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Rate Posts

What It Is. 

Students can rate the post on a five-star rating system. This provides a “peer review” option for the forum.

Implications for Teaching and Learning.

Rating postings without some sort of criteria may be more of a popularity contest. Providing some specific criterion to review and rate postings appears to be a better strategy. At present, there is not a lot of information available on instructional uses for Ratings.  However, if the instructor takes the time to provide specific criteria, this function could be used by the students as a way to give each other feedback on their postings. Positive feedback by peers could encourage students to aspire to higher performance in their postings.

How to set it up

The Add Forum screen allows you to name your Forum and to author the description for the Forum.  Once you get into the Thread Detail, you will see three sections. Viewing and management options appear at the top of the page. The list of all posts appears in the middle of the page, with replies listed under the original post. The bottom of the page shows the current post. In the current post section, you will see the option to Rate this post. The dropdown menu allows students to choose from 0-5 stars.

Image shows the Thread Detail screen for Blackboard. The Thread Detail view shows the current posting in the window (found at the bottom of the screen unless you intentionally invert the layout). Note that you now have the option to Rate this post.  

To add the capability to rate a forum that already exists:

From the Discussion Board page, add or modify the forum. From the Forum Settings section, select "Allow Members to Rate Posts." Click "Submit."

To rate a forum

Open a thread and select a post (other than your own). The following is displayed on the right side of the post header:

Choose a rating from the pull-down menu, then click rate.This action is final – you cannot go back and change your rating!

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