Assessing Participation

On this page:

What is participation?
How to increase opportunities for participation
Measuring participation
Learning activities that encourage high participation

As instructors, we not only want our learners to “show up,” but want them to get involved in our courses by asking questions, sharing perspectives, and giving feedback. In other words, we hope that students want to actively engage in their learning. Grading class participation, rather than just checking attendance, is a way to build this value directly into our digital or physical classrooms.

Continuum College’s participation policy empowers instructors to establish clear expectations for what participation looks like in their specific course or domain. Explore this page for some thoughts and tips on how to transform a model of grading attendance into one where we recognize and assess participation.

What is participation?

Broadly speaking, the concept of “participation” is meant to track the level to which your students are engaging with your class in ways that will contribute to their overall success in the course. However, what this looks like varies widely depending on the course and the learner. Some students demonstrate their engagement through what they say in class discussions, while others may find other ways to demonstrate their learning and contribute – such as contributing to class notes, showing up for group work, or reliably participating in polls or surveys.

One useful way to answer this for your own class is to first ask yourself a couple questions:

Outside of formal assessments, what different actions or activities can students take in my class to demonstrate that they are engaged with the content or with their classmates?
What would I like for individual students to contribute to shared class spaces to support their classmates’ learning?

Try to think of more than one answer for each of these questions so that different learners can choose the participation approaches that work best for them. For example, while some students in a synchronous online class may be comfortable speaking up a lot and keeping their cameras on, others may be prevented from doing so due to language barriers, scheduling issues, or a lack of privacy. Similarly, in an asynchronous class, some students may love replying to many other students’ posts on a discussion board, while others may prefer to provide only one or two rich, thoroughly researched posts at a time.

Rather than setting a single definition of participation, we can embrace other ways these learners can participate without turning their cameras or microphones on: chat, polls, note-taking, and much more.

How to increase opportunities for participation

There are three keys to getting students to participate:

Setting Expectations: from the beginning of your class, explicitly describe what types of learner participation you expect from your students and how participation will be assessed
Modeling: Start the ball rolling by participating in discussions or activities in ways that mirror how you’d like to see your students participate
Reinforcing: Show engagement and enthusiasm for students whose contributions to the class exemplify the kinds of participation you are looking for. Try to highlight varied approaches that different students take rather than always drawing attention to the same few highly motivated students.

Of these, Point 2 might be the most powerful participation motivator. If students see you sending chat messages, posting in discussion forms, signaling your willingness to speak with reactions or signals, and so on, they are more likely to follow suit. Point 3 can support this by shifting the focus from your own style of participation to examples from your students’ peers.

As for Point 1, the expectations should be set as early in the course as possible. Ideally in the first week as you get to know your students, you can set the expectations, model the behavior, and get students participating in some fun activity. Setting these norms early will ensure students know how to participate later in the course.

Extend what counts for participation

Speaking during a live class session isn’t the only way to engage with classmates, instructors, or course content. Ask your class to brainstorm ways they would like to participate with the class. These may include:

Commenting during class in the Zoom chat window
Participating in surveys and polls distributed to the class
Posting messages or replies to a Canvas discussion or another communication platform
Collaborating with classmates on group activities
Contributing to course notes or study guides
Forming small study groups that meet outside of class either locally or virtually

Be descriptive when you ask for questions or comments. Let students know that you are interested to hear their connections (extensions to other concepts or courses), explorations (share resources they’ve found useful), and reflections (relevance with their lived experience).

Set up a discussion that functions as a space for students to share all their #explorations, #connections, and #reflections. Invite students to post links, pictures, and videos as well as text-based messages, and even encourage using these hashtags. Note: Canvas posting is a good way to participate for those who can’t attend live Zoom sessions and/or opt to watch Zoom recordings.

Remove barriers to participation

Let’s face it: most people don’t want to be the first to respond to a question or to tackle a new activity (some do, and we’ll address that next).

Here are few strategies to make it less difficult or intimidating for your students to get started:

Give students time to think
Regardless of the learning environment, it can be stressful to be the first one to answer a question or respond to a prompt. In a synchronous or in-person class, try wait at least 10 seconds and have students raise their hands (physically or virtually) to signal who wants to talk. In asynchronous online discussions, you can choose to require that students complete their own discussion post before seeing others, which can also reduce the pressure for other students to shape their participation around the first people who contribute.
Invite students to contribute anonymously
Some students may want to participate in certain conversations, but keep themselves from doing so out of fear that they’ll say something incorrect or embarrassing in front of their classmates. If you prompt your class to ask you questions, you can encourage them to send you the questions as private messages, then share them anonymously and respond to them once you receive at least 3 questions. You can also use polls or surveys to collect thoughts from your entire class, then share the aggregate (anonymized) results with the class while retaining specific information on which individual students contributed.
Red light, green light (or respectful cold-calling)
In synchronous or in-person classes, cold-calling can be useful, but some people won’t like being put on the spot. Alleviate this by establishing some signal that indicates who is willing to be put on the spot, and who isn’t. In Zoom, you can advise students to use the “Yes” or “No” reactions to signal whether they’re comfortable being called on.
Avoid requiring online students to be seen or heard at specific times
In synchronous class sessions, it can be wonderful for us to see and hear each other. However, not all learners are necessarily in environments that are equally suited to turning on cameras and microphones. Additionally, some learners may have physical or mental health conditions that make participating out loud or being on camera stressful. Rather than requiring specific types of participation, offer multiple options for how students can respond to a prompt, and let them choose the options most comfortable for them.

On the other end of the spectrum, every class has a few students that frequently aim to be the first to answer a question or offer a comment. Once you identify those students, speak with them individually to let them know that:

You appreciate their enthusiasm and willingness to lead conversations
You would like their help making sure everyone has an opportunity to participate

You can then explain to these students can help you achieve that. Invite them to take the role of making follow-up comments and questions that extend the discussion and welcome other classmates. If they take this suggestion well and start making space for other students to participate, make sure to reconnect to thank them for adjusting their approach.

Ensuring a safe and respectful environment for learning

Some students may make comments or choices that are harmful, exclusionary, or offensive. Whether you teach a live class session or a fully asynchronous course, it is important to promptly address these behaviors with the full class rather than simply addressing the event individually with the student afterward. Concisely identifying what was inappropriate and why, then reiterating what norms you expect for participation in your class, will both inform the student who made the choice on appropriate future behavior and affirm for the whole class that you intend to ensure that the learning space remains safe and welcoming to them.

Measuring participation

There are two primary options for measuring individual participation: instructor tracking and self-evaluation.

Instructor Tracking: Based on your review of students’ participation in various course channels, log basic information on each student’s participation efforts on a daily or weekly basis. A spreadsheet can be helpful in keeping track of how each student engaged in your course in any of the ways that you specified in your course expectations. You can update the spreadsheet after synchronous course meetings or discussion deadlines to keep track of who is participating regularly vs. who might be getting lost or falling behind in the course.

If you choose this method, make sure to check in with students before the first third of the course is complete to let them know if their current participation level is suited to the course.

Self-evaluation: At the beginning of the course and in your syllabus, indicate clearly that participation is important, and outline (or negotiate with the class) the expectations for what constitutes participation. Then, as they start the course, ask individual students to each privately set a goal for how much they are willing to participate. This can be done as a question in a syllabus quiz or other starting activity.

Outline the levels of participation you are willing to commit to this course:
(Check all that apply)

Weekly readings & preparation
Speaking up in class
Posting on course discussion forums
Making connections with classmates
Other (for instance: interacting with the instructor, or being collaborative and supportive of teammates in team work, or building community outside of class with like-minded peers)

If you chose ‘Other’ in the previous question, please describe your participation intentions.

[Open ended answer]

At the end of the course, remind students of their early commitments and ask them to assess how well they kept to those commitments.

On a scale of 1 – 4, rate how well you met your participation intentions:

Not at all
I could have done more
I’m comfortable with my participation
I stretched beyond my comfort zone to participate

Explain why you rated your participation the way you did.

[Open ended answer]

In classes where students are asked to rate their participation, they are often harder on themselves; feel free to override their self-reported grade if you feel the need.

Learning activities that encourage high participation

Below is a list of active learning activities.

Activity	Description
Course Buddy Goal: Create community and connection Formats: all	At the start of course ask students to introduce themselves in a Introduce Yourself discussion forum. From those introductions ask students to pair up with another classmate to be a ‘course buddy’. ‘Course buddies’ will be the default pairing for activities such as think–pair–share or peer review.
Think-pair-share Goal: Encourage active engagement Formats: synchronous online, in-person	Use private chat to facilitate paired discussions. Think – Give students 2 min to ponder a point and write down their thoughts. Pair – Give students 4 min to share and discuss what they wrote in a private chat with their ‘course buddy’. Share – reconvene the class and spend 9 mins having students recap their paired discussion with the whole class.
Small group Discussions Goal: Encourage active engagement Formats: synchronous online, in-person	Use breakout meeting rooms in online video conferencing platforms or in person to create small group discussions. Students may also use collaborative document tools (e.g., Google Docs or Office 365) to record thoughts.
Turn and Talk Goal: Encourage active engagement Formats: synchronous online	Use the chat feature. Ask a question and let the students reply with a brief response. Read them out loud to the whole class. Could also use meeting rooms with a reporter to share.
Polling Goal: Engage/ Check understanding Formats: synchronous online, in-person	Use the polling feature in Zoom or Poll Everywhere to ask questions and show responses in real-time.
Partial Outlines Goal: Engage students Formats: all	Create a set of class notes with blanks for important information and share on the LMS. Encourage students to fill in the blanks as they learn course material for that unit, whether during a live class session or while exploring asynchronous content. This works well when the visual is a chart or diagram, and the students need to fill information from the lecture.
Show Your Outlines Goal: Engage/ Check understanding Formats: asynchronous online	Prior to the live session, provide students an outline or visual to organize information gleaned from an asynchronous video. During the live session, have students share and explain their outlines to the rest of the class. For instance, have students create a timeline of events from a lecture or demo, or have them identify 5 key points from a guest speaker. Optionally, have students copy their outlines/diagrams into a shared document so the educator can review and comment on each individual’s work.
Take A Pause Goal: Engage Formats: all	If a lot of information is being provided, it is helpful to take a pause occasionally so that students can review their notes and think about the ideas being presented. Break up a synchronous presentation by stopping for a quick activity, such as responding to a question in chat, completing a sentence, or completing another task like polling. For an asynchronous course, this may look like a short reflection activity, an entertaining tangent, or even an invitation to stretch and take a break from asynchronous content during a dense module.
5 Question Pause Goal: Check understanding Formats: synchronous	Ask students to send questions direct to the instructor via Private Chat. Announce that you will begin answering the questions when you have received 5 (number is arbitrary). Until you receive the questions, play Jeopardy music. NOTE: Students won’t know the five questions that were sent directly to you, so feel free to revise or ad lib as necessary.
Posters & virtual gallery walk Goal: Engage Formats: synchronous or asynchronous online	Use shared spaces for small groups to record ideas using collaborative tools such as Office 365 and Google docs/slides/Jamboard, and then view or share those with the whole class.
Fishbowl Engage Formats: synchronous, in-person	Students can take turns role playing/miming/drawing a solution and others can watch and respond in chat or live discussion. Encourage students to turn off webcams so focus can be on the student miming.You could also run a “pictionary” version online at https://skribbl.io/Skribbl allows users to join private rooms, and even to create a specific word bank (i.e., containing terms from class).
Quick write Goal: Check understanding Formats: all	Pose a question or two and have students respond in writing, whether through chat, a discussion forum, or in-person writing. Instructors may ask for some students to share a selection of responses or summary of their responses with the whole class.
Muddiest point Monitor/ assess understanding Formats: all	Encourage students to identify any unclear or “muddy” points in the course content through a survey, anonymous poll, or other activity. Muddy points are generally collected after a class session or asynchronous module so the instructor knows what material needs to be addressed before moving on. If prerecorded lectures or YouTube videos are used, then discussing these points might be a starting activity for a discussion board or live class session.
What’s missing? Goal: Reflect on learning Formats: all	Present an incomplete list related to your course topic – perhaps a list of terms, formulas, or concepts. Then, prompt students to identify what is missing from the list (ideally more than one thing). Students can respond using chat, poll, discussion board, or live conversation.
Aha! wall Reflect on learning Formats: all	Ask students to post an insight they’ve gained from the class so far and use these to guide discussion or future instruction.
Concept map Goal: Strengthen understanding Formats: all	Have students work collaboratively to add to a concept map. For online courses, tools like Google Draw or Microsoft Visio might be useful, but keep in mind that these tools may take some time for students to get used to using during class time.
Entry/Exit Tickets Goal: Strengthen understanding Formats: all	At the beginning or end of a class/ module, ask students to respond to a question in the chat or discussion forum. If you would rather post or use a polling program to ask questions (in zoom or add-on).
Jeopardy Answer Goal: Strengthen understanding Formats: synchronous online, in-person	Give students an answer and ask them to formulate a question to which that answer is a response. If you want to increase the stakes, you can have participants earn “points” (not an actual grade) for creative, unique answers, and have identical answers cancel each other out. Example: Let’s play Jeopardy! Write a unique question to the answer provided below. Keep your answers relevant to the chemistry principles we’ve been studying in this course. The best questions may appear on the final exam. Answer: AgCl Possible student questions: “What is the molecular formula for the salt created with silver and chlorine?” “What is the only halogen salt that precipitates out with a coinage metal?” “In the first step of qualitative analysis based on selective precipitation, what salt will precipitate out in a mixture of: Ag, Cu, Co, Li, Ca, Fe in their highest normal oxidation state?”
Brainstorming challenge Goal: Engage Formats: synchronous online, in-person	Use the chat features or collaborative documents to brainstorm ideas. Review and synthesize these ideas together during a live class session.
Snowball Goal: Active engagement Formats: synchronous online, in-person	This is an effective activity to consolidate and refine information in response to an open-ended prompt. This works best when the response should include a collection of ideas rather than a single idea. Ask students to pair up with one person to generate an initial list of ideas in response to the prompt. After the pairs have a bit to collaborate, combine the pairs into groups of four to discuss and combine the lists made by each pair. Repeat this process of combining groups and having them review and combine their ideas until the whole class is only in 2 groups. Finally, bring the whole class back together, and help facilitate the process of combining these lists into a final product that addresses the prompt.
One Minute Quiz Goal: Engage Formats: synchronous online, in-person	Students complete a low-stakes, 3 question quiz in the first 5 minutes of class. Answers can be submitted on paper, emailed, or submitted to a Canvas quiz or discussion board.
Peer review Goal: Provide feedback Formats: all	Assign students to pairs to drafts of their work prior to class, then break into paired discussions to give each other feedback. Alternately, use a tool like Feedback Fruits or Canvas peer review to help assign asynchronous peer review to classmates. If your course does not include a lot of written assignments, students might share an individualized plan/timeline for completing a major project, and submit the plan to their peer for review and feedback.

Updated 6/30/23 by Rus Hathaway and El Schofield