At IIM Indore, most of our courses have an evaluation component called Class Participation(CP). If you were to ask most students, they'd tell you that it's that grey area where professors can give you any grade they want. But maybe the system has some true purpose behind such scoring techniques.
CP CLASSIFICATION:
I want to talk about the deeper aspects of CP. Yes, as an engineering graduate I love to classify things, so let me do that with Class Participation also.
a) Constructive CP: The most ideal form of CP, expected by the professors. Its characteristics include conciseness, preciseness and completeness. Very rarely found!
b) Prolonged CP: This kind of CP is like a long black tunnel where you can never see the other end. Yes, very verbose. It can put the class to sleep, and if it comes at the brink of a break, you might get a few dirty looks from your classmates too.
c)One-on-One CP: This is like a cartel or sometimes a dispute between 2 participants. If the professor is too innocent, such CP may lead to the two students even forgetting the fact that there's someone standing there to teach.
d)Desperate CP: Messed up your quizzes? Also messed up your assignments and the midterm? Then it's time for Desperate CP (DCP), a tool used to scale up your grades to a respectable level.
e)Little Professor's CP: This is when some candidates feel that they have the responsibility to answer all the doubts of their fellow classmates. I agree that we all mentioned at our interviews that IIMs are a place where you can learn from your peers, but then come on... There's a professor there for some reason too.
f)Redundant CP: The most common form of CP. As the name indicates, this CP is just a repetition, of what someone else has said earlier, in a slightly moulded form. Haven't read the case? Haven't done any pre-reading of the chapter either? No problem, this form of CP will rescue you every time. (Well, almost every time. Sometimes you may fall victim to the 1/62 probability phenomenon. Yes, you may end up being the 1st person to be asked to start a discussion).
g)Unconscious CP: A very strange form of CP. This occurs when a candidate has been dosing for the past few min and he suddenly wakes up and his hand shoots up in the air, with a question. Another minute or two later, you'll find him asleep again. A true talent still being researched.
h)CP Globe: Occurs when topics are more generic and abstract. This is when you can crap all you want.
Now, this is a very broad classification, and to avoid you getting bored I have excluded sub-classes. But I would like to touch upon a new innovation in CP, known as "The CP Challenge".
CP CHALLENGE:
Classes sometimes need a touch of humor. A few students have found a fantastic way of including that as a part of the class via this new challenge. This contest requires a student to use a particular word or phrase as a part of his CP during a lecture. And yes, the CP has to be
relevant, you can't just make any random comment. Sound easy? Well, not when the challenge includes phrases like "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and words like "intercourse". Wondering whether it was accomplished? Of course it was; we aren't called the countries brightest minds for nothing..How are the words communicated among students during class? Another use for our dearest friend; yes, the cell-phone. Isn't technology a beautiful thing??
Considering the stressed out lives and the piles of work (some actual and some virtually created) out here , I guess we'll need more innovations on similar lines. This is what you call, Creative Gyan.
UPDATE 1:This is an addition to the already mentioned forms of CP, which came to light during Term 2.
i) Forgetful CP - Courtesy: Goli; The participant is so engrossed in raising his hand and getting restless in his chair that by the time, the Prof notices him and asks for his view, he's forgotten his insightful point.
j)Telepathic CP - This came up during a session when 1 participant made a point and subsequently, another student was asked to tell the class what he had to say (He had his hand raised a while back). The lad responds: "I was going to say exactly what he just said, actually the words were also exactly the same" (Is that possible, damn weird huh...)
k) CP on Demand - Aren't there occasions when you just want someone popular to give their holy views on a topic?? The same happens in class at times. Some such icons of my class would be Lama, Goli, "Nemo", Bhalla, "First of All", etc.
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