Class Participation and the push to the finish line

[AlexReid]

Here is some general information for you about participation on our Ning discussion. Looking at students who have posted in November (of which we are now nearly at the halfway point).

Zero posts: 7 students
less than three: 5 students
3-6 posts: 4 students
>6 posts: 3 students

Participation in the course discussion is 30% of your final grade

Also along these lines, to give you a brief snapshot of the wiki project:

9 students met the basic requirements of participation in the wiki in terms of numbers of pages created or edited.
5 more students did something.
3 other students created personal pages but did nothing else or at least documented no other activity.

That project is 15% of your final grade. Not surprisingly, there is a fair degree of overlap between students who participate on the discussion and contributed to the wiki project. So what we are looking at here is about half the class with a C or worse grade on what amounts to 45% of your final grade.

As you know from the grades you have received. I am a fairly generous grader. I realize that for many of you these are new activities, so I don't expect greatness. But when students don't do things, I obviously can't offer a grade.

[AlexReid]

Let me also add this. I just sent you all a brief message about your status in the class in terms of participation. You can see this for yourself though just by looking at your "latest activity" on your personal page in Ning. In fact, it is clear to anyone who cares to look. In truth though, you don't even need to look b/c anyone who is participating in the class discussions regularly knows who they are talking with.

And though I have talked about this in terms of quantity, there is also a quality issue here. This discussion is your opportunity to demonstrate your understanding of and engagement with the course material. Posting regularly is a start. Posting intelligently and regularly is the goal.