Navigating the gulf between the most and least prepared students in a course can seem like an insurmountable obstacle, and not because some students are simply more or less capable than others. The course may be a major requirement that some students just don’t care
How much has our thinking about participation changed? Start with your students: Do they equate participation with anything other than raising their hands to answer a question or being called on for a comment? Recent years have seen calls to broaden definitions of participation, but
Quiet and talkative students find their places on opposites sides of a continuum. At the ends are students who never speak and students who never miss an opportunity to speak. Most talkative students aren’t at the extreme end, but research consistently finds that a fairly
In most courses the quiet students outnumber the talkative ones. And although some quiet students occasionally speak, there are others who make their way through the course silently. Quite appropriately, with publication of Susan Cain’s Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t
It’s hardly a new subject. There’s plenty of research. There’s lots of advice, suggestions, and possible strategies to try. But with all that, there’s not much participation in a lot of courses. The percentage of students who don’t participate has remained virtually the same for
What counts for participation isn’t always addressed when we talk with students about the importance of participation. It’s easy to assume that everybody knows what’s involved—but is that a safe assumption?
When considering what qualifies as participation, some behaviors come to mind quickly—asking questions, answering
I continue to be impressed by the need for teachers to clarify common aspects of instruction instead of assuming that students’ understanding of what they entail are the same as ours. Participation is a good example. How often is it defined in the course syllabus?
“Get students talking about their experiences!” I heard this recommendation in a couple of sessions at the recent Teaching Professor Technology Conference, and the admonition does rest on sound premises. Students learn new material by connecting it to what they already know. If a teacher
Is there a way to motivate and improve student participation without grading it? I raise the question because I think grading contributions gets students talking for points, not talking to make points. Verbal students make sure they say something, but often without listening to or
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