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This article discusses an interesting approach to discussion participation in the syllabus: what's expected, what's "good" participation, and how do you get students motivated to participate?

Some interesting thoughts here about the differences between "shyness" and "introversion", and the way your classroom participation practices can help or hinder students. Also an interesting reflection on participation in the scholarship of teaching and learning, as the author deals with resistance to her original article.

"What is the intended learning goal for participation?" And how do students know what "good" participation looks like? By sharing a clear, positive ideal for class participation in rubric form, you can help students learn the social skills you're encouraging with a "class participation" grade.

Classroom participation is difficult to track and assess equitably. Why not have the students contribute regular self-assessment to the process?

An extensive review of 51 years of scholarly literature on student participation. Thanks to Michael Levine and Irene Lopez for pointing this out.

With a 95% response rate in Spring 2012, this may not seem to be a big issue at Kenyon. Still, as we think about course evaluations going forward, we do need to pay attention to the common qualities of people who don't respond.

Good list of formal practices for classroom discussion which can get students more organized and more broadly participating in class. I was particularly taken with the URL for this page, which calls them "speaking-listening techniques".

Analysis of discussions on a site called Piazza suggest that requiring students to post an introduction can improve the amount of discussion on the boards, while heavily-graded discussions can lead students to "grind for grades" instead of authentically participate.

At the recent NITLE Symposium, Dan Cohen criticized the fact that the average academic conference is a "lean back" experience (i.e. sit back in your chair and let the information wash over you) as opposed to a "lean forward" experience (i.e. be on the edge of your chair, interacting with the speaker and other attendees). This post takes musician Bobby McFerrin as an example of a speaker who can get an audience to "lean forward." Given that McFerrin's specific decisions are most appropriate to the performing arts, what could we learn (and teach students) about the principles which this author draws out of his technique?

A number of good tips for making sure your documents are useful for people with vision impairment, color blindness, and people who use screen readers. Some require technical know-how, but anyone could go mouseless or change the default font size and ask whether their page still works right.

The Digital Public Library of America is recruiting educators interested in curating digitized primary sources and writing teachers' guides to using those sources from grade school into college.

Multiple Kenyon faculty have assigned Wikipedia article creation as class projects, or participated in scholarly "write-ins" to expand Wikipedia's coverage in a targeted area.

In the summer of 2015, from July 26 to August 2, a partnership of 23 liberal arts institutions will host ILiADS, the Institute for Liberal Arts Digital Scholarship, at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. ILiADS offers participants two ways to engage the community of liberal arts practitioners and pedagogues: a team- and project-based approach and a more traditional conference structure.

This is the second of two MOOC-related stories in the Chronicle yesterday. I am "taking" a MOOC at the moment, which is taught by a professor at Duke University. I do get the feeling that he is treating me (and all the students in the MOOC) with respect, but I can imagine a situation in which this may not be the case. The conveners of the meeting that drafted this "Bill of Rights" clearly want to send the message that online educators should have the best interests of their students FIRST and foremost in their minds. I stress FIRST here because the drafters of the document want to avoid having MOOC students become a commodity that can be sold such as with social media participants (e.g., Facebook).

"A meta-analysis of 62 studies involving 11,837 students indicated that... students participating in SL programs demonstrated significant gains in five outcome areas: attitudes toward self, attitudes toward school and learning, civic engagement, social skills, and academic performance. ... Furthermore, as predicted, there was empirical support for the position that following certain recommended practices--such as linking to curriculum, voice, community involvement, and reflection--was associated with better outcomes." (This link requires Kenyon authentication; the full citation is doi: 10.1177/105382591103400205 Journal of Experiential Education September/October 2011 vol. 34 no. 2 164-181.)

Active learning in the classroom can increase student engagement and improve learning outcomes but how can instructors be sure to include introverts in an environment that tends to favor extroverts? The article outlines a framework for thinking about engaging all learners without leaving introverts behind and details some simple techniques for doing so.

You say "any questions", 5 seconds of total silence follow... what then?

This chapter from a University of Virginia handbook gives specific suggestions which can make the classroom more welcoming to people from all backgrounds. Some of the "suggestions" look more like probing questions for reflecting on your own teaching - which is also a good thing! Also available as a PDF at http://trc.virginia.edu/resources/420-2/teaching-a-diverse-student-body-handbook/

Concrete tips for making sure all students have equitable chances to participate in class, from Maha Bali and Steve Greenlaw