Communicate and collaborate with forums guide

Whole forum grading makes it easy to view and grade all of a student’s contributions to all discussions on a Forum.

The steps below need to be undertaken prior to students posting discussions or replies.

1. Open the Forum.
2. Select Settings from the contextual navigation menu above the module name. This opens the Forum settings
3. Scroll to the Turnitin plagiarism plugin settings. 
   • Set Enable Turnitin to Yes to generate Similarity Reports.
4. Scroll to the Whole forum grading settings.
5. Select your Grade type.
   • Point or scale.
6. Select your Method. 
   • You can grade using simple direct grading, a marking guide or a rubric.
7. Scroll to the end of the Settings page and select Save and return to module.

1. Turn Edit mode on.
2. Select the three dots alongside the Forum. A menu will open.
3. Choose Hide.

1. Open the Forum.
2. Select the Grade users button on the left of the Forum page.

You will then see a list of all the contributions made to the Forum by each student in turn.

At present, you will see the contributions made by all participants - staff and students - in the grading screen. You may wish to download a list of students to ensure you are only marking student contributions.

The grading screen

The grading screen is in two halves.

1. The left side shows all the contributions made by a student to a forum.
2. The right side of the screen shows the grading panel, where you can grade the student’s contribution, and to navigate through all the students on the course.
3. The View discussion button shows the student's contribution in the context of the full forum discussion.

Show/Hide grading panel arrow

Show or hide the grading panel by selecting the arrow icons at the top of the grading panel, or by selecting the arrow above the student’s name.

Navigate between students

Select the arrows to the right of the student’s name to move to the next student, or go back to the previous students.

To search for a particular student, select the magnifying glass icon, and type in the student’s name.

Forum summary

The left-hand pane of the forum grading views shows the Forum summary. You can view all the contributions that the student you are grading has made to each discussion in the forum.

• Select the View parent post link to view the original discussion topic.

• Select the View discussion button to see the original topic and all replies to it. This opens in a separate pop-out window.

• Open the Forum.
• Select the Grade users button.
• Review the student’s contribution to the Forum.
• Add a grade under Score and any feedback under Additional comments.
• Do not change Notifications from the default of No. If you tick Yes, each student will be alerted to their grade as soon as you select Save.
• When you have completed grading that student, select Save.
• Use the arrows to navigate to the next student or Close to finish grading

1. Open the Forum.
2. Select the Grade users button.
3. Review the student’s contribution to the Forum.
4. Add a score for each criterion and add any additional comments in the input field. You can either write in an individual comment or select a comment if the frequently used comments were added to the marking record. You can view details of each criterion by selecting the information icon.
5. Do not change Notifications from the default of No. If you tick Yes, each student will be alerted to their grade as soon as you select Save.
6. When you have completed grading that student, select Save.
7. Use the arrows to navigate to the next student or Close to finish grading.

Related guidance

1. Open the Forum.
2. Select the Grade users button.
3. Review the student's contribution.
4. Each of the criterion for the rubric will be displayed, together with the points allocated for each level. Select the appropriate level against each criterion.
5. For each criterion, if a feedback input field is available, add the feedback.
6. Set the grade by typing in a grade (point), or using the up and down arrows to select a grade (grade and scale). If you are grading on a scale, select the arrow to open the drop-down menu and select the appropriate grade from the scale.
7. Do not change Notifications from the default of No. If you tick Yes, each student will be alerted to their grade as soon as you select Save.
8. When you have finished grading the student, select Save.
9. Use the arrows to navigate to the next student.
10. When you have graded all students, select Close.

Related guidance

You can grade students based on participation in more than one Forum on a module.

To create a grade based on more than one Forum, set up a grade category for forums in the Grader Report. You can then select an average grade or a weighted grade for each forum.

Related guidance

When you have finished grading all contributions, make the Forum visible again in order to release grades via the Grader Report and the Forum.

1. Turn Edit mode on.
2. Select the three dots alongside the Forum. A menu will open
3. Choose Show.

At present there is no workflow that allows you to hide the grade while marking is taking place, and then to automatically notify students when the grades are released. Use the News forum or Quickmail to let students know their grades and feedback are available.

Students can view their grade and feedback in the Grader Report. Students can also view their grade and feedback by opening the Forum and selecting View grades. A separate pop-up window will open, showing the grade and feedback.