Regardless of the way classes were conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic, educators were thrown for a loop with classes becoming virtual. With the switch from in-person to hybrid and/or virtual instruction, teachers were forced to redefine what active participation looked like in the classroom. Pre-pandemic, student participation was defined as and measured by the degree to which each individual engaged in lessons and discussions by presenting answers and opinions. Like everything discussed in this blog thus far, this new redefinition of participation sparked new ideas that teachers can take away when the pandemic is over.
During the past school year, educators had to draw up a variety of methods to score class participation. Teachers knew that with online instruction it was much easier for students to turn their attention away from classes, so they had to set some ground rules. Just to name a few methods that educators used for determining participation grades were: requiring cameras to be turned on, requiring students to answer a set number of questions throughout the class, and participating in online discussion boards (a key tool teachers used). They also graded participation based off of collaboration in breakout rooms as well as engaging with other students' work during online activities (i.e. answering their peers' Flipgrid videos).
Moving forward to the post-pandemic era, I think that teachers shouldn't be quick to rid their classes of these methods of participation. In my opinion, I believe that giving students a grade based on in-class participation strongly favors those who are extroverted and over-confident, leaving students with the opposite personality traits with a lower grade solely based on their personal method of learning. Just because someone chooses to sit in the back of the class and remain quiet doesn't mean they aren't as intelligent as the student who sits at the front of the room and answers nearly every question. Going forward in my future classroom, I will be utilizing participation grades by means of them engaging during the class and/or by engaging in classwork or homework assignments meaningfully, so that it benefits the student who is outgoing while also providing a way for the shy student to engage in the learning. I believe this method would work best for all teachers, and by this they can still utilize great forms of online participation such as discussion boards, flipgrid videos, Padlet boards, etc. (as discussed in my "Intructional Technologies" post) to differentiate their assignments and benefit more learning styles.
Overall, the COVID-19 pandemic has certainly redefined what student participation looks like, and I believe that teachers should look at the positives of new methods of student engagement, as it can be a positive change into the future.
Image source: https://www.aptce.org/html/enroll-class-nos.html
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