DISCUSSION GRADING

Discussion Requirements, Grading,

Guidelines for Interactive and Engaging Discussions

Participate regularly in class discussions. This is a simple tip, but a crucial one. It takes some time for discussions to build up momentum, so you'll need to return to a discussion frequently to track and channel its development.

Organize discussions for easy reading. All subject lines for initial assignment entries should have your first name (or nick name, however you wish to be addressed – not your last name) and the topic of your entry (not just the assignment name and number). All subject lines for responses must have the words Reply to followed by the student’s name to whom you are addressing the message. Be considerate and use classmates’ correct names (and spellings) that they wish to be addressed by – and when replying to your instructor, DO NOT use my first name (Mrs. B is fine, or Mrs. Bowman if you prefer).

Don't disappear after posting your comment. A discussion should be more than a series of message postings. Someone may reply to your comment, asking for clarification or presenting a difference of opinion. Check the discussion's progress a day or two after you've posted your comments, and address other participants' response to your initial post. Also address responses you received to your postings. When you ask a question or make a comment to a classmate, go back within the next two days and comment further on the response that you received. Do not ask a question or disagree and then just ignore the conversation after that.

Take time to organize your thoughts before posting. You want everyone to read and understand your comment, so present it in an organized, easy-to-read manner. Provide only the most essential information in your post. If people want further details, they'll ask for them in a reply. When your comment contains a lot of material, break up the information into shorter paragraphs. Don’t write more than 3-4 paragraphs in a single message.

Avoid discussion posts that offer little more than "I agree." Each discussion posting should offer some new content, aimed to foster continued exploration of the topic. Stating "I agree" or "I disagree" alone will not add much to the discussion. Raise new questions, and keep track of issues that have not been fully investigated in previous posts so you can address those issues in your commentss.

Remember that discussion is an exchange and sharing of ideas and learning. Solicit feedback from your classmates. You should take a clear position in your comments, but it is a good idea to invite alternative perspectives. What new questions or problems arise from the position you're taking? How does your position relate to the position taken by other participants?

Use references to the course material. Your initial assignment entry must include at least two references to the readings to support your opinions, conclusions, interpretations, and analysis. Use proper APA citations in the text of your writing and references listed properly at the end of your writing. See examples below.

Your instructor does not ask rhetorical questions. This means that when I ask a question, whether in a new posting or in response to a student, you are responsible for addressing that issue or topic. The only postings of mine that do not require responses are those marked FYI in the subject line (FYI means “for your information”).

To view UNREAD messages each day, go to the Discussion Board (DB) and click on the number (in bold print) beside the discussion title. This will open a screen that displays only the messages you have not yet read. As you read each message, you may click on REPLY to post a response or you may click on READ so the message will not show up as unread again. If you want to reply to a message but do not have time right now, do not click on READ or REPLY and the message will stay marked UNREAD until you can get back to reply to the message.

SUBSCRIBING to the Q&A: The question forum has subscriptions enabled so that you can receive emails when there are new questions in the forum. I highly recommend that everyone subscribe to the questions so that you can read all questions and answers as soon as they are posted. This can be a huge help in completing your work in the best manner possible.

Discussion Board (DB) Instructions
NOTE: Failure to follow these instructions could result in point deductions on your discussion grade. If you forget to change subject lines of messages properly, you could lose credit for the posting or response because when grading, I won't be able to tell if this is a posing or required response or just an acknowledgement of responses you received.

Posting: click on ADD THREAD.
IN THE SUBJECT LINE type your first name followed by the topic of your posting.
Label your paragraphs Part One and Part Two
Responses to classmates: click on their message, then click on reply, and
CHANGE THE SUBJECT LINE to the words "reply to" and your classmate's first name in the subject line.
Use only black text in discussions and space one between paragraphs. Do not use any color text other than black and to not use bold print or italics
ALWAYS compose your work in MSWord and then copy into the DQ area. Do not type directly into the discussion. Always keep a copy of your work in case of technical problems (sometimes you hit submit and it doesn't work -- then your work is lost unless you've kept a copy in a MS Word document).

1. Run spell check and grammar check before copying your posting and responses in the DB
2. Run a word count (use the mouse to highlight your posting or response, then go to TOOLS at the top of your document and scroll down and click on Word Count) to make sure you have met the DQ and Response requirements
References to lesson readings is required in all postings for full credit. References are not required in responses however doing so demonstrates to me that you are able to correlate the concepts from the readings with your agreement or disagreement with comments posted by classmates.
NOTE: DO NOT USE wikipedia, howstuffworks, ehow, legalzoom, findlaw, aboutdotcom, or any other similar type of website for research for this course. You may use government and professional or academic sites only.

DISCUSSION REQUIREMENTS and GRADING

(10 pts) PARTICIPATION

Participating fewer than three days loses all participation points.

Participation includes the following:

Engaging in discussion on a minimum of three different days, spread out over the entire week, not all at the beginning or end of the week
Days that initial postings are made do not count as participation days unless you also respond to more than one classmate on the same day
Responding more than to just one posting in any given day
Addressing additional information and questions/comments by your professor
Answers to responses to your posting count as participation if these are 50 or more words.

(15 pts) The initial posting answering the DQ must be made by Friday midnight (this must be done BEFORE you write responses to classmates)

If there are two parts to the DQ, each part requires a 150 word (minimum) posting

First posting for each part of the weekly discussion must be at least 150 words.
First posting must refer to course readings to support opinions, comments, and conclusions (points will be deducted if you do not refer to the readings in your posting).
Review the examples to ensure that your work is properly cited (points will be deducted if there are no citations or reference list and if material is copied from the textbook or a webpage without citations, you will get a zero for the week on the first offense and fail the course on the second offense).
All writing is grammatically correct and has been proofread for spelling errors. It counts in the real world, so it counts here too.

(10 pts) TWO Responses to Classmates due no later than the last day of the week

If there are two parts to the DQ, two responses to classmates are required in EACH PART OF THE DQ.

Each response should be a minimum of 75 words (not counting sentences similar to "I agree with what you said because" or any quoted material from the posting you are responding to).
Each response should be relevant and add information from the readings to discussion.
Responses must clearly indicate reasons and support for agreement or disagreement with references to readings related to the DQ topic.
All writing is grammatically correct and has been proofread for spelling errors.

NOTE: responses to the professor do not count as required responses to classmates