Before you design a discussion activity, let’s consider how you might evaluate students’ performance.

Assessing Discussions

Research suggests that students receive the most benefit from online discussions when they are provided with clear expectations for their performance. In addition to streamlining grading for instructors, rubrics can help students understand the expectations for the assignment and monitor their own performance. Rubrics can also facilitate self and peer-assessment. This section will review two main approaches to rubrics for discussion forums: holistic and analytic. It will also include information on other ways to provide feedback on discussion forums to students, both individually and to the whole class.

Forums Feedback

In addition to providing individual feedback in the form of completed rubrics, consider other methods for providing feedback on discussion forums.