ES129: Environmental Health

Spring 2024
Discussion Board Evaluation Guidelines
Discussion Board Guidelines:
The Discussion Board allows us all to carry on an asynchronous discussion in a way that all members of the class can see,
similar to a discussion in a face-to-face classrooms.

For each unit, student is expected to post a minimum of 4 messages to the discussion board. Two of the posts must
respond to one of the questions that I post. The other two posts must be a response to another classmate’s post. You may
agree or disagree with classmates, but be thorough in your responses: they must advance the conversation. You should
not restrict yourself to one conversation – your posts can relate to any question I pose and any student response.

Both the quality and quantity of your posts are what matters. The more the class reads and responds to the posts, the
more meaningful and dynamic the learning experience will be for all.

You cannot have a meaningful discussion if you participate at the last minute or if you participate so early that you never
read any of the responses. Along the same lines, you will earn less credit for postings that have similar ideas as the
previous postings of your classmates. If you post later than others, you must post something new that adds to the
conversation. In other words, it pays to post early, as your ideas will be original (at least to our class) at that point. Please
remember to be professional in your replies to your fellow classmates.

See Moodle for specific due dates for each unit.

Assessment:
Discussion board posts are graded out of 20 points, determined by the quality & number of posts as follows:
 Criteria for excellent posts: enhanced quality of discussion, incorporated readings/notes, related directly to
topic, showed evidence of reading many other student postings, new ideas not previously posted. Full credit
will only be reserved for exceptional posts.

 For full credit, a student must have made four or more excellent posts, with at least two posts responding to
the instructor and the remaining two to other students.

 Posts will not count if they are under the required word count or if they do not further the discussion (e.g. “I
agree” without elaboration or new thoughts).

o Posts responding to my questions should be a minimum of 100 words.

o Posts responding to a classmate should be a minimum of 75 words.

 No credit will be given for responses posted beyond the due dates, or for postings made to the wrong
discussion board.

Take home message: more quality postings = a better discussion and a better grade.