Assess participation

Owned by Katrina Casey Kosyk, Miss
Last updated: Apr 05, 2024 by Joana Kort Mascort
3 min read

The scope of this article is limited to addressing participation during class time. That said, participation activities can be expanded beyond class time, taking place in myCourses discussion forums and low/no-stakes quizzes for example. See Bean and Peterson, [1] Paff, [2] and Poole for more information on participation outside class time.


You can assess students’ participation with feedback comments and/or grades. If in-class participation is closely tied to students’ achievement of all or some of the course learning outcomes, you may want to signal that connection to students and motivate them to participate by assigning a grade.

It can be challenging to keep track of each student’s participation contributions consistently and fairly [4]. Nonetheless, assessment strategies exist that support your students’ learning, are equitable for your students, and are manageable for you. The following strategies are drawn from Bean and Peterson, [4] Dancer and Kamvounias, [5] Fenwick and Parsons, [6] Gainor and Precourt, Green, Howard and Henney, Junn, and Mello,:

  • Articulate grading criteria. Be explicit about what constitutes participation in your course and how participation will be assessed by including the assessment criteria in the course outline and/or in myCourses. Consider using a rubric to help students understand where their different participation contributions or behaviors fall on a scale. A rubric can also make grading efficient and more objective. See Example criteria and grading scales.

  • Consider having students weigh in on the assessment criteria: Discuss with students at the beginning of the course what should be part of the participation grade and why. This strategy has the potential not only for increasing student buy-in, but also for helping students see participation as a valuable part of their and their peers’ learning rather than superficial behaviour to increase their grade. See Collaborating on Evaluation Criteria (pp. 14-17).

  • Give participation the appropriate weight: As with any graded assignment, the weight of a participation grade should reflect the time and effort students are expected to spend participating.

  • Document students’ participation efforts. This strategy is especially important when assessing ephemeral behaviours, such as coming to class on time and hand raising.

  • Grade artifacts in addition to behaviours. Artifacts such as written submissions are tangible and, therefore, make it easier to keep track of each student’s contributions fairly. In addition, encouraging students to demonstrate their engagement and learning in multiple ways (i.e., through behaviours and artifacts) is an inclusive pedagogical practice.

  • Provide feedback throughout the course. Let students know at least once during the term how they are doing—are they meeting your expectations for participation?—and what they can do better before you assign a final grade. This kind of formative feedback can improve quantity and quality of participation.

  • Ask students to self-assess their participation. Give students an opportunity to track their own participation with a checklist or rubric, comment on it, and identify areas for improvement. Example self-assessment questions:

  1. “Where do you currently rank yourself on the scoring rubric? Why?

  2. What might you do to improve the quality of your own participation?” (p. 35)

Another approach is to ask students to write about their participation efforts. Self-assessment strategies can support students in becoming better at engaging with you and their peers. Such strategies also make keeping track of and assessing participation a shared responsibility between instructor and students, and communicate to students that their efforts count.

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