Grading weekly discussions for my online class was a nightmare until Blackboard developed “Grading Forms”. Now grading discussions is as easy as 1-2-3. Instead of spending hours reviewing student posts and grading them accordingly I now spend less than 20 minutes per week grading discussion participation.
My students receive up to two points every week for active participation in weekly discussions. With the addition of a grading form I simply choose the performance indicator that corresponds with each student’s responses. This numeric point value is automatically recorded in the grade book.
Setting up and linking a Grading Form might take little bit of time but it is well worth the effort. All I have to do is create a simple grading rubric (known as a grading form) in Blackboard. When I set up my discussion I simply choose to grade by a particular grading form. When the week’s discussion ends I am able to efficiently grade each individual student based on the performance indicators in the grading form. Voila! Done!
The students are able to preview the grading form to review expectations and then refer to the graded grading form to understand why they received a particular grade. Expectations are clearly defined and everyone is happy. Best of all my workload is reduced, I am less stressed, and my time is better spent doing what I was hired to do: Teach!
Example of a grading form:
For more information about Grading Forms see: