Need a fast way to score online discussions?
When I'm grading discussion posts, I look for three things: Quality, Quantity, and Timing. Left to their own devices, students will post the minimum amount of words in a single post just before the deadline. After several years of tweaking, the rubric below seems to be working well at managing their workload and my expectations.
- Quality: How well does the student seem to understand what they read or watched?
- Quantity: Are they interacting with classmates to create conversations? Are they helping their classmates understand the concepts?
- Timing:
When I'm reading discussion posts, I'm looking for how well students seem to understand the materials and how they can connect what they are learning to the practice of communication around them.
A substantive response to a discussion prompt will include references to the text (paraphrase or quote, cited correctly and expanded on in your message) and/or details of the student's background and experiences relevant to the topic. A substantive response will also include a semblance of organization (topic sentences and a paragraph structure) and be free from major errors (spelling, grammar). Constructive comments include a reference to a classmate’s post (paraphrase or quote and expanded on in your message). Together, these factors reflect your engagement in the text and the course.
Community building comments (I agree, good point, and so on) are supportive but do not move the conversation forward, so they do not count toward the quantity of interactions.
The rubric below is for an asynchronous online grad communication course. It's built into a D2L Brightspace rubric and attached to the activity so grading goes quickly. Adapt as needed.
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| Online discussion rubric by DrJenniferVeltsos |
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