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. Select the Grade Item the discussion topic is associated with in your gradebook (click the New Grade Item link to create one if one doesn’t already exist) (1). Enter a Score Out of (or how many points the activity is worth) (2).

5. Click on the button for Add Rubric (1) and then select the Discussion Rubric you want to use (2). NOTE: the Rubric must have been created via the Rubrics prior to attaching it to the discussion item. Then click on Add Selected (3).

6. Click Save and Close button

Adding a rubric to a grade item 
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 button for Add Rubric (1) and then select the Discussion Rubric you want to use (2). NOTE: the Rubric must have been created via the Rubrics prior to attaching it to the discussion item. Then click on Add Selected (3).

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 wish to grade and select the option for Enter Grades.

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 a ruler icon which when clicked on 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. 

4. Use the Rubric to assess the student by clicking on the level of performance they acheived for each criterion. To add feedback, click on the Add Feedback link. Criterion. Click Publish when done.

5. The grade for the student will be added to the gradebook. Make sure to click Save and Close when done.

Process Review from within Grades:
•	Click the submission icon to view the post
•	Click the assessment icon to complete rubric scoring
•	Use the rubric to assess the student and click publish when done.
•	Click save and close.