Participation
This comment is about our class participation. I really think that making us write down our score for participation each day leads to bad discussions. No one really cares about what they are saying in class, they just say something to get the points. This leads to redundant comments and poor discussion. If the was no participation points, when someone made a comment they would actually mean it. This would lead to better discussions, and it would cut out all the pointless and repetitive comments.
Comments
Posted by: Daniel Tikk
Posted on: October 6, 2005 09:17 PM
I have to agree with the comments of this post. The whole point of class-based discussion should be to encourage insights and delve into material through the ideas that other students present. However, because of the grading format, and because of how many students are simply concerned with their grades, the class discussion can lead to redundant comments and little insights. Also, many of the subjects covered so far have not been very conducive to insightful discussions as the material has been fairly straight forward. In general I'm not much of a contributor in class discussions, but this material has not really presented many opportunities to do so.
Posted by: Courtney Downs
Posted on: October 9, 2005 11:19 PM
I understand what you're saying, and I have to admit I thought that way for awhile too. However, I think that if we are going to have a class based largely on discussion, participation should be factored into the grade. If it wasn't, a lot of people would not participate. We would have a few who always raised their hands, and then many who didn't. What's a discussion when only 5 people discuss? Besides, as long as each of us contribute, we get an A. That's one of the easiest assignments ever.