This manual contains the following process on how to: 
1.	Attach a rubric to the discussion topic as a reference for students (this allows them to see the criteria used for grading only)
2.	Add the rubric to the grade item and grade from this tool.
3.	Create one grade item for each discussion topic.
Attach rubric to the discussion topic as a reference for students (this allows them to see the criteria used for grading only)
1. Go to Communications in the course navigation menu and select Discussions.

2. Click on the down arrow next to a discussion topic and select the option for Edit Topic.

3. Click the Assessment tab.

4. Under the Grade Item pull down menu select the associated item from within the grade book (you needed to have already added the item to the gradebook via Manage Grades (click on Assessment in the course navigational menu, click on Grades, then select Manage Grades) OR click on the link for New Grade Item and add it on the fly).

5. Enter a Score Out of number

6. Click on the button for Add Rubric and select your Discussion Rubric (it should have a red x next to the title of the rubric). NOTE: the Rubric must have been created via the Rubrics prior to attaching it to the discussion item. 

7. Click Save and Close button

Add the rubric to the grade item and grade from this tool
1. Go to Assessments in the course navigation menu and select Grades

2. Click on the Enter Grades link

3. Click on the down arrow next to the discussion topic title in which you want to attach the rubric and select the option for Edit

4. Scroll down to the Rubrics area, click on the Add Rubric Button and select your Discussion Rubric.

5. Click the Save and Close button. The Rubric is now ready for use in grading discussions. 

Create one grade item for each discussion topic
When you grade a discussion topic from the gradebook, the student will be able to view the rubric complete with individual scores and comments. IF you do this within the Discussion tool itself, the student would NOT be able to view these details.
1. From within the Enter Grades area, click on the down arrow next to the discussion topic you which to grade and select the option for Grade All

2. Scroll down to the student list. You will see an icon in the Submission column for each student who submitted a posting. Under the Assessment column you will see an ruler icon which when clicked will pull up the associated rubric.

To start, click on a submission icon to read a post. 

This will open a pop up window that includes ALL posts by the user. You can score and provide feedback within this window (depending on the type of rubric used (Holistic Or Analytic), you may want to use the Rubric icon for scoring as opposed to manually entering the score in this area. Holistic based rubrics may work best with manual scoring, while Analytic rubrics would work best using scored via the rubric icon). 

3. Now, click on the rubric icon in the Assessment column for the student. 

This will bring up the discussion rubric. Select appropriate criteria level within your Rubric. To add feedback, click on the pencil icon located on the right of the rubric. Enter score and provide feedback for the Criterion. Click Save when done. And exit out of the window.

4. Now manually add the score in the Grade column and click Save. 

Process Review from within Grades:
•	Click the submission icon to view the post
•	Click the assessment icon to complete rubric scoring
•	Manually grade the item
•	Click save