Participation

Participation refers to both in-class participation and listserv participation. Whichever one of these you are best at is weighted 2/3, and the other one is weighted 1/3.

The purposes of the listserv are as follows. One, to talk about communication-related issues. Two, to build a sense of community. Sending a minimum of 1 message per week (not counting the first week) is required.

I grade class participation by jotting down notes in my class journal right after each class. What I look for is frequent, relevant participation. The more you contribute your thoughts and experiences, the higher your participation grade.

All participation is graded on the extent to which you make relevant comments that contribute to class discussion and to an atmosphere of intellectual learning and sharing, and which reflect an adequate level of preparedness.

Positive Examples (comments like these get you participation points):

• "This seems really similar to the brokerage stuff we were studying earlier, except that now we are considering the whole network."
• "Does this mean that the entire planet forms a single network?"

Negative Examples (comments like these get points taken away):

• "Do we have to know this for the test?"