80.5% of Law Professors Prefer In-Person Instruction

According to a National Student Survey (April Replication) by Simpson Scarborough (here), 70% of surveyed college students say that online education is "worse" than in-person instruction. The survey does not drill down on what respondents meant by "worse;" no doubt that those law profs teaching during this pandemic have plenty of anecdotal data about what "worse" has meant for our students.

In my unscientific survey of law professors' experiences teaching during the pandemic, I asked this question:

In terms of your personal preferences, how do you like teaching on-line sessions compared to teaching in the traditional, in-class environment?

Details after the fold.

• 0% liked online teaching much more
• 2.8% liked online teaching more
• 16.7% liked online teaching about the same as in-person instruction.
• 47.2% liked online teaching less
• 33.3% liked online teaching much less

This doesn't map perfectly onto the Simpson Scarborough survey, but the results point toward a similar general conclusion: neither students nor faculty prefer online instruction to in-person instruction.

Sometimes surveys reveal the obvious!

Prior posts in this series:

• Law Teaching During the Pandemic: What Profs Want Their Colleagues to Know
• Law Teaching During the Pandemic: Home Life and Access to Technology
• What Law Faculty Want Students to Know