How to do the Discussion Forum correctly

FORUM GRADING RUBRIC

ANTHROPOLOGY

ONLINE

Forum Rubric

Class participation is an important expectation of this course. Students are expected to offer comments, questions, and replies to the discussion prompt that have been posed for each forum as well as to classmate postings. Students are expected to actively participate in EACH FORUM twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Each Forum will be opened for 3 days only. The first day is for posting your response to the prompt. The second day is for you to reply to another student’s response to the prompt. The faculty role is as an observer and facilitator. I will be reading all messages and I will participate in the discussion as appropriate. Students may work ahead on the discussion boards but posting on past week's boards will not allow for stimulating discussions with your classmates.

The following points are what is looked for in your original postings to the Forums and your responses to others student’s postings (10 points for each Forum with a total 14 Forums).

Original Posting (7 points):

Mentions at least 2 specific points from the article or reading. (1 point)  
Relation of new information to old information learned in the course to date. (1 point)  
Relation of information in article or reading to personal experience. (1 point)  
Discussion at a critical level, not just recitation of facts from the article. (3 points)  
Length of posting approximately 300 word (1 point)

Note: Discussion at a critical level means discussing things such as your opinion of the point mentioned, why you hold that opinion, what you see wrong with the point mentioned, how you see the point consistent/inconsistent with what you have learned so far, implications for the future, consistencies/inconsistencies within the article or reading itself, and so forth. In other words, critiquing an article means analyzing the good and/or bad aspects of the article and justifying your analysis. Do not just tell me what the article or reading states...I already know this.

Reply to Others' Postings (3 points):

Discuss one point you like/agree with, and one point you dislike/disagree with, and why. (2 points)  
Length should be about 100 words in length.