Editing User:Benjamin Mako Hill/Assessment (section)

== Participation Rubric ==

Some of my smaller classes, mostly graduate courses, grade on participation. Participation is one of the most subjective activities to assess. Hence, you should ask yourself: am I consistently making a positive contribution and impression on the instructor and other students? If the answer to this question is "yes", you are probably doing just fine. 

As a rubric, an excellent student satisfies all of these criteria:

<ol style="list-style-type: decimal;">
<li><p>'''Participation:''' ''Are you an active participant in class?''</p>
<p>
Although I will not penalize you for absence, it is simply a fact that if you aren't present, you can't participate—even if you are absent for a good reason.</p></li>
<li><p>'''Preparation:''' ''Do you read the assignments fully with attention to detail?'' ''Do you note relevant ideas, questions, or current events in class and online?''</p>
<p>For example, you might forward a news story to the class with a question for discussion.</p></li>
<li>'''Engagement:''' ''Do you make at least one excellent contribution (e.g., insight or question) to each class without monopolizing discussion?'' (see the section on participation balance below). ''Do you give active nonverbal and verbal feedback?'' ''Do you refer to other students by name and react to their contributions?''</li>
<li>'''Activity:''' ''Do you fully engage in group exercises?'' ''Do you follow up on open questions and share your findings with the class?''</li></ol>

=== Maintaining Participation Balance ===

I do not assess participation in terms of how much you speak in class. Indeed, I will assess students as lower if they routinely dominate the conversation to the detriment of the conversation. A useful rule of thumb is to ''be wary of speaking three times before everyone has had a chance and make sure you make at least one good contribution.''

In any group, there will be those who speak more and those who speak less; this might be because of differences in personality, language fluency, or culture. For instance, some people like to think before they speak, and some believe that interaction should be rapid and assertive. I want everyone to participate, and I believe it's worthwhile to achieve balance in classroom discussions.

When I was a student, I tended to dominate conversation. My friend Joseph Reagle shared two strategies that I've found helpful:

# In classes where I was excited about the topic, I tried to be mindful of how much I spoke when I realized others had interesting things to say but were not as quick to speak. We are often uncomfortable with a little silence, including teachers, and speak to fill the void. However, teaching and facilitation guides recommend that we be open to such spaces: take a couple of breaths or even say, “take two minutes to think about this.” So I began a practice of pacing myself, limiting myself to three really good responses in class, and then making sure others have had time before jumping in — if at all — to contribute.
# In classes where I was less motivated, I found that I could still usually come up with one good comment or question that nobody else raised. In this way, I could still make a contribution to class — and lessen my chance of being cold-called.

Joseph calls these two techniques the ''rule of three and one for balanced discussion''.

Additionally, you can be a skillful communicator by encouraging balanced discussion. For instance, notice if a person or group hasn't said much. Without putting anyone on the spot, ask them a question or respond to something they said. (Use people's names!) If the class is a small seminar, you might say you'd like to hear from someone who hasn't spoken yet or ask the group to pause so as to collect their thoughts.