Wiki Page, Math 13 - Perez Sandbox : Discussion Board General Information

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2026-01-17T21:14:59-08:00

On this page you will find general information about Learn By Doing discussion exercises.

Purpose of discussions

General directions

Due dates

Grading

Examples of high quality feedback

Purpose of Discussions

Discussion assignments are aptly named Learn By Doing. These assignments require you to do something and write about it. For example, you may be asked to analyze data and write a paragraph to summarize your observations. Because Learn By Doing tasks are more difficult, you will have the benefit of working with a group on these assignments.

General Directions

For discussion items, you will be randomly assigned to a group. Your group will change frequently throughout the course so that you will have the opportunity to work with a lot of different people.

Post your initial response by the due date. After you post your initial response, you will see model answers. Read the model answers to help you assess your own work then respond to your initial post to correct any mistakes you made in your first attempt.

As part of the discussion, you will also provide feedback to your peers. Feedback is usually due a few days after the initial post is due. For full credit you must provide high quality feedback to at least two other people in the group.

What is high quality feedback? See the examples here.

How are the discussions graded? See the rubric here.

Due Dates

If your instructor set a due date for a discussion, it will appear in your Canvas calendar. Your initial post is due on the due date.

After the due date, the assignment will remain open for a few days so that you can provide feedback to your peers. Your instructor may post an announcement in Canvas about the deadline for posting feedback. If not, ask your instructor for more specific information about when your feedback is due.

Grading

Your instructor may randomly choose which Learn by Doing discussion board exercises to grade, so some of these exercises may be graded and others may not.

If the discussion board exercise is graded, you will receive an individual grade based on four criteria:

Initial post

Corrections

Feedback

High quality feedback

Your instructor may also choose to award extra credit if everyone in the group receives feedback.

Here is the rubric:

Grading rubric for discussions

Total: 3 pts | 3 pts Good job! | 2 pts Nearly there! | 1 pt Late but on track | 0 pts You can do better
Initial Post | Your initial post is on time, complete and shows a good understanding of concepts. | Your initial post is on time but may be incomplete or may not include enough detail to demonstrate good understanding. | Your initial post is late, but your response is complete and shows good understanding. | Your initial post is substantially incomplete or does not show good understanding.
Total: 2 pts | 2 pts Good job! | 0 pts No corrections | |
Corrections | No corrections needed or, if you made mistakes, you replied to self with corrections and an explanation of what you missed and why. | You made mistakes in your initial post but did not correct them or your correction is just a cut-and-paste from the model answer. | |
Total: 1 pt | 1 pt Good job! | 0 pts You can do better | |
Feedback | If possible, you gave feedback to two or more people. | It was possible to provide feedback, but you did not. | |
Total: 4 pts | 4 pts Good job! | 2 pts Nearly there! | 0 pts You can do better |
High Quality Feedback | When there was the opportunity, you consistently provided high quality feedback. | When you gave feedback, only some of your feedback was high quality. | You did not provide high quality feedback to anyone. (See suggestions below.) |

Equitable Feedback

(Instructor option)

1 pt Extra Credit!

Everyone who posted on time received feedback from at least one person.

0 pts No extra credit

Someone who posted on time did not receive any feedback.

High Quality Feedback

The goal of feedback is to generate a conversation that improves learning (yours or someone else's.)

Just like a good conversation with a friend, where you listen and respond to what is said, high quality feedback responds to particular statements in a post. It is specific and helpful, as opposed to general or just an answer.

Here are some ideas for producing high quality feedback:

Check to see if the post responds to all parts of the prompt

Compliment a good explanation and say specifically what makes it good (or how it helped you understand something better)

Note places where you think there may be an error and provide a tip to help the person avoid this error in the future

Highlight a vague statement and suggest some language to clarify it.

Low quality feedback is not specific or very helpful (even if it is encouraging.) Here are examples of low quality feedback: "Good job!", "I agree.", "Needs work. Look at the answer."