In order to grade Discussion Forum posts, the category that the posts exist in must be linked to the Gradebook. Once the category is linked to the Gradebook, the Gradebook icon will appear to the right of the category title as confirmation in the Discussion Forum. A yellow grading section will appear immediately below each post that needs to be graded.
Once the grade is entered and recorded, the grading section color will blend in with the topic color to show that the topic has been graded and saved.
How to Enter Grades for a Discussion Forum Post
- Click Discussion Forum under Communication Tools on the main Faculty Tools page.
- Click a topic in the category that has grading enabled on the Discussion Forum home view.
- Enter the grade in the field provided. The grade field will look different depending on the grading method selected when setting up the graded item in the Gradebook.
The grade entered will be saved automatically and will also appear in the Gradebook automatically. However, you can still use the Enter key on your keyboard or click the Save button.
There can only be one grade per student inside each Discussion Forum category. In other words, you cannot give a student multiple, different scores for posts within the same Discussion Forum category. If you need to provide multiple Discussion Forum grades for students, you will need to create a graded item for each one that also links to a unique Discussion Forum category.
How to Enter a Comment for a Discussion Forum Post
- Click Discussion Forum under Communication Tools on the main Faculty Tools page.
- Click a topic in the category that has grading enabled on the Discussion Forum home view.
- Enter the comment in the Comments field provided.
Any comment entered in the Discussion Forum automatically saves and will also automatically appear in the Gradebook as text feedback. However, you can still use the Save button. Clicking the Save button will cause spinners to appear, which indicates that the information is being saved.
Note: Grades and comments will update automatically in the Gradebook as they are updated or revised in the Discussion Forum. The same applies to grades and comments that are updated or revised in the Gradebook; the changes will also appear in the Discussion Forum automatically.
Comments and scores made in the Discussion Forum are never visible to students. This information is only visible to students through the Gradebook once faculty has made the corresponding graded item visible.
See Posts that Need Grading
When you have enough students in a class that participate in a discussion forum, it may be difficult to know if you missed grading a post. An exclamation point will appear next to the Gradebook tab indicating that there are still posts in that topic that need to be graded.
Once all posts have been graded, the message and the exclamation point will disappear.