Engagement, Participation, Attendance
In all my classes, credit for two marking criteria, Engagement and Participation (15%) and Actual Attendance (10%), cannot be earned without actually showing up to real-time class discussions — and are entirely impossible to make up or replace after the fact.
Should circumstances arise that make a student unable to satisfy requirements for Attendance and/or Participation, that student can thus still earn up to 75% of the course mark. But for my courses, which rely heavily on real-time discussion as an irreplaceable learning and research tool, I cannot assign marks above 75 (B+ and up, reserved at the U of T for excellence) in good conscience without sufficient student presence in our discussions and exercises as they happen, regardless of the reason.
I explain my policies on Engagement/Participation and on Actual Attendance — which are consistent across all my undergraduate courses — in detail below.
I. ENGAGEMENT AND PARTICIPATION
Active Engagement and Participation in class discussion, in real time (during the time the discussion is occurring, with classmates present), is a core requirement for all students in my courses, with no exceptions: every student must participate actively in discussion in order to earn course credit.
For courses with TA-led tutorials, Active Engagement and Participation in class discussions is only required during tutorial sessions — it’s not required during the full-class meetings I lead, but I will strongly encourage you to participate in those full-class sessions as well (and you can pick up extra points on your participation grade for doing it particularly well).
For courses without TA-led tutorials, you are required to participate substantively in the open-ended, real-time discussions that go on during all our class meetings. You aren’t required to contribute to every class session; rather, I’ll be looking for the quality of your participation and engagement overall, taking all of our class sessions into account.
If you have difficulty speaking up in real-time discussion, for any reason (and you don’t need to tell me the reason!), email me within the first three weeks of class (or, failing that, as soon as possible) — I have many options for you. (If your course has a TA, be sure to include your TA among the recipients of the email.) You and I will work together to come up with innovative ways to get your voice heard — but we must do so well ahead of time and never after the fact (click here to learn more about alternative avenues for participation).
I teach classes centred on dramatic texts, live performance, linguistic community, and spoken language. Engagement and Participation, in real-time discussion and collaboration, is foundational to my research and to my teaching philosophy (click here for more). My courses are based in largely unexplored and sometimes fast-upheaved humanities research fields: I expect my students not only to absorb and retain material for their own benefit, but also to contribute fresh perspectives, diverse opinions, and new ideas to the field (obviously, contribution also facilitates retention, and vice versa). In the study of human discourse and culture, live discussion is part of and constitutive of the field at a basic and fundamental level, where it is a primary generator of perspectives, opinions, and ideas.
Discussion requires the [public] ventilation of a question… a disquisition in which a subject is treated from different sides (OED). At the undergraduate level, it is a complement to the written essay, which is, on its own, comparatively one-sided and private (though essays can and should participate in larger discussions).
My (or your TA’s) assessment of your Engagement and Participation will be an evaluation of the quality (not quantity) of your contributions to class real-time discussions: if, by the end of term, we all have a pretty good idea of how you approach class material, you’ll do well.
Marks in Engagement and Participation are necessarily somewhat subjective, but I (and your TA) do use thorough double-checks and reviews during term to ensure that the marks are a fair assessment of the quality of each student’s contributions to class discussion. My final assessment of the overall quality of class conversations across term, based on all students’ contributions, will determine the mean and cap marks: so every student’s quality of contributions will affect everyone’s mark.
When I evaluate your Engagement and Participation, I also take into account the contribution you are making to university culture and discourse more broadly, or at least the evidence of that contribution that you show to me. If, in your interactions with me, or with others in front of me, you demonstrate a particularly thoughtful, mature, human, and productive attitude toward university scholarship and culture, then I may add up to 3 points to your Engagement and Participation score, completely independent of my assessment of your classwork. I may lower your Engagement and Participation score by up to 6 points for the opposite reason — that is, if in your interactions with me, or with others in front of me, you demonstrate an egregiously unthoughtful, immature, dehumanizing, or spoiled attitude toward university scholarship or culture, especially regarding your own responsibilities and role in creating and sustaining that culture. University culture is currently being choked, or at least severely endangered, by the infantilization, corporatization, and monetization of learning; if I witness a student being a flagrant contributor to those problems, I cannot remove that behavior from my assessment of that student’s candidacy for an accredited degree, represented by their course grade. That penalty will only apply in truly egregious cases, but the determination of what counts as egregious is (and must be) up to my subjective judgment.
II. ACTUAL ATTENDANCE
I require Actual Attendance in real-time class sessions, but allow a certain number (listed on each course’s main page — see the links to course pages in the menu bar at the top of this page) of absences before I deduct attendance credit. I never require proof, documentation, or any reason for a student’s absence. You can use your allowed number of absences for any reason; if the allowed number is exceeded, I deduct credit regardless of the reason.
It is crucial that students’ contributions to class, as well as their reception of fellow scholars’ contributions (mine and fellow students’), occur in real time, during scheduled class hours. Full Actual Attendance credit (that is, 10 out of 10 points) is awarded only to students who attend at least 85% of real-time class meetings (i.e., 10 out of 12 meetings, 19 out of 23 meetings, etc.—look at your course’s attendance requirement for the specific numbers).
If a student exceeds allotted absences by one class (i.e., the student attends only 9 out of 12 meetings, 18 out of 23 meetings, etc.), I cut the Actual Attendance credit in half (5 out of 10). If a student exceeds allotted absences by two or more classes (i.e., the student attends 8 or fewer out of 12 classes, 17 or fewer out of 23 classes, etc.), no Actual Attendance credit is awarded (0 out of 10). (For students who register for or enter my classes late: I do not count classes taken prior to late registration as absences; click here for important instructions for late registrants.)
Arrive to class sessions on time (usually, that’s ten minutes after the official time listed on the university schedule, which allows you time to walk from classroom to classroom). If you arrive to class very late, you may not be able to answer that day’s Comprehension Question, but other than that I have no rule about punctuality. It is always better to show up late, or unprepared, than not to show up at all.
All students are required to attend the minimum number of class sessions in real time, during scheduled hours, with no exceptions. However, students are able to attend ONE of those sessions remotely (not including TA-led tutorial sessions), receiving the same attendance credit that they would for in-person attendance (click here for instructions). Beyond that, attendance in person is required.
I can make pre-arrangements to expand limits on remote attendance if students alert me within the first three weeks of class that they have a truly good reason to attend remotely (you do not have to tell me what your reason is — it might be a health consideration, a housing or commute situation, etc. — just let me know that you have a truly good reason); for students who have a stipulation regarding in-person attendance in an official letter from Accessibility Services, I can allow unlimited remote learning, but the attendance still must happen in real time and during scheduled hours, with no exceptions. Click here to learn more about how to arrange expansions of remote learning options.
IMPORTANT: On days when a test or quiz is being offered, all students MUST attend class in person (unless they have pre-arranged with me and Accessibility Services for an accommodation that allows them to take the quiz or test in a special location). Test and quiz days will be clearly announced on the course syllabus from the beginning. If you have an emergency arise on a quiz or test day, you must contact me immediately, and no later than two hours after the quiz or test has closed, so that we can figure out an emergency arrangement.