Course Participation: An Active Learning Approach Employing Student Documentation

Abstract

Documenting student participation is not an easy task, for the professor or the student. The purpose of this article is to (1) offer an approach for getting students to take responsibility for documenting their level of course participation and (2) explore the active learning framework to teaching that might best support this approach to participation documentation. Student examples are offered as an illustration of what can transpire when students are required to be the center of their learning and must document their own participation in a course. The assignment of having the students document their own learning behavior often meets with resistance and bewilderment from students. Thus, common failures and student perceptions are also highlighted.