Doing Discussion Questions Right Expanded Grading Rubric From the assigned readings, select one topic for which you will lead

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Learning to address discussion questions properly represents one of the most challenging tasks for online students. Students sometimes approach the forums as if the objective is to “get a right answer.” However, discussion questions may not have a single right answer. In other words, discussion questions are less about getting a “right answer” and more about engaging in a “right process” of research, application, and conversation. At the doctoral level, scholars possess the skills to concisely articulate persuasive, supported arguments that evaluate and synthesize multiple sources of information. Accordingly, doctoral level discussions are succinct, strategic conversations that build upon existing knowledge to create new knowledge.

Key Definitions:

• Assignment: Consists of the reservation post and the initial (content) post.

• Participation: Consists of follow up comments and responses to others’ posts.

Let’s start with a brief summary of what assignment and follow up responses should accomplish in discussion forums:

• Your reservation post is a brief “placeholder” to let others know the topic you will be researching for your in-depth initial response. The purpose of the reservation post is to encourage breadth and depth to discussions by avoiding redundant initial posts.

• Your Initial post to a discussion should analyze your reserved topic using the information you gathered from your readings in the textbooks, research articles, independent scholarly papers, etc., and then present your arguments as to how best to address the given issue(s), using your research as evidence for your views. In other words, make a supported point.

• Your reading and follow up responses to others should not be a general acceptance of their opinion, but rather something that challenges them to defend their stated response, or something that presents an alternate idea or additional analysis. Again, research should be used as evidence in your follow up responses. Follow up responses should display good academic decorum.

To dig a little deeper into the mechanics of doing a discussion questions right consider:

An important aspect of doctoral development is being able to present comprehensive arguments in a concise manner. In most courses, your initial response should be no more than 500 words in length. Length is not necessarily an indicator of quality. Posts must be both substantive and clear regardless of length. Make sure to provide one or two clear points or conclusions in your initial post so that others can respond. Consider dialogue forums as analogous to a scholarly conversation that might occur in a face-to-face classroom. Support your answers with examples and research. Cite your research using the correct APA format. Start reviewing and responding to the postings of your classmates as early in the week as possible. By the end of the week, respond to the specified number of classmates and your instructor (see rubric).

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Also keep in mind the need to participate in the course on several days per week (see the rubric). Participating on the minimum number of days does not ensure full participation points. Participate in the discussion by asking a question, providing a statement of clarification, providing a point of view with a rationale, challenging an aspect of the discussion, or indicating a relationship between one or more lines of reasoning in the discussion. Follow-up posts should also be substantive and include support from examples and correctly cited research when possible. Follow-up posts usually should not exceed 300 words. Often, they will be approximately 100 to 200 words in length. Remember though, substance is more important than word count. Simply agreeing or disagreeing is not considered substantive. One or two sentences are not usually considered substantive. The dialogues should be useful conversations that analyze topics both broadly and deeply, providing evidence (research) that supports your response. Done “right,” discussion forums can provide one of the most important learning experiences in your doctoral development.

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