Overview
If you include a participation grade in your course, make it clear how you will measure it. Bean and Peterson (1998) argue that grading class participation shows “students about the kind of learning and thinking an instructor values, such as growth in critical thinking, active learning, development of listening and speaking skills needed for career success, and the ability to join a discipline’s conversation” (p.33). How you determine a student’s participation grade should reflect why you value participation in your course.
Provide Clear Guidelines for How Participation is Graded
In the Syllabus
Use the syllabus to set expectations. Share the percentage the participation grade is worth, as well as why participation is important in your course and how you will assess participation.
Use Rubrics
Use rubrics to explain further how you will assess participation and help students understand how to prepare for each class session and how you expect them to engage. You could collaborate with your students to develop a rubric so that there is class consensus on what constitutes high-quality participation in the course. Samberg’s participation rubric is an excellent place to start. You can learn more about rubrics in the Incorporating Rubrics Into Your Feedback and Grading Policies teaching guide from Columbia’s Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL).
Establish Methods for Tracking Participation
Establish and share with students what method you will use to track participation. For discussions, you can use index cards or a spreadsheet to track student contributions. You can also use SeatGen which allows you to mark frequency and quality of comments. Responses to polling questions through Poll Everywhere can be scored in Canvas and contribute to the participation grade.