Evaluating Philippine Students’ Class Participation with a Token Currency System

Abstract

Although past studies have validated the importance of active class participation in facilitating student learning, evaluating class participation remains a major issue. This study applies a token economy system to a Philippine university by awarding token currency to students who contributed meaningfully in class. After course completion, an online survey was administered to the 65 participating students, of which there were 26 completed responses. There was no evidence that the token economy increased student performance. However, survey results, coupled with student feedback, suggest that using a token economy is a viable alternative to traditional methods of evaluating student participation.