Assessing participation is a squishy subject.   

Professors often use participation points to encourage discussion and engagement in class, but how do we accurately and fairly assess participation? 

Caveats To Assessing Participation 

• Assessing participation is often based on imperfect or inaccurate memories of activities throughout a semester.
• Visible participation may not be a reliable measure of cognitive engagement or content mastery.   
• What about shy students, students who are more thoughtful/slower when processing new information, or those who suffer from anxiety? These students may not speak up, but they may be fully engaged. 
• Accessibility issues can preclude students from participating. Students with processing disorders often require more time and visual content to respond to discussion questions. 

Assessing participation by focusing on raised hands and vocal responses can be fraught with inaccuracy, subjectivity, and personality judgments. James Lang, author of Distracted: why Students Can’t Focus and What You Can Do About It, explained, “such a ‘system’ is subject to every kind of bias imaginable.” Unless instructors make assessments during or after every class, how can they be sure they capture the quality and quantity of responses throughout the semester? Are the most memorable participants the ones who speak at every opportunity, no matter how superficial? Are shy students or students with anxiety penalized for their dispositions? Is student reticence an accurate indication of their cognitive engagement? Are our “hunches and instincts” about participation valid? Perhaps the worst-case scenario is that we use participation points, even if unwittingly, to reward students who make us feel good as instructors, those who hang on our every word and engage enthusiastically with our lectures, while the quietest student could be the most cognitively engaged.   

Participation may be imprecise, but engagement is critical for student learning, so what are fair and effective strategies to encourage and motivate students to “participate?” 

Ways to Make Participation Accessible, Assessable, and Successful for all 

1. Use quick-writes before posing discussion questions.  Have students write down their responses to a question before sharing them in small groups or with the entire class. This allows everyone to participate equally.  It prompts all students to engage with the content and prevents students from disengaging by relying on the same few peers to speak (and think) for everyone. Quick-writes also help instructors circumvent the “gotcha” moment that happens when unprepared students are called on to share their thoughts.   
2. Use Think/Pair/Share – a strategy requiring students, when prompted with a given question or problem, to collect their thoughts (perhaps using a quick write), share them with another classmate, and prepare to share their responses with the class. 
3. Use electronic content/idea-sharing tools such as Google docs, Padlet, the LMS discussion board, Chat in Microsoft Teams, or polling software that allows open responses, such as Poll Everywhere or Socrative.  These tools prompt everyone to participate and enable the instructor to review and highlight key ideas. When students come prepared to engage this way, students’ insights and comments can provide the catalyst for a dynamic lecture based on student thinking, and the instructor can fill in any missed content as needed.  Lectures become much more student-centered and less instructor-centered. 
4. Give low-stakes quizzes to check for preparation, engagement, and understanding. 
5. Create a safe, supportive learning environment where academic risks are welcomed, and incorrect answers are not punished. Require respectful discussion.  
6. Provide your students with a rubric detailing all the criteria for assessing participation in your class. 

Rubrics support both students and the instructor by specifying exactly what the criteria are and how each student will be evaluated. Rubric criteria might include the following: 

• Participation in discussions, including demonstration of content knowledge (presumably awarding lower points for simple agreement with no elaboration or extension to initial comments). 
• Contributions to collaborative learning activities (think/pair/share, small group discussions, or collaborative projects). 
• Participation in online discussion boards, polls, chat platforms 
• Academic citizenship (ex., Disagreeing respectfully, supporting peers, contributing to a positive learning community) 
• Preparation for class (completing assigned tasks or readings before class as evidenced in tasks submitted or depth of responses). 
•Attendance 

If you use a rubric, consider having students self-assess their participation by or before the midterm.  Some instructors do this weekly or monthly. This reminds students of the importance of participation and the criteria by which they are being evaluated, and it can increase motivation and participation. Periodic assessment also assures transparency of grading protocols for your class, so participation points don’t appear arbitrary or subjective at the end of a semester.   

Assessing participation can be a double-edged sword.  At its worst, it can be subjective, capricious, and inaccurate.  At its best, when handled with clear and fair criteria, it can motivate and encourage all students to engage and be successful.   

Reference 

Lang, James.  (2021). Should We Stop Grading Class Participation?  The Chronicle of Higher Education