Best type of rubric
Hello everyone!
I have been struggling with the way I assess classroom participation. In the past I have generally given everyone full credit for participation despite the fact that my class (economics, yes I know) tends to divide into two groups; those who participate and often "carry" the class, and those who participate very little.
I already use rubrics in other aspects and I am excited to apply a rubric to grade class participation. However I have some questions, mainly (1) does anyone use a rubric for grading their students class participation? (2) do you use an general or a holistic rubric for assessment of classroom participation. Which should I use if one works best?
Thanks in advance for your time and consideration. I'm looking forward to any help I can get on this issue.
RoN
Ronald,
I do use a rubric for participation in my online courses. My students' participation grades come from discussion board postings; therefore, the rubric assess how well they have posted to the board and whether or not the posting was efficient in that it stirred more conversation. It's not how many times they post, but how well they post. Hope that helps.
Quality over quantity is very important! I've seen students post 7 responses of "Great work," but that doesn't add anything to the conversation. Responses must be substantive. I encourage students to ask questions, give examples, etc. It's definitely possible to design a rubric to this end.
Krystal,
I totally agree. A rubric to grade the posts and examples are definitely important. Thanks!
Great point, Krystal. I try to explain what I mean by "substantive" replies every term, but often find that some students get it, while others struggle with how to build on the discussion. Sometimes I will give them examples to help the process along.
Dania,
Providing examples of good/poor discussion posts and using a rubric to grade the discussion posts helps as well. Thanks for your input.
Ronald
I teach an on-line class and if I have a third of the class attending my live chats I am thrilled. Since I teach in the EST time zone students in the Pacific Time zone are still at work and cannot attend. For that reason it would not be fair to PST students to impose rubrics for participation to the Live Chats.
William and Ronald,
Thanks for continuing the conversation. I offer live chats are various times (4 of them). For example, one may be at 8:00 a.m., one at noon, one at 4:00 p.m. and one at 9:00 p.m. Then, I require students to come to two. I give the dates and time on the first day of class and spread out the live chats. The students can then look at their schedule and come to two. It works for me. Thanks!
Hi Ron,
I have been teaching online courses for over 10 years now and we have gone through many different iterations of participation rubrics. Currently we use analytic rubrics that are divided into project goals and participation goals. In the participation area I will ask for the student to comment on two other student projects with meaningful analysis. I give examples in the beginning of what that is and explain to the students that they will be working with others and giving feedback is an important part of their job as a team member. Once they get over the hump of "critiquing others" and understand that it benefits everyone, the feedback is good.
The participation is worth enough points that if a student does not choose to participate, he or she will not be able to earn anything more than a low B if all other work is perfect. This gives the students incentive to get in and fully participate. Participation needs to be structured as a part of the assignment and not something extra so students will see that it is as important as the actual deliverable they are producing.
Matthew and Ron,
I "feel your pain" in working with the different iterations of rubrics. I have been teaching online since 1999 and, like you, have seen so much and learned from others and my own mistakes. It's good that you note students have to respond to others with meaningful analysis. Nice job.
