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Academic and Bar Success Helix Bar Review Bar Preparation Article
Author: Joel Chanvisanuruk
Author: Joel Chanvisanuruk
Academic and Bar Success Helix Bar Review Bar Preparation Article

Five Easy Ways to Introduce NextGen UBE Skills into Your Course

Student feedback is in high demand these days. Meaningful feedback is central to student learning, especially when introducing skills. And as the forthcoming NextGen Uniform Bar Exam (NextGen UBE) expands the assessment of lawyering skills through performance tasks, the need for skills-focused feedback in all law school coursework has only grown. Add to that demand the expectations of accreditors, academic deans, and alumni employers for a generation of students who request (and often need) greater skills guidance as they enter early legal practice.

But the reality is that time is limited, not just in classroom hours or service hours, but as an individual human being.

AccessLex Institute’s free Building Bar Skills Modules were designed with these competing and vexing demands in mind. Crafted by teams of law and skills faculty, each Module reinforces content from doctrinal courses while introducing law students to the skills that will be applied and tested on the NextGen UBE. Every module includes rubrics, model answers, and clear student learning outcomes – allowing you to provide meaningful learning experiences without necessarily expanding your grading load.

The Modules are also highly flexible. You can adopt individual components that align with your course, upload materials to your learning management system (LMS, e.g., Canvas or Blackboard), or simply print and distribute them for in-class work.

Below are five approaches to assigning Module components, arranged from highest to lowest faculty time investment for providing feedback.

1. Individual Feedback

  • Assign the selected Module task.
  • Students complete the task.
  • You provide individualized feedback using the provided task rubric.

Pro Tip: 
If you find it difficult to connect with students through written comments alone, consider using your LMS’s recorded feedback option. A short voice message personalized to a student’s strengths and areas for improvement can go a long way toward building engagement.

2. In-Class Debrief

  • Assign the selected Module task.
  • Students complete the task.
  • Select two to three anonymized submissions to review and discuss in class.

Pro Tip: 
Use the debrief to dispel the myth that students must “learn to write for a particular professor.” Emphasize that legal practice involves writing for a variety of audiences, and that foundational skills – organization, analysis, and revision – matter more than conforming to a single reader’s preferences.

3. Traditional Peer Review

  • Utilizing the peer review function in your LMS, assign the selected Module task.
  • Upload the Module rubric as the peer review rubric.
  • Students complete the task.
  • Students evaluate peer submissions using the rubric.

Pro Tip: 
Law students often feel anxious about peers reviewing their writing, despite the fact that peer review is a standard part of legal practice. Take a moment to normalize constructive critique as a professional skill. If your LMS supports anonymous peer review, consider enabling that option to ease students’ worries.

4. Structured Peer Review (Frankenstein’s Monster Draft)

  • Assign the selected Module task.
  • Students complete the task.
  • Compile selected excerpts from student submissions into a “Frankenstein” draft that highlights common missteps.
  • Provide the draft and rubric for students to diagnose errors and revise weak passages.

Pro Tip: 
As a professor, identifying common errors provides actionable insight into areas for targeted instruction. But, more importantly, this approach demystifies common errors and helps students recognize that skill development is a universal challenge – not a personal failing. By normalizing the fact that learning new, technical, legal skills is hard, we create an environment where students can move quickly from the slight sting of corrective feedback to the productive task of noting something for future improvement.

5. Student Self-Assessment

  • Assign the selected Module task.
  • Students complete the task.
  • Provide a model answer and rubric for self-scoring.
  • Students complete a reflective revision plan or strategy for future similar assignments.

Pro Tip: 
For self-assessment to be impactful, students need structure. Ask them to identify 1) two things they did well and want to preserve, and 2) two areas that fell short. For each weaker area, they should point to specific passages in their draft and describe what they would revise or approach differently next time.

Match Your Course – Meet Your Student’s Needs

Like the AccessLex Building Bar Skills Modules themselves, each of these methods offers meaningful student engagement with skills from the NextGen UBE while helping faculty protect their time. The key is selecting the approaches – and the Module components – that align with your teaching goals, instructional style, and availability.

These small additions can enrich your course, prepare students for the NextGen UBE, and streamline your feedback workload.

Learn more and request Building Bar Skills Modules.

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