Participation Self-Evaluation

due at the end of week 15

Name:

Course:

Learning is not a passive process. You bear primary responsibility for what you learn in this course. While participation is a required part of the History Department's expectation that students will be able to express themselves well both orally and in prose, active engagement with course materials, your instructor, and fellow students also helps you to form and clarify ideas. In other words, you figure out what you think and know (and don't know) partly by communicating with others.

Several members of the history faculty are experimenting with new means of evaluating participation. While I will also be tracking your class participation, each student will evaluate his or her participation weekly with a brief statement and a corresponding grade on a one point scale that corresponds to a 100 point scale. The following criteria should be used to evaluate your participation:

1. Class attendance (impossible to participate without it)
2. Thorough and complete reading of all assigned texts prior to their discussion in class
3. Attentive & respectful listening to others' remarks
4. Thoughtful responses to comments and questions posed by the instructor and other students
5. Raising relevant criticisms and issues that lead to better understanding of course material
6. Meeting with instructor during office hours to discuss readings, papers, exams, questions, and progress in the course
7. Bringing to class or discussing in class relevant news, web sites, films, &c.

Please do not overestimate your weekly participation grade by giving yourself a full point for attendance alone. In fact, you should not give attendance more than .5 points and should not even reach that level if you arrive in class late or leave early. The rest of the weighting is up to you, although I encourage you to concentrate your evaluation on the first five criteria. Suffice to say that 1 point should indicate prompt attendance, thorough preparation, and engaged commentary that transforms the way everyone else in the room understands the material. Lower point values should be self-assigned for above average, average, and below average participation.

Week 1:

Week 2:

Week 3:

Week 4:

Week 5:

Week 6:

Week 7:

Week 8:

Week 9:

Week 10:

Week 11:

Week 12:

Week 13:

Week 14:

Week 15:

Total Points (fifteen maximum):

Please answer the following questions:

1. How did keeping track of your participation in this fashion affect your participation?

2. What other forms of evaluation of participation might you suggest for the future?