Tip #40: Grade Discussion Board forums or threads

Tip: You can grade Discussion Board forums or threads.

Here’s how to do it:
Navigate to your course Discussion Boards and click the Modify button for a discussion forum. Under Forum settings, select Grade forum or Grade threads. Grading a forum will allow you to assign grades for students’ posts to that forum. Grading a thread will allow you to assign grades for students’ replies to each thread in a forum.

After you have enabled grading, click the Grade icon next to the forum or thread you want to grade. Click the Grade button next to a student’s name. The student’s posts to the forum or thread will display. You can filter, sort, and print the student’s posts. To submit a grade for the posts, type a grade in the Grade box and click the Submit button.

Discussion grading and the gradebook:
It is important to note that when you enable grading for a forum or thread, columns for those forums or threads are automatically generated in the gradebook. When you enable grading by forum, a column for that forum is created in the gradebook. When you enable grading by thread, a column for EACH thread in a forum is created in the gradebook. Keep this in mind when choosing whether to grade by forum or thread. Gradebook management can become cumbersome if you choose to grade a large number of threads.