Class Participation.
If you plan on including class participation as part of the course grade, students need to understand how their participation will be evaluated. This information should be included in the syllabus so that all students can quickly reference their course requirements. Regardless of the method that you choose to evaluate class participation, consider how the method addresses the inherent challenges in assessing participation (as outlined by Carolyn Ives in her article “Daydreaming or Deep in Thought? Using Formative Assessment to Evaluate Student Participation” in Faculty Focus):
- Difficulty in assessing engagement or participation by observation alone;
- Attendance issues, particularly in large classes;
- Varied emphasis on participation from course to course;
- Varied types of participation;
- Difficulty of documenting student participation in a reliable way;
- Concern about biases; and
- Concern about unfair penalization of shy or introverted students.
Example
The following outline is one example of one way for faculty to outline how they will assess class participation:
Class participation in this course:
Class attendance is required, and students are encouraged to contribute to class discussion. Participation is the key to a lively class. Ten percent (10%) of the course grade will depend upon contributions to our class sessions. Class participation provides the opportunity to practice speaking and persuasive skills, as well as the ability to listen. Comments that are vague, repetitive, unrelated to the current topic, disrespectful of others, or without sufficient foundation will be evaluated negatively. What matters is the quality of one’s contributions to the class discussion, not the number of times one speaks.
Guidelines for Evaluating Participation
Outstanding Contributor: Contributions in class reflect exceptional preparation. Ideas offered are always substantive, and provide one or more major insights as well as direction for the class. Challenges are well substantiated and persuasively presented. If this person were not a member of the class, the quality of discussion would be diminished markedly.
Good Contributor: Contributions in class reflect thorough preparation. Ideas offered are usually substantive, provide good insights, and sometimes direction for the class. Challenges are well substantiated and often persuasive. If this person were not a member of the class, the quality of discussion would be diminished.
Adequate Contributor: Contributions in class reflect satisfactory preparation. Ideas offered are sometimes substantive, provide generally useful insights but seldom offer a new direction for the discussion. Challenges are sometimes presented, fairly well substantiated, and are sometimes persuasive. If this person were not a member of the class, the quality of discussion would be diminished somewhat.
Non-Participant: This person says little or nothing in class. Hence, there is not an adequate basis for evaluation. If this person were not a member of the class, the quality of discussion would not be changed.
Unsatisfactory Contributor: Contributions in class reflect inadequate preparation. Ideas offered are seldom substantive, provide few if any insights, and never a constructive direction for the class. Integrative comments and effective challenges are absent. If this person were not a member of the class, valuable air-time would be saved.
Students can participate in the assessment through a structured reflection process where they grade themselves, then write about the reasons that they awarded themselves a certain grade. To learn more, visit “A Useful Strategy for Assessing Class Participation” in Faculty Focus.