participation grade in college??

demeter
Mon, 18 Jan 2010 19:39:31 +0000

One of my classes this semester is a large lecture class that uses clickers to assess participation. The instructors can ask simple multiple choice questions during lecture, and then students press a button corresponding to the correct answer on their clickers. That way, professors can make sure everyone’s coming to class and following along. Otherwise, I haven’t encountered a participation requirement in a large lecture class.

Also, there are different forms of participation that are taken into account. Obviously, if you’re taking a seminar, the dominant form will be speaking up in class. But sometimes instructors ask people to post short written responses online, which counts as a form of participation. There is also attendance itself and being prepared, even if you don’t speak much.

In my experience, participation grades tend to have a range of 10-20%. Last semester, I had a class where participation was 30%, and this semester I’m signed up for a class where participation is 40%. Both of the classes are seminar-style, though.