Student interactions with the Discussion Board are a permanent record of participation. Blackboard allows for grading students' discussion board postings at the Forum level or at the Thread level. Grading options are enabled when a Forum is created or by editing a Forum. Once Grading has been enabled, a Grade Center Item is created, which can be managed from the Grade Center.

Enabling Forum Grading

1. Login to your course.
2. Access the Discussion Board.
3. Create a new forum or click on the Forum Menu Options button to the right of an existing forum you wish to add grades to and choose Edit from the drop-down menu.
   
   
    
4. Under Forum Settings, select Grade Forum and enter a point value to evaluate participants on performance throughout the Forum.
   
   
    
5. After making sure that the create/modify forum page is complete, click on Submit.

Viewing and grading student participation in a forum

1. Click on the Discussion Board link in the course menu.
2. Click the Forum Menu Options button next to the title of the forum you would like to grade and choose Grade from the drop-down menu.
   
   
    
3. The Grade Forum Users page appears. Click on the Username Menu Options button next to a student's username and choose Grade from the displayed menu.
   
    
    
4. A collection of the user’s posts in the Forum will appear. Evaluate the posts and enter a point total in the Grade field.
   
   
    
5. Click Submit to add the grade to the Grade Center,
then OK at the bottom of the page to complete grading the student's response(s) and return to the Grade Forum Users page. The grade you've entered will appear in the Grade column next to the student's name.

Enabling Threads Grading

1. Login to your course.
2. Access the Discussion Board.
3. Create a new forum or click on the Forum Menu Options button to the right of an existing forum you wish to add grades to and choose Edit.
4. Under Forum Settings, select Grade Threads to evaluate participants on performance in each thread and click Submit.
   
   
    
5. At this point, a pop-up window will be displayed notifying you that “Members cannot create new threads if thread grading is enabled. Creating new threads will be disabled.” Click O.K. to return to the initial Discussion Board page.
6. Access your forum by clicking on its title and add your thread(s) selecting the Create Thread button and filling out the Create Thread page. When the Grade Threads option is used, a Points Possible option appears each time a thread is started. Enter your point value into the text box and be sure to select the checkbox next to Grade Thread under the Grading section of the page. Keep in mind that users cannot create new threads if Grade Threads is selected for the forum.
   
   
    
7. Complete the page and click Submit.

Viewing and grading student participation in threads

1. Open the Discussion Board. A list of Forums appears.
2. Open the Forum with the Threads containing the students' responses for grading.
3. Click Grade Thread next to a Thread. This button only appears to users with a Forum Role of Grader or Manager.
   
   
    
4. The Grade Thread Users page appears. Click on the Username Menu Options button next to a student's username and choose Grade from the displayed menu. A collection of the user’s posts in the Thread appears.
5. Evaluate the posts and enter a point total in the Grade field, click Submit to add the grade to the Grade Center,
then OK at the bottom of the page to complete grading the student's response(s) and return to the Grade Thread Users page.

To check the discussion grades in the Grade Center, go to the Control Panel, click on Evaluation, then Grade Center.

Changing Discussion Board Grades

1. Navigate to the Grade Forum or Grade Threads page.
2. Click Clear to delete the existing grade.
   
   
    
3. Enter a new grade.
4. Click Submit.