Assignment:
Should educators standardize how much of the final grade accounts for class participation? Example, a course syllabus might state that class participation is worth 20% of the final grade regardless of Bloom's levels of learning.
Personally, I would not standardize the grade for class participation.
Here's my rationale.
Bloom's taxonomy of higher order thinking skills include the 3 highest thinking levels: analysis, synthesis and evaluation. These 3 levels engage learners to critical and creative thinking.
Therefore, why would you standardize student participation? Should for example the 20% of the final grade allocated to student participation at the knowledge level be the same as in the 3 highest thinking levels: analysis, synthesis and evaluation no? I don't think so.
Standardizing student participation as part of the final grade logically makes sense for ease of operation, but does not make sense if compared to blooms levels of learning. Instead, why not give a quiz or some other check on learning technique to see for example if students read the reading assignment or not?
Please back up your rationale (Whether you agree or disagree with standardizing class participation) with creatable references if possible.