Grading Discussion Board Participation

Overview

In a classroom setting, Students are often expected to participate in class discussions and that participation is part of the equation when assessing performance. Within a classroom, participation performance can be ambiguous. It is sometimes difficult to differentiate the Student who is active but does not advance the discussion from the Student that speaks less frequently but with greater impact.

Student interactions with the Discussion Board are a permanent record of participation. The Instructor has the option to grade Students at the Forum level or at the thread level. In this way the Instructor can accurately compare Student participation to the expectations set forth.

Enable Grading

Grading options are enabled when the Forum is created or by modifying the Forum. Click Modify on the Discussion Board for a Forum to change its settings.

Once Grading has been enabled, a Grade Center Item is created and all the advanced management features that can be applied to the item should be managed from the Grade Center.

The Grade settings appear at the bottom of the Add Forum Page and the Modify Forum page. Select GradeForum and enter a point value to evaluate participants on performance throughout the Forum. SelectGrade Threads to evaluate participants on performance in each thread. When the Grade Threads option is used, a Points Possible option appears each time a thread is started. Keep in mind that users cannot create new threads if Grade Threads is selected for the Forum.

Forum Managers can enable thread grading directly from the thread list (in a Forum where thread grading is enabled). Follow these steps:

1. Click the Enable button in the Grade column for the appropriate thread and the Set Grade: page is displayed.
2. Enter a point value in the Points possible field and click Submit.

Grade User Participation in a Forum

Follow these steps to evaluate performance in a Forum.

1. Open the Discussion Board. A list of Forums appears. For each Forum that may be graded, an icon appears in the Grade column.
2. Click the icon in the Grade column, or click GradeForum in the action bar.
3. A list of users appears. Click Grade for a user.
4. A collection of the user’s posts in the Forum will appear. Evaluate the posts and enter a Grade in the Grade field at the top of the page.
5. Click Submit to add the Grade to the Grade Center.

Grade User Participation in a Thread

Follow these steps to evaluate performance within a thread.

1. Open the Discussion Board. A list of Forums will appear. For each Forum that may be graded, an icon will appear in the Grade column.
2. Open a Forum and select a thread.
3. Click Grade Thread. This button will only appear to users with a Forum Role of Grader or Manager.
4. A list of users will appear. Click Gradefor a user.
5. A collection of the user’s posts in the Thread will appear. Evaluate the posts and enter a Grade in the Grade field at the top of the page.
6. Click Submit to add the Grade to the Grade Center.

Changing Discussion Board Grades

Follow these steps to change Discussion Board Grades:

1. Navigate to the Grade: page.
2. Click the number in the Grade field or click Clear Grade to delete the existing Grade.
3. Enter a new Grade and click Submit.

Disable Grading for a Forum or Thread

Use the Modify Forum feature to change the grading option to select No Grading. If Grades have already been entered for the Forum or its threads, a warning message will appear that changing the setting will remove the associated Grade Center Items. Click OK to continue or click Cancel to preserve the Grade Center Items.