Even if I could track everyone’s participation accurately, I am not sure we really should grade students on how willing they are to raise their hands and speak in front of a group. We all know — or have been — students who are made anxious at the thought of class participation, or who have learning challenges or disabilities that prevent them from engaging in a whole-class discussion as actively as do their peers. Should they be punished for their character traits or anxieties?

A few years ago those concerns reached enough of a fever pitch to persuade me to stop this practice altogether. It was difficult to abandon, because grading participation does stem from a positive intention: I want students to take part in class. Those who participate are more likely to succeed in the course because they have articulated their thoughts, have received feedback, and can revise them for graded papers, quizzes, and assessments. Those are excellent reasons to encourage participation.…

But while those are excellent reasons to encourage participation, the motivation does not have to come in the form of a grade.

This paper presents findings from a scale validation study of discussion engagement using data from multiple in-person courses from a public flagship university in the United States. The Discussion Engagement scale conceptualizes discussion as a collective inquiry that requires an inclusive classroom climate and individual contributions that promote the engagement of others. The scale measures individual behaviors and experiences along four dimensions: skills, confidence, openness within classroom discussions, and perception of an inclusive classroom climate. The methodology included: conceptual development of the construct, expert reviews, cognitive interviews, data collection of the target group, exploratory factor analysis, data collection of the target group using a revised scale, confirmatory factor analysis, and comparison with an existing scale. EFA and CFA find that the scale has a strong factor structure that parallels the theoretical framework. The subscales have strong reliability, as well as evidence of convergent and discriminant validity. The Discussion Engagement scale has potential for measuring student-reported experiences with discussion in university courses.

We accomplish this skill building together. Students complete a “Participation Goals” form at the beginning of the semester (see sample here) that asks students to reflect on their current skill levels in 5 dimensions: attendance/tardiness, preparation for class, participation in small group discussions, participation in full class discussions, and participation in other ways. Note that these are the five dimensions I choose to focus on in most of my courses, but faculty from across disciplines, institutions, and countries have written to me saying that they used this system and adjusted the dimensions based on their own course goals. 

Learning occurs best when students are given opportunities to be active participants in the learning process. As assessment strategies are being forced to change in the era of Generative AI, and as digital technologies continue to integrate with education, it becomes imperative to gather information on current approaches to evaluating student participation. This mini-review aimed to identify existing methods used by higher education teachers to assess participation in both physical and virtual classrooms. It also aimed to identify common issues that are anticipated to impact future developments in this area. To achieve these objectives, articles were downloaded from the ERIC database. The search phrase “assessment of class participation” was utilized. Search was limited to peer-reviewed articles written in English. The educational level was limited to “higher education” and “postsecondary education” in the search. From the 2,320 articles that came up, titles and abstracts were screened and 65 articles were retained. After reading the full text, a total of 45 articles remained for analysis, all published between 2005 and 2023. Using thematic analysis, the following categories were formed: innovations in assessing class participation, criteria-related issues, and issue of fairness in assessing class participation. As education becomes more reliant on technology, we need to be cognizant of issues that came up in this review regarding inequity of educational access and opportunity, and to develop solutions that would promote equitable learning. We therefore call for more equity-focused innovation, policymaking, and pedagogy for more inclusive classroom environments. More implications and potential directions for research are discussed.

My students have found engagement credits useful: They provide a light pressure to complete “quests” that get and keep them engaged, without turning it into a stressor or a mindless game of point-grubbing. The fact that there are many ways to earn the credits, including activities of their own design if they want, makes the engagement more real than if we limited it to just attendance and “participation”.