-by Amanda Beres

Image from https://dailyillini.com/opinions/2018/02/07/networking-skills-taught-class/

Participation has always been difficult to define within the classroom. There is a lack of participation theory, leading to confusion about what participation means. Are we grading participation for its importance, or out of convention? Should participation be graded at all? Not all students will understand what participation means within the classroom. We as instructors must be transparent with our expectations. Anchoring the discussion is key to defining participation and the words we use as instructors are important. Recognizing discourse patterns in the classroom could be one of many strategies. 

As seen in  Ryan M. Omizo’s chapter Participation and the Problem of Measurement, discourse patterns could be a grounding force for participation. Paying attention to not only the connection between words but student-to-student and student-to-instructor interaction is necessary.  Seemingly “mundane”  recurring themes, topics, and words are often a great anchor for discussion, which leads to a great anchor for participation. “Consequently, instructors might reconsider how they encourage participation and pay close attention to the words they use because…words as mundane as “egg” and “chicken” can exert a significant anchoring force on how topics develop and how people might be recognized as active participants,”(Omizo). In Business communications, the word “Resume” can spark a thought or word in another student. Students may begin to deviate slightly from the main topic, discussing their skills and formatting,  building on each other’s ideas. Then suddenly, they are building connections to course concepts. More importantly, everyone is included in the discussion.

Here we must understand when to insert ourselves and remove ourselves as instructors.  “Part of facilitating participation among people is to understand when to intercede in the conversation and when to recede,” (Omizo).  Instructors do need to hover over every portion of the class. Doing so actually decreases participation. Rather, we must introduce and mediate the discussion. Possible tools to encourage discussion may be:

• Discussion forums/ Discussion boards
• Small group responses 
• Having students “teach” the class 
• Many-to-one responses 
• Peer reviews
• Think-pair-share

These tools encourage questions, brainstorming, and peer interaction. Any opportunity to encourage students to work together is a win for participation. Often, I use these tools in my classes, to guide the discussion and directly ask students if assignments are clear. It allows students to voice concerns or ideas they may discuss with each other to be integrated into class discussion. Our job is to create Topoi, “a point in semantic space that is particularly rich in connectivity to other significant or highly connected points,” (Omizo). We must create a space where students begin to build connections between ideas, concepts, and the material they produce.  Participation begins with the instructor. We must choose carefully how we present information, and what information we choose to present.