Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Flipping Roles in the Securities Regulation Classroom

Today, part of the assignment for my Securities Regulation students was to read a chapter in our casebook and, as assigned by me, come to class prepared to teach in  a three-to-five-minute segment a part of the assigned reading.  The casebook is Securities Regulation: Cases and Materials by Jim Cox, Bob Hillman, and Don Langevoort.  The chapter (Chapter 7, entitled "Recapitalization, Reorganizations, and Acquisitions") covers the way in which various typical corporate finance transactions are, are not, or may be offers or sales of securities that trigger registration under Section 5 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act").  I have used this technique for teaching this material before (and also use a student teaching method for part of my Corporate Finance course), and I really enjoy the class each time.

I find that the students understand the assigned material well (having already been through a lot of registration and exemption material in the preceding weeks) and embrace the responsibility of teaching me and each other.  I am convinced that they learn the material better and are more engaged with it because they have had to read it with a different intent driven by a distinct objective. For their brief teaching experience, each student needs to understand both the transaction at issue and the way in which it implicates, does not implicate, or may implicate 1933 Act registration requirements.  They do not disappoint in either respect, and I admit to being interested in their presentations and proud of them.

I also find that changing my role principally to that of a listener and questioner refreshes me.  I organize and orchestrate the general structure of the class meeting and come to class prepared with the knowledge of what needs to be brought out during the session.  But since I cannot control exactly what is said, I must listen and react and help create logical transitions and other links between the topics covered.  In addition, I can create visuals on the board to illustrate aspects of the "mini-lectures" (as I did today when a student was explaining a spin-off transaction).  I honestly have a lot of fun teaching this way.

There are, no doubt, many ways in which we can engage students in teaching course material in the classroom that may have similar benefits.  What are yours?  When and how do you use them to make them most effective?  Teach me!  :>)

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/business_law/2015/03/flipping-the-securities-regulation-classroom.html

Corporate Finance, Joan Heminway, Securities Regulation, Teaching | Permalink

Comments

Brilliant. My undergraduate senior seminar was handled in much the same way except that the entire topical progression was by student presentation of materials over the term of the course.

Posted by: Tom N. | Mar 26, 2015 8:02:47 AM

Sounds interesting. How many students are in this class? I do group presentations in my undergraduate business law classes, but as my class size grows, the presentations take up more and more time. I guess if you only have 20-30 students, this might be doable, but as the number creeps above 40 it seems like the time costs might outweigh the benefits. I think it is a great technique, I am just not sure if it is practical in my larger classes.

In my negotiation classes, about 40% of the class time is devoted role-playing/simulations, which leads to great learning outcomes, I think. The negotiations are done from Harvard or Northwestern cases and the students are required to draft and sign a bullet-point contract for each negotiation (if they get to a deal). I've started to do a bit more role playing in my business law classes as well.

Posted by: Haskell Murray | Mar 26, 2015 8:55:11 AM

Thanks, Tom N. Sounds like a fun seminar.

Haskell, the class varies in size, so I separate the chunks of material in different ways based on class size (which has varied from 7 to 23). This year, with my smallest class ever (7 students), each had to cover more material. So, a number of students have taken the whole 5 minutes. In larger classes, I pair or group people and give them more time.

The negotiation class teaching model sounds like an interesting one. Have you written about it here? Perhaps you should consider it . . . .

Posted by: joanheminway | Mar 26, 2015 10:34:11 AM

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