Discussions are graded on a five-point scale according to the following rubric. Discussion Board posts are to be the original work of each student. When a source is cited or included in any way in a post, a full citation should appear in the post so that the instructor and other students can examine the underlying source document. Students must follow the University’s Student Code on discussion boards as with other activities completed for this course.
5 points:
- demonstrated leadership in discussions
- posted regularly during the assignment
- replied to the main topic; substantially enhanced the quality of discussion (e.g., illustrated a point with examples, suggested new perspectives on issues, asked questions that helped further discussion)
- posting kept concise
- replied to other students on a regular basis in a relevant and constructive way
- time between posting indicated student had read and considered a substantial number of other postings before responding
- referenced other research (when appropriate) and evoked follow-up responses from other students
- A useful way of approaching the discussion boards to maximize your contribution and performance is to ask yourself: “Is there a way to get others to respond to me or perhaps to get others to use my post in their posts by (1) thinking of an example or analogy that would make the point more concrete, (2) raising a question relating to this point that would cause others to react, or (3) doing some additional research related to the point and bring it into the discussion? Any of these three would be a way to take a leadership role that would cause others to react to your post and generate a richer thread.”
3 or 4 points:
- several posts, but not adequately spread out over the posting period
- replied to the main topic; enhanced the quality of discussion (e.g., illustrated a point with examples, suggested new perspectives on issues, asked questions that helped further discussion)
- time between posting indicated student had read and considered a substantial number of other postings before responding
- posting kept concise
- replied to other students on a regular basis in a relevant and constructive way
- referenced other research (when appropriate) and evoked follow-up responses from other students
1 or 2 points:
- posted main topic information
- replied to one other student posting
- no depth of presentation; posting not on topic or only tangentially related to topic.
- postings were not kept concise
- infrequent postings or postings that do not consider other postings
- no constructive comments to help class discussion
- postings made too late in the discussion board to contribute to meaningful discussion
0 points: indicates no response/task not attempted.
A grade of 3 is average and is equivalent to a score of 80 out of 100 (5=100, 4=90, 3=80, 2=70, 1=60, 0=0).