Your participation in the course will be self-assessed. A written assessment of your participation (maximum limit of three pages) is due on the final day of class. The Participation Assessment Form should be filled out and stapled to the front of your report. The assessment report should detail specific evidence of your participation in the course, and justify your grade in terms of both the quality and quantity of participation. The final participation grade will be determined by the professor based on your self assessment.

You should assess your participation according to three primary traits: class discussion, group participation, and outside class participation. You may weight each trait, as a percentage of the participation grade, based on your own participation. For example, you might want to weight class discussion at 50% because you frequently ask questions and offer comments in class. Each of the other categories must represent at least 20% of your participation grade. No category can be weighted more than 50% of the participation grade.

Your evidence for your assessment of participation should include both quantitative and qualitative evidence (see the Syllabus page for expectations).

In terms of quantity, consider the following:

Do you ask questions in class?
Do you volunteer to answer questions in class?
Do you make constructive comments in class?
Do you contribute regularly to group activities?
Do you lead the group discussion?
Do you represent the group before the class?
Do you discuss course material with other students outside class?
Do you help other students with the course material or assignments?
Do you seek help from the professor during office hours?

The use of a log to keep track of your participation throughout the course will aid in this assessment and provide reliable evidence.

In terms of the quality, your various forms of participation should be assessed on the evidence they present of your thoughtful reflection on and appropriation of the course material. Criteria for evaluation of participation include:

Is the discussion on the topic of the course material?
Does your participation give evidence that you have read the course material?
Does your participation advance the discussion of the course material?
Does your participation present original ideas, reflective of critical thinking?
Does your participation give evidence that you have reflected on the comments or questions of others?
Are your responses to the participation of others constructive?

At the end of your self assessment, you should assign your participation a score between 0 (no participation) and 4.0 (exceeds course expectations in every way) for all forms of participation. Your score should correspond to the scale used by Creighton University to calculate G.P.A.s or Q.P.A.s. Thus, a 4.0 is equivalent to an "A"; a 3.5 is equivalent to a "B+"; a 3.0 is equivalent to a "B"; etc.

Use the calculator below to calculate your participation score. Record this score on the Participation Assessment Form and attach it to your report.