Assessing student discussion posts

Here are three methods that can be used to grade student Discussion contributions online:

  1. Marking with a Grade Item via the Discussion Tool, in which a score and general feedback are provided; or
  2. Marking with a Rubric via the Discussion Tool, in which an electronic Rubric is used for feedback and/or grade calculation (when a Custom Points Rubric is used).
  3. Marking via the Gradebook (using just the grade or a rubric attached to the grade) in which you can enter marks into the Gradebook rather than from the Discussion tool – useful if you have multiple discussion topics but only need 1 grade item overall.

As a general rule, we recommend using the simplest method for low-stakes Discussion assessments worth 10 marks or less. Online Rubrics are best used for higher value assessment tasks.

This table details the benefits and limitations of each grading method. In all 3 cases Students view their grade &/or rubric via the Grades tool.

Tools Used

Benefits & Limitations

Mark using Discussion tool.
  • Discussion topic.
  • Grade Item linked to Discussion topic.
  • Grading can be completed from the Discussion tool, where you can see the posts by that student as you grade.
  • You must use one Grade Item per Topic, so if you intend to mark a Discussion Forum with one Topic set up for each of eight Groups, you must set up eight corresponding Grade Items.

Mark from a Rubric via Discussion tool.
  • Discussion topic.
  • Grade Item set up in Grades tool.
  • Rubric associated with Discussion Topic(s)
  • Marking is done via the Discussion topic.
  • Rubric grade will translate across to Score column in the Grades tool if a Custom Points Rubric is used. If a Text Only Rubric is used, you will need to record the score manually.
  • Best for higher stakes tasks of over 15% value.
  • You will be able to see the posts & the rubric on the assessment screen as you mark.
  • As above you will need 1 grade item per topic, so if you are marking many topics you will need grade item for each.

Mark via the Gradebook (a rubric can be optionally attached to a grade item)
  • Grade item
  • Discussion Topic
  • Good for keeping the number of Grade items used to a minimum.
  • You can still use a rubric via the Gradebook.
  • Marker needs to be comfortable using multiple tabs/screens if they want to also see the posts made as they mark.

 

Note when creating Discussions – the ‘Forum’ is only an organisational device, it cannot contain discussion posts on its own. The ‘Forum’ is used to group sets of discussion topics together. A discussion ‘Topic’ is a distinct location for one or more discussion thread(s). Students can’t post directly into a ‘Forum’, you must set up topic(s) first.

DiscussionForumvsTopic

 

Mark using Discussion Tool

  1. First, set up your Discussion topic. This guide will show you how: How to set up a Discussion topic
  2. Now associate a Grade Item with the Discussion topic. This guide will show you how: Associate a Grade Item with a Discussion topic
  3. When it is time to grade students’ Discussion contributions, this guide will show you how: How to grade a Discussion topic via the Discussion tool

 

Marking via Rubric in Discussion Tool

NOTE: If your College or Faculty features a flexible learning or blended learning team, they may be able to create the electronic Rubric for you, but you will need to have the rubric details ready including any weighting you want attached to the criteria.

  1. Decide which type of Rubric you will use. This post compares the Custom Points and Text Only Rubric types. Instructions for setting up a Rubric can be found here: Custom Points Rubric creation; Text Only Rubric creation.
  2. Now set up your Discussion topic (or Topics if you are catering for several Groups of students). This guide will show you how: How to set up a Discussion topic.
  3. Associate both the Grade Item & the Rubric to your Discussion Topic.
  4. When it is time to grade your students’ contributions, these guides will show you how to mark using a Rubric: marking with a Custom Point Rubric; marking with a Text Only Rubric.

Mark into the Gradebook (with or without rubric)

  1.  Create a standalone Grade Item/Grade Items and associate your Rubric with the standalone Grade Item/Grade Items. These instructions explain how to set up a standalone Grade Item: How to create a Grade Item.
  2.  Mark via the Grades tool. This guide will show you how: How to grade a Discussion topic via the Grades tool.

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