Using rubrics when grading Moodle forums

This refers to Moodle 3.8 from September 2020 onward

Rather than using simple grading, you might decide to use a rubric when marking forum posts.

Adding rubrics

To add a rubric to a forum post, you will need to:

1. Go to your forum
2. Click on the 'Cogwheel' icon and select 'Edit settings'

3. Scroll down to the Whole forum grading and click on it. This will expand the section

4. If you haven’t already choose a Grade "Type". Select either 'Point' or 'Scale' from the dropdown

5. Under “Grading method”, select 'Rubric'

6. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the ‘Save and display’ button

7. This will open the Advanced grading page. You have the choice to 'Define new grading from scratch' to create a new rubric or 'Create new grading form from a template' if you already have a rubric you want to use. Select which suits your needs. 

8. When you click on 'Define new grading from scratch', enter a "Name" for the rubric (and "Description" if required)

9. Edit the name of the criterion and levels as required by clicking on "Click to edit criterion" / "Click to edit level" and click on the 'Add level' button to add new levels if needed. You can also update the points for each level.

10. Add as many criterion as you need to assess

11. You can set the "Rubric options" to control how and when the rubric is displayed (see below).

12. You can either 'Save the rubric as a draft' or 'Save it and make it ready'. 

Alternatively, you can set up your rubric when you create your forum initially by choosing 'Rubric' from "Grading method"

Marking a forum using a rubric

To start grading the forum contributions using the rubric, you will need to:

1. Go to the forum you want to grade
2. Click on the ‘Grade users’ button which will open the forum grading.

On the page, you will be able to see all contributions by a student in that forum. This includes both discussion posts and any replies that they make.

3. On the right side of the screen, the rubric will appear. To grade each criterion, select the relevant level

4. If you want to add some feedback, each criterion has room for "Additional feedback"

5. If you want to notify the student of the grading select ‘Yes’ from the Notifications email

6. Click on the 'Arrow' icons to navigate to the next student or uses the 'Magnifying glass' icon to search for a particular student

7. When you have finished grading, click on ‘Save’ in the top right corner

Similar tutorials

• How to add a forum 
• How do I enable whole forum grading?
• How to grade forums using whole forum gradings
• Using marking guide when grading Moodle forums
• How do I set up areas for student collaboration in Moodle? 
• How to use a Forum for blogs or learning journals

• How to create a rubric for a Moodle assignment

• Marking using Rubrics in Assignments