Grading Discussion

The summer 2014 update to D2L introduced some changes to the discussion tool that affect grading. No longer can discussion be graded in context and can only be done by looking at all of the posts for a user via the Topic Score dialog.

The embedded video shows the process that I now use to make things a little bit easier. It involves periodically switching between the Grades and Discussion tools.

Here are the steps that I take in the video:

1. Go to the Enter Grades page for the grade item that is associated with the discussion topic that has new messages.
2. Click on the View Submissions icon that indicates unread posts from this student.
3. Grade the submissions using the Topic Score dialog that pops up.
4. Switch to the Discussion tool to mark that student's graded posts as read.

The greatest risk is that I will miss a student's contribution that happens to occur during grading.