide on materials for the course, they should be entered into the AIP system . You can reach the bookstore at (814) 863-4373.

Syllabus Development

Suggestions for inclusion on your course syllabus:

• Course title, code, section, day/time and room
• Instructor name and contact information
• Instructor office hours
• Week-by-week course agenda, assignments, readings
• Grading information
• How the course will be evaluated, paper(s), final exam during exam period, project(s), take home exam etc.
• Faculty Statement of Learning Outcomes and Policy on Course Learning Objectives
• Course material (textbook(s), course packs etc.) requirements and recommendations
• Attendance policy and repercussions for failure to abide by the policy
• Class recording policy
• Reminder about Academic Integrity
• Statement about plagiarism
• University Statement on Students with Disabilities
• Information on available Counseling & Psychological Services
• Reporting Educational Equity Concerns through the Report Bias site

Sample Syllabus

Training or Questions on Use of Classroom Technology

For training or questions related to the use of classroom technology, please contact the law school's instructional technology staff at av@pennstatelaw.psu.edu. After you have obtained, and activated, your PSU Access Account please review the law school policy regarding class recordings. Prior to teaching any course for the first time, notify the AV team of your choice for student access to recordings in that course. Your choice will remain in effect for future semesters unless you notify the team of a different choice. Contact av@pennstatelaw.psu.edu with questions related to the recording of class sessions.

Library

To reserve materials in the library or access research databases, contact a member of the library staff.

Faculty Support

If you need administrative support while you are in the law school building, contact one of our faculty assistants.  You may also email our faculty support email account for assistance.

Faculty Class Absence Procedure

If you unexpectedly need to cancel a class, as soon as possible, notify the faculty support staff and your students.  Our faculty support staff will place a sign at your classroom; they can also assist you with rescheduling, if necessary. 

Parking

If you wish to park in the law school parking lot, you will need a University issued parking permit. Parking permits may be purchased by contacting our Business Service Director.

Penn State Law Department Directory

To locate anyone in any department at the law school, visit our Department Directory.