Frank,
Glad you use a rubric for the assessment of quality. Quantity is not always the best measure. Quality is so important. Thanks for your input.
At any institution a faculty member could use the "rules" to reduce their work load without regards to quality of teaching.
If quantity of posts is linked to another administrative requirement such as number of days of posting, I have no problem with quantity. But a statement that a paricular number of posts equals learning is an elusive equality for me.
Hello,
This is a great topic- as I come across this in every class. No matter how much I explain to students (in the seminar, in announcements, etc.) there will be some that question my grading and inform me that they made the required two replies and a post- so, why did I take off points.
I wonder if this is the result of some other instructors simply grading discussion board work through quantitative measures rather than through using the rubric. I try to explain to students that the rubric is key in the posts of students and I spend a great deal of time explaining to students what a substantive reply to other students contains. I think that if students understand that it is quality and quantity together that holistically impacts one's grade- you will ses less students only posting a great post on one day out of the unit and you will see fewer poor quality posts throughout the unit. Brion.
Hello Albert,
Great question. I think that it is really up to the instructor to explain to students that quantity does not impact quantity- and that there is no quantitative number that automatically allows them to acquire a grade. Brion.
Hello Frank,
Yes, I agree that the rubric is very helpful in distinguishing between solid posts and students who are simply providing quantity. I often ask students to read their own post (whether it be a reply or not) and ask themselves if it is going to help other students in the learning process. Brion.
That is good but the wording of the assignment in one case places the emphasis on the presence of the content and not on the quality.
Whenever I am allowed, I note in the grading rubrics that the quality of a post must pass a test of "substantive" I simply do not count a post or message if it is not substantitive. I try to avoid evaulating the quality of the content and make a test of all points or no points.
Result? the students spend more effort in raising the quality of their post..and do more than sometimes I expect.... for which I do not complain.
At the University where I work there is a standard for all classes related to the timing and quantit of student postings for every class. This aspect of the requirement is not subjective, so the instructor does not have any discretion in grading related to quantity. Instructors do, however, have standards that they can evaluate related to the quality of the online discussion postings. I use a rubric to evaluate the quality of the student postings to the discussion board each week. So the quantity and the quality of the student postings are evaluated and feedback given to the students on a weekly basis.
Frank Nolan
Albert,
Sometimes the developer and originator are the same person. We just have to verify that the learning outcomes are assessed.
kevin,
Examples are good. Just counting how many posts students put on the discussion board does not provide for quality. Thanks for sharing.
Do you believe that the developer or originator of the assignment should set requirements for minimum number of posts for a discussion board assignment? ( for an online course)
(Distinguish this requirement from the LMS requirement of a minimum number to log-ins during a module or unit.)
.)
This question is a good one. We all want quality first, quantity second. However, depending on the situation quantity may have to be acceptable. The difference would be the grade assigned. This is where examples provided at the beginning of a class would be very helpful to the student to understand the grade difference between quality and quantity.
Albert,
Concentrate more on quality instead of quantity and use a rubric to assess the posting. It helps to think more about quality. Thanks.
