Open AccessDevelopment of a rubric to assess student participation in an online discussion board
Author(s) -
Elizabeth J. Ware
Publication year - 2020
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Conference proceedings
DOI - 10.14742/ascilite2020.0134
Subject(s) - rubric , discussion board , summative assessment , task (project management) , medical education , audit , quality (philosophy) , formative assessment , online discussion , psychology , computer science , mathematics education , pedagogy , multimedia , engineering , world wide web , medicine , business , accounting , philosophy , systems engineering , epistemology
Online discussion boards provide opportunities for students to share experiences, consolidate knowledge, explore new ideas, and feel connected to other students and faculty. Despite the benefits, many students do not voluntarily engage in discussion board activities. Mandating participation is a contentious issue, but after reviewing the literature, a summative assessment task and a rubric were developed and trialed in a fully online, Australian postgraduate course. An audit of the discussion board posts from two semesters without the assessment task, and two semesters using the assessment task, found the quality and quantity of posts increased. There were significant improvements in regularity, discussion of course concepts, translation to relevant experiences, and support and encouragement for other learners. The initiative successfully created a learning environment and is being implemented in other subjects.