Participation Expectations For A Faculty Lead Discussion

• Participation in a faculty led discussion consists of the following steps:
• Respond to my first posting. This must be done within the first two days the module is active.
• Read the postings of your fellow students, and reply to at least three of them. Chose the postings you think will be the most interesting and beneficial to you.
• Reply to every student who replys to you.
• Continue participating in the threads until the module is over.
• Note: If other students are not replying to your posts, perhaps it is because your postings are too complex, confusing, or uninteresting.

• Participation in a student led discussion consists of the following steps:
• Student Discussion Leader(s) must post the initial discussion topic in a New Post. This must be done within the first two days the module is active.
• The rest of the class will then reply to this initial student posting. 
  
• Read the postings of your fellow students, and respond to at least three of them. Chose the postings you think will be the most interesting and beneficial to you.
• Respond to every student who responds to you.
• Continue participating in the threads until the module is over.
• Note: If other students are not responding to your initial post and/or replies, perhaps it is because your postings are too complex, confusing, or uninteresting.

The Two Cardinal Rules For Discussion Forums

A "Cardinal Rule" is a rule that is so important that, if you break it, there are dire (...evil in great degree; dreadful; dismal; horrible; terrible) consequences. If you do not follow the instructions on this page you will probably not get good grades in the discussion forums.

When you are participating in a discussion, each response you post will have two fields that you must complete correctly in order to get credit for your response: the Message Field and the Subject field. No matter how terrific your comment is, if your subject isn't acceptable, your post will not receive full credit. I suggest that you write your comment first, then write the subject.

Cardinal Rule #1:
Your comment must introduce relevant, new information. Your job here is to provide new information which is appropriate to the issue being discussed. In brief, here are the major things I look for in your discussion comments (For more details see the Discussion Rubric:  :

• Is your comment accurate?

• Is it relevant to the issue under discussion?

• Have you taught us anything new?

• Have you added to the academic atmosphere of this course?

Important notes:

• It is OK to respond with non-informative comments. In fact, sometimes it is a good idea to thank someone for their assistance or simply let them know that you agree with what they have said. Non-academic comments such as these can add valuable social presence to the course, and help to create a sense of collegiality. However, only comments that add knowledge will be graded.

• If you copy/paste information from websites or other sources, you must use quotes and provide the citation.

Cardinal Rule #2:
For the Subject, you must create a sentence that conveys the main point of your comment. You are required to create a "Subject" for your discussion posts that conveys the main point of your comment. It is not enough to use just a "keyword" or "key phrase" as your subject - you must create a short sentence (a complete sentence with subject - verb - predicate, but no more than about 10 words) which summarizes the main point you are making in your comment.

The goal here is to state the main point of your comment in your subject. Remember - you can't just mention the topic you are commenting on, you must summarize your main point in a sentence. This requirement is intended to accomplish 2 goals:

• It requires the author to think about and clearly state the main point of his/her comment. To do this, the author must have a clear understanding of the material, and this aids in learning and memory.

• It provides the reader with advance information which is helpful in organizing and learning the content of the comment. The reader should be able to determine the essence of your comment just by reading your Subject.

For example, if you are presenting information on the overuse of drugs in the treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders, your subject should be something like this:
Study shows that drugs are over prescribed for ADHD, or
Too many kids put on medication for ADHD, or
Doctors rely on drugs to treat ADHD, etc.

However, the following subjects would not be acceptable:
ADHD, or
Drugs overused, or
This is a Shame, etc.

Note: When responding to a discussion post, you may not use "Re"{alone, or repeating the subject of the post you are responding to}
For example: Re and Re: To many kids put on medication for ADHD are NOT acceptable!

Here are a few more examples of unacceptable Subject Field entries.
(It is never necessary to use "response to", "RE", or the name of the person you are responding to in the subject field.)

response
response to Tara
re
Thank You
RESP
I agree
I totally agree
Great Point
Your Comments
R2 Melinda
I don't know
U R Right...

Each discussion post is graded according to the following rubric.

Points*	Interpretation	Grading criteria
4	Excellent (A)	The comment is accurate, original, relevant, teaches us something new, and is well written. Four point comments add substantial teaching presence to the course, and stimulate additional thought about the issue under discussion.
3	Above Average (B)	The comment lacks at least one of the above qualities, but is above average in quality. A three point comment makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the issue being discussed.
2	Average (C)	The comment lacks two or three of the required qualities. Comments which are based upon personal opinion or personal experience often fall within this category.
1	Minimal (D)	The comment presents little or no new information. However, one point comments may provide important social presence and contribute to a collegial atmosphere .
0	Unacceptable (F)	The comment adds no value to the discussion.
No penalty	Excellent Subject	The subject field is a complete sentence, and conveys the main point of the comment. The reader clearly understands the main point of the comment before reading it.
1 point penalty	Minimal Subject	The subject field provides key word(s) only. The reader knows the general area that the comment deals with.
2 point penalty	Subject field is unacceptable	The subject field provides little or no information about the comment.

*Note: I will not negotiate discussion point ratings. There may be times you feel you deserve more, or fewer, points on a particular response. Over the length of the course, these will probably balance out.

Each discussion is graded separately.

Two final points about the discussions:

1. Remember, discussions in this course are not "chat rooms". This is a college course, and each post should be well written, use correct punctuation and grammar, and contribute to the academic authenticity of the course. If you waste the other students time with your post, I want them to let you know! If your time is wasted by another student's post, let the author know. I don't want rudeness, but I do want academic integrity. Feel free to refer students to this document as a "gentle reminder" of their responsibility.

2. Whenever you accidentally submit a discussion post  in the wrong place, do this:
a.  Open the post
b.  Click on Edit
c.  Replace the Message and Subject with the word Deleted.
d.  Repost in the appropriate place.