To begin, open your course and click on Course Materials in the navigation bar.

Then, click Discussions.



Scroll to your discussion topic.

  • If the discussion does not have a rubric attached, choose to Edit the topic and add the rubric on the Assessment tab. 

Next to the topic title, click the drop down arrow and select Assess Topic.



Under a student’s name, click on Topic Score


A new window will open in the browser. The rubric will appear at the top of the window and all student posts within the topic will appear below the rubric. Scroll down to review the student posts before marking a score on the rubric.


To score the rubric, click on the level achieved for each criterion listed.

If desired, edit the point value awarded per criterion and add specific feedback in the far right column using the criterion edit feature (pencil icon).


As you score the discussion on the rubric, you'll see the Topic Score in the top right corner update to reflect the student's total score. You can edit the total score if you adjusting points on the student's grade for the discussion.  You can also type feedback comments into the text box under the rubric. 

  • If you want the score to publish as soon as you've finished grading, check the box to Publish score on save under the Topic Score.


Click Save and Close after you've entered the score and any feedback. 


Repeat steps for each student. You may return to finish grading at any time and do not have to grade all students at once.



Click Save and Close to end your grading session.