Discussion Board GRAD

Discussion Board (DB) Participation Rubric
Discussion boards (DBs) are what make an online course a course and not an independent study.
DBs are vital to demonstrating that the learner has met the expected course level outcomes.
Collaboration between peers and your instructor in the DB is an important aspect of the online learning experience and is expected in the course.
Any exceptions to the following DB rubric will be at the instructor’s discretion.
The purpose of a DB is to stimulate critical thinking in a scholarly manner.
Critical thinking consists of synthesis, creating solutions, application to real world situations, and testing, debating, and defending evidence-based solutions.
Critical thinking is not repetition of assigned reading material. Outside research of the literature is a vital part of the DB.
Posts need to be substantive. This means that responses such as “I agree” or “great post” do not meet grading rubric requirements.

Initial posts for each discussion question (DQ) is due no later than Saturday of the unit week.
The initial post must be an answer to the DQ topic, not a comment on other posts. Initial posts for each DB must also include a minimum of three peer-reviewed citations.
Citations must include outside sources and no more than one citation from assigned course readings may be used each week.
While the discussion board tool limits the ability to use APA formatting (e.g., hanging indents), posts must include the required elements of an APA in-text citation and list of references.

	Inappropriate	Below Average	Average	Above Average	Score	Weight	Final Score
	1	2	3	4
Initial post timeliness	Provides an initial post on or after Sunday.	N/A	N/A	Provides an initial post by Saturday.		15%	0.00
Additional comment requirement	Does not post responses to others.	Posts one comment per Discussion topic.	Posts 2 comments per Discussion topic on separate days. At least one comment includes a citation.	Posts 2 comments per Discussion topic on separate days (resulting in total participation on three different days throughout the discussion). At least two comments include a citation.		10%	0.00
Engagement	N/A	Participates, but does not post anything that encourages others to respond to the posting.	Attempts to motivate the group discussion.	Frequently attempts to motivate the group discussion.		5%	0.00
Content Quality Initial Response	Submission does not relate to the topic.	Answers some question/topics with some clearly stated opinions. Supports post using text only.	Answers all questions with opinions and ideas that are stated clearly. Supports post using text and at least two peer-reviewed sources.	Answers all questions with opinions/ideas creatively and clearly. Supports post using several outside, peer-reviewed sources.		35%	0.00
APA Format	Major errors or no APA format used.	Minor errors with APA format.	Rare errors with APA format.	No errors with APA format.		10%	0.00
Spelling/ Grammar/ Formatting/ Mechanics	Significant errors in spelling and/or grammar. Major flaws in writing mechanics and formatting.	Poor spelling and grammar are apparent.	Uses Standard American English with rare errors and misspellings.	Consistently uses Standard American English with no misspellings. Appropriate mechanics and formatting.		10%	0.00
Length	Submission does not meet length requirements.	N/A	N/A	The initial post is at least 200 words. This does not include repeating the DB question or the citations and references.		15%	0.00
						100%	0.00
					Final Score		0
					Percentage		ERROR:#DIV/0!
Total available points =			4
								Instructions: First enter total points possible in cell C15, under the rubric. Next enter scores (between 0 and 4) into yellow cells only in column F.
Rubric Score		Grade points		Percentage
Low	High	Low	High	Low	High
3.5	4.0	0	0	90%	100%
2.5	3.49	0	0	80%	89.99%
1.7	2.49	0	0	70%	79.99%
0.0	1.00	0	0	0	69.99%