I encourage participation on Blackboard, the on-line posting venue, for
those who genuinely seem too shy to speak up in class. Seems to be
working -- just a handful prefer that method, but being the Mom of shy kids,
I like to offer that option.
----- Original Message -----
From: "James Cassell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Teaching Sociology" <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2006 9:22 AM
Subject: TEACHSOC: Re: one way to quantify participation (was TEACHSOC: Re:
8:00 Classes
----- Jay Livingston Wrote -----
I am also baffled as to how one might quantify these more social
aspects of the course. Students have told me of courses where the
professor says something like, "Participation counts for 15% of your
grade," and I always wonder how professors decides how many points to
award for this or that student comment. Do they go back to their
offices immediately after class and score each student comment as they
remember it? Or do they, at the end of the semester, give a number
based on their overall impression?
I'm doing precisely this in my small complex org class this semester.
My experience has been that most students will not perform a task unless
points are attached, and I wanted to take advantage of the small size of
this particular class to get them talking. So they get two points per
class, one if they show up, another if they participate in the discussion.
(The 1st clause is a concession to a student who appears to have serious
social anxiety issues.) I enter each class with picture roster in hand,
tick off who's there, then after class, tick off who talked. Over the
course of our semester, this will add up to 1/3 of their grade. It's a bit
tedious, but workable with a class of 14.
So far, I'm getting more discussion than I'd expect in this course.
James
However, like Marty, I will use attendance and participation when
scores on exams and papers puts a student's final grade on the cusp.
Jay Livingston
Montclair State College
------
James Cassell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
