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Teaching Portal

Forms Due Prior to the Start of the Semester

  • Course Information Form -  Due shortly before the start of each semester. The specific date will be provided by e-mail each semester. Please refer to the Academic Calendar for semester start dates. 
    Prior to the start of the semester, you will be asked to complete the Course Information form for each of your courses. This form collects various information regarding your course, including the types of assessments, learning outcomes, as well as a syllabus (if applicable), for ABA compliance purposes.

    The system should allow you to access past forms that you have submitted in case you would like to refer to information you included in a past submission for the same course. If you are co-teaching a course, we only need one of the instructors to complete the form.

    Please also note that in addition to completing the form for traditional classroom courses, instructors must also complete the form for each Clinical course, Directed Research course, and Research Fellow course they are teaching. Instructors must complete the form themselves, and by doing so are certifying for ABA compliance purposes that the information is accurate. Faculty Assistants do not have access to complete Course Information forms for instructors.

    As you may remember from past semesters, the form requires you to fill in various information about your course(s), such as learning outcomes, information about class participation and assessments, and information justifying the course's credit hours. The form also requires you to upload your course syllabus before you can submit it (other than in Directed Research and Research Fellow courses) .
  • Course Books Application -  Appears in the course catalog to allow students to order course materials prior to the start of the semester. Typically due months in advance of the start of the semester. Due dates will be provided by the faculty assistant team.
  • Class Recording Request Form - Submit your class recording preference prior to the start of the semester. Approve any recording requests if you are not posting to Canvas. Due 3 business day before the start of the semester.
    Based on the course schedule, all courses (except classes held in LAW 3500 and all clinical courses) will automatically be recorded. If there are make-up classes or classes that have been rescheduled, please work with your faculty assistant to ensure that IT and the Registrar are notified.

    Class recordings help incentivize students to stay home when they are feeling sick, knowing that they can watch the recording of any class(es) they miss later. If you have any questions regarding class recordings, please reach out to IT or your faculty assistant.

    Please keep in mind that the use of Zoom is for recording only, and not for student attendance or remote instruction.

    Class Recordings via ZOOM
    • NOTE: If a clinical faculty member does want their clinical course recorded, please let IT know ASAP. Due to discussions regarding attorney/client during a clinical course, classes are not automatically recorded.
    • The equipment in LAW 3500 does not allow for classes to be automatically recorded. Please reach out to our IT team for assistance at help@law.uci.edu.

    Specifying your preferences to access the class recordings

    There are TWO CHOICES for sharing class recordings with students:
    • Post class recordings directly to Canvas, where they can be viewed by all enrolled students; and
    • Provide class recordings to individual students on a case-by-case basis through the Class Recording Request System.
    CANVAS
    Select this option if you will be following Teaching and Learning Committee’s recommendation to provide your class recordings for all students to access.
    • CANVAS - Instructor will post the recordings on Canvas. Students will not need to request approval to access recordings.
    NOTE: Selecting this option will prevent students from requesting any recordings for your class through the class recording system.

    CLASS RECORDING REQUEST SYSTEM
    Select one of the following options if you want your students to make individual requests for recordings that you will then have to approve before the link to the class recording is released.

    IMPORTANT NOTE: This system will allow students to access links to the course recordings that you have approved. It is important that you specify the correct preference. If a recording exists for a previous class, a student can request a link to the recorded class. If your preference does not require approval, the student will automatically receive the link to the class recording.

    These options do not require instructors to monitor their email inboxes for recording requests or to access the Class Recording Request System.
    • ALLOK - Student requests for any class recordings (past or future) will be auto-approved.
    • NEVER – Students will not be able to request access to a class recording. Class recordings will only be provided with a DSC-approved accommodation. Students must contact the DSC to request approval for class recordings.
    These options require instructors to monitor their email inboxes for recording requests and to approve/deny the requests through the Class Recording Request System.
    • ASK - Student requests require instructor approval before the system will give student access to the recording.
    • ALLOKNOTPAST - Student requests for future class recordings will be auto-approved; however, student requests for past recordings require instructor approval before access is granted.
  • Attendance App - All instructors should use the  UCI Law Attendance App to take daily attendance. Enter your word of the day for attendance and monitor attendance in class.

Forms Used Throughout the Semester

  • UCI Canvas - Your course page will be available through UCI Canvas (you will need your UCInetID and password to log in). Although your faculty assistant will help you manage content on the page, you may find the  UCI Canvas Help Center (UCI OIT) helpful. 
  • Class Recording Request Form  - Approve any recording requests if you are not posting your recordings to Canvas.
  • Attendance App - All instructors should use the  UCI Law Attendance App to take daily attendance. Enter your word of the day for attendance and monitor attendance in class.
    It is our best system for tracking class attendance, both from the Faculty Assistant efficiency/workload perspective, and for ABA compliance reasons. If you are a new instructor or have any questions about how to set up or use our attendance app, please contact your Faculty Assistant. For public health reasons, it is advisable not to disincentivize students from staying home if they have COVID-19 symptoms or are otherwise ill. Therefore, we encourage instructors to adopt attendance policies that do not penalize students for missing a class session due to illness.
  • Class Schedule Change Request  - Submit your make-up class session requests.
    To avoid conflicts that students may have with other courses and to enable students to plan their schedules, all instructors should hold class sessions at the times indicated in the official schedule of courses. If it becomes necessary to reschedule a course, the make-up session should be held in-person at a time and in a classroom approved by the Law School's Registrar. Please use the  Class Schedule Change Request form. If you have any questions regarding rescheduling, please contact the  Law Registrar team.
  • Grades, Rosters, and Exams  - Retrieve rosters, enter exam information, and enter grades.

    Beginning on August 1 for the fall semester and December 15 for the spring semester, you can monitor your class enrollment and view/print a photo roster by visiting the  grades/rosters web application (you will need your UCInetID and password to log in). Enrollment for upper-level classes can also be monitored through Canvas once the registration window opens. Please note that enrollment changes occur frequently through the first two weeks of instruction.

    This system is also used to enter the details of your midterm and final exams, as well as your final assigned grades.

  • Law Instructor/Course Evaluations  - Review any instructor/course evaluations for the past 6 semesters.
  • Law Instructor/Course Evaluations - PRINT  - Retrieve YOUR instructor/course evaluations to print.

Teaching-Related Resources

Overview of Key Teaching Policies

All instructors are expected to teach all class sessions in person in the assigned classroom (unless UCI’s Office of Disability Management Services has determined that remote instruction is required as a health or disability accommodation). All students are expected to attend all class sessions in person (unless UCI’s Disability Services Center has determined that remote instruction is required for a student as a health or disability accommodation). Instructors should not permit students to attend class sessions remotely. If they miss a class session due to illness or otherwise, they should be encouraged to view a recording of the session. These policies help ensure the Law School’s compliance with ABA Accreditation Standards, and they help ensure students may receive credit for their courses under those Standards and sit for the bar in states such as New York that have policies requiring in-person courses. The ABA has officially ended its policy of allowing emergency variances to exempt courses offered remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic from the distance education limits in the ABA Standards.

We encourage in-person office hours. However, we understand some instructors may find Zoom office hours more effective for their students. If you do hold Zoom office hours, please keep in mind that the Law School has very few dedicated quiet, private spaces where students can participate in Zoom office hours while on campus. Students’ class schedules may not allow them to go home to participate in Zoom office hours in the middle of the day. If you do decide to hold Zoom office hours, you may want to consider scheduling them at the start of the day, at the end of the day, or at other times when your students have reasonable breaks between classes, or you may want to consider having a mix of in- person and Zoom office hours.

Effective June 2023, UCI rescinded its COVID-19 executive directives and discontinued UCI Forward (see Updates to COVID-19 protocols). Nevertheless, we recommend that you include language in your syllabus regarding COVID-19 and public health generally along the following lines:

Promoting a healthy environment at UCI Law is a collective effort of everyone in our community's students, staff, and faculty. Your individual choices directly affect the well-being of others. You should be familiar with and follow the guidelines outlined on the Student Health Center's COVID Information and Updates page (see https://shc.uci.edu/covid-information-and-updates), which includes information about what do if you test positive or are a close contact. You should also be alert for and follow any additional UCI public health policies that may be announced from time to time.

Please do not come to class if you are feeling sick or exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms. (https://www.cdc.gov/covid/signs-symptoms/index.html). If you miss a class for this reason, let me know and you will be given access to a recording of the class session and I will be happy to answer any questions.

COVID-19 guidance for instructors and other UCI employees is available on UCI's Working Well webpage.

As most of you know, the ABA has required for years that the law school curriculum include both formative and summative assessments. The ABA also recently revised its standards to make clear that all 1L courses must include at least one formative assessment.

Although faculty have flexibility to craft formative assessments for their courses, the law school continues to strongly recommend that professors teaching 1L courses with final exams administer a midterm exam (near the midpoint of the semester) as a formative assessment. Midterm exams provide students with test-taking practice and feedback on an exam similar to the final exam, enabling students to improve their learning before the final exam.

We understand that our faculty are very busy, and that providing midterm exam feedback takes time. However, there are ways to structure and deliver midterm feedback that reduce the time involved. Assistant Dean Mary Basick and the rest of our wonderful ASP team would be happy to assist 1L faculty who have not yet administered midterm exams with strategies and ideas for how best to do so. Please feel free to reach out to them for assistance.

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