Grading Discussions in Blackboard

Discussions are not able to grade themselves in Blackboard. Instructors plan their time to grade once a discussion deadline has passed. This post explains how to use the Grade Center to check on discussion participation and how to grade discussions.

Check Discussion Progress in the Grade Center

If you want to get a snapshot of how many people are engaged in a graded discussion, one way to do that is by viewing that discussion's grade column in the Grade Center. A quick scan of the icons in that column can tell you a lot.

Needs Grading

When you configure a discussion forum, you have the choice of setting attempts as "needs grading" based on the number of posts.

When students have reached that number, their discussion activity will appear in the Needs Grading filter or if in the Full Grade Center, will display the yellow icon.

In Progress

Once a student makes a post in a graded discussion, the In Progress icon will appear in the Full Grade Center. If you set a "needs grading" threshold (see above), the icon will change to Needs Grading once that threshold has been met. Otherwise, it will remain as In Progress.

This blue icon may also appear beside a score in the grade center if the student posts after the discussion has been graded.

This can indicate the conversation in the forum is still going on, sometimes a great learning opportunity. Or it might just mean someone posted late -- especially if only one person shows In Progress after you have graded.

Once you open the attempt in the grade center, the blue in progress icon will go away.

How to Grade Discussions

When to Grade

Be sure to wait until after the discussion deadline before you grade. Otherwise, you are bound to see blue In Progress icons pop up all over the grade column (see above). Most instructors find that when they visit and read discussion posts during the week grading can go a lot faster because they already know much of the context behind a student's posts.

How to Enter Grading Area

When the discussion has ended, you can begin grading from the Grade Center grade column, the Needs Grading view, or even the Discussion forum itself.

Start Grading from Discussion Board page

On the Discussion Board screen (where all of your discussion forums are listed), hover over the name of the discussion forum you want to grade, then click the action link that appears. Select Grade.

Start Grading from Discussion Forum main page

On the main page of a specific Discussion Forum, click Grade Discussion Forum at top.

No matter how you prefer to enter the grading area, you will arrive at the same place.

What Discussion Grading Area Looks Like

The grading screen for a discussion shows one student's work at a time, sorted by the dates on which they made their posts. On the right side of the screen, you have the ability to add a score, apply a rubric (if you are using a rubric), and provide formative feedback. You can also choose who to grade from a dropdown list. After scoring and adding feedback, click Submit at the bottom right, and Blackboard will save the information, then move to the next student waiting to be graded in this discussion.

More Help

Visit Blackboard's Grade Discussions page for instructors for more information.