How Do I Grade Discussions?

Allison McComb Updated by Allison McComb

How Do I Grade Discussions?

A full overview of updates to the Enhanced Discussion Board format can be found in this article (2026). Facilitators can add feedback and comments via the discussion board itself, but will still need to manually add a grade via the Speedgrader.

To grade discussion posts, you can click Speedgrader from above the title in your discussion:

Alternatively, you can enter the Speedgrader via the course Gradebook with the steps found in this guide.

In the Speedgrader, you will see the students full post, and any comments they have made.

To the right you will choose from the following Assessment options: Complete, Incomplete, or Excused. 

Please note, we do not use the Excused option, so you will need to grade the students work Complete or Incomplete. 

If you feel the student has not responded to the discussion fully or answered all the questions, you would mark it as Incomplete, and then in the Assignment Comments, provide clear details to the student what they need to do in order to earn the Complete and ask them to place a second posting in the discussion board. 

Please note that any assignments which remain unsubmitted at a course's end should be left blank/ungraded. Please do not mark them incomplete.

Once graded, students will see a Check or X in their gradebook for assignments graded on a Complete/Incomplete scale.

If needed, discussion board grading requirements can be found in this article.

The assignment comment field is for that student's eyes only. Other students will not see what you share with the student in this Assignment Comments field. However, all students will see your comments if you comment directly on the Discussion Board from the assignment page.

Marking Discussions as Read

In the new Enhanced Discussion format you can adjust setting from within your profile to automatically mark any discussions as read.

To do do, first click "Edit Profile", which you will find below the discussion instructions:

Then, click "Manually mark replies as read (CF only)"- and be sure to click Save!:

Alternatively, if you do not want to have this setting active you can mark posts as read by clicking the "Unread" bubble to the right of the posters name on any submission:

Clicking this bubble will switch the post to be marked as "Read".

How did we do?

How to Monitor and Promote Student Progress

Requirements for Discussion Board Facilitation