<p>I am clearly the dissenter here. I don’t mind participation grades; in fact, I kind of like them. First of all, they are extremely easy parts of the grade to ace, but I’m an active student anyways. Secondly, personally, I’ve only found participation grades present in seminars, language classes (where I would consider a participation a mandatory part of the experience, so why not grade it), and huge lectures with required discussion sessions. In seminars and language classes, discussion is not only a part of the class, it’s a part of the learning experience. You can’t learn to speak Arabic from a book, and there’s hardly any point in taking a, say, social issues course if there’s no discussion. YOU might learn from not speaking, but by not participating you’re robbing others. As for lectures, well, I avoid them, so I can see where the agitation is there.</p>
<p>I always use the rational… if you’re PAYING for it, ATTEND it!</p>
<p>Participation grades are easy points. I dislike going to class as much as the next person, but I bet some of you would have been in trouble in some classes had you not been graded on participation and it had been all exams. That would honestly probably force me to participate even more, it would be too hard to get good grades otherwise.</p>
<p>It definitely varies by class. In a lecture with 300 kids, there obviously can’t be a participation grade. But I’ve had small, discussion-focused classes where participation is 25% of the grade.</p>
<p>“It definitely varies by class. In a lecture with 300 kids, there obviously can’t be a participation grade.”</p>
<p>Obviously there can be with the clickers people have mentioned and with separate discussion sections that constitute a participation grade for the overall class.</p>
<p>My one class last semester where I had no participation grade (and just tests), I got an A, and never went to class because the notes were online and matched lecture exactly.</p>
<p>I’d rather do an essay or test any day of the week than sit in a class that puts me to sleep.</p>
<p>I am paying for school and make the most out of the great professors and courses, but some courses are just requirements I have to do yet have no interest in, and the professor seems entirely disinterested as well.</p>
<p>Participation points are kinda bs in my opinion, but it really depends on the course. I mean I do hate them for most classes, but there has been one or two in which they helped. I don’t mind participation in discussions so much, otherwise nobody would discuss, but in lecture its just plain annoying, because its mostly a matter of my body being in a seat.</p>
<p>But at my last school, people would sign in for each other, or give a friend their clicker. Thats simply annoying and useless.</p>
<p>I don’t see what the big problem with participation is… You’re going to college to learn. Yes, people will miss classes every now and then for this or that reason (guilty). But going rather consistently isn’t that difficult, it raises your grade even the slightest bit, and it’s been proven that the more senses you use in learning something, the more likely you are to remember it. Just because the lecture notes that were online matched my professor’s didn’t mean that I didn’t go to chem–sometimes he could explain things differently, or better, and sometimes just hearing it as I was reading it made much more sense than if I just looked at a computer screen.</p>
<p>it’s really a matter of the instructors’ personal preference, whether they enjoy a slow, private destruction of your ego and self confidence through cynical, insulting exam and paper comments or instead favor a more public humiliation by insisting you engage in unwinnable, trap-laden classroom discussions. Profs are about 50/50 on this.</p>
<p>I’ve had professors read word for word off of their slides and add nothing else. I don’t need to sit in class for that. I mean, participation typically doesn’t bother me much unless its a 9:00 am class in which the professor reads the notes on the screen (which I can get online) word for word, when I can just read it myself two hours later, and actually retain some of it. I’ve had far too many classes like the one I just described, and its plain annoying to me.</p>
<p>I’m not sure with the BS majors, but as a humanities major, participation is extremely important in most of my discussions. I also find that when other students participate in discussion, it helps me understand the concepts better, instead of the TA mumbling on and on.</p>
<p>yes I am a biology major and i still have to take english and elective classes to obtain my degree. My participation ranges from commenting in class to doing presentations. Yes I said it, PRESENTATIONS.</p>
<p>Presentations are pretty common in business classes from what i hear. In Humanities classes, which are often smaller and seminar-like discussions, I understand a participation grade is common. In Art classes (like fine/studio arts) participation is obviously important since you have to show up to do the work. </p>
<p>I’m a science major and my grades are usually done like Final Exam= 40%, Midterm=30%, Labs= 20%, HW=10%. Lectures are optional, Recitations are optional too but you have to show up to take a weekly quiz and hand in your HW. Labs are mandatory and you can only miss 1 (with a doctors note) so that’s a lot more important than going to class. The majority of students still go to class regularly because it’s worth showing up for…the idea is you go to class to learn stuff, but you don’t get points just for dragging your ass there. Anyway I can understand how participation is a lot more important in humanities majors because so much is based on class discussion. Not participating in a Humanities major is like not bothering with labs in a science major.</p>
<p>In about 50% of my classes, there is participation. It is usually between 3%-10% of the class grade. </p>
<p>This semester I am in a class where the first class you miss, i is 0.1% off your grade, the second is 0.5% off, third is 2.5% off, fourth is 12.5%, and 5th is 62.5%. So if you miss 4 classes and get 100% on everything, the highest grade you can get us a B; if you miss 5 classes, even if you get 100% on everything, the highest you can get is an F.</p>