Use the Discussions tool in your course to encourage users
to share thoughts on course material with their peers. Discussion topics can be
created for users to ask questions, discuss course content and assignments, and
work together in assigned groups and sections. This tutorial will demonstrate
how to assess students’ posts in MyFIRE.
1. Navigate to the desired course in MyFIRE.
2. Select Instructor Tools in the navigation bar at
the top of the page.
3. Select the Course Admin from the drop-down menu
that appears.
4. Select Discussions from the Communication
options.
5. When the page refreshes again, locate the
desired discussion topic. Select the drop-down arrow to the right of the title.
6. From the drop-down menu, select Assess Topic.
7. A list of students who have submitted to the
discussion topic will appear. Select Topic Score beneath each student to view
the students’ initial post and their responses to other students.
8. When the page refreshes, the discussion will be
available for assessing. The forum and discussion topic will be displayed at
the top of the page for reference.
9. The student that is being assessed will appear
in the top-left corner of the screen. Hover over the student’s profile picture
to view the student’s ID number and to contact the student either through email
or instant message.
10. The
student’s initial post and replies to other students’ posts will be visible on
the left side of the page.
a. Filter your view of the student’s posts by
selecting Filter above the student’s posts.
i. A drop-down menu will appear with the option to
filter the discussion submissions by type of post or by which submissions have
been scored.
1. If the post’s drop-down menu is chosen, either
select Threads to view the student’s initial post or select Replies to view the
student’s replies to other students’ posts.
2. If the score’s drop-down menu is chosen, either
select Unscored to view submissions not yet graded or select Scored to view
posts that have been assessed.
b. Sort your view of the student’s posts by
selecting Sort.
i. Sort by choosing either oldest first, newest
first, or post subject. Post subject will show the student’s initial response
to the discussion topic first.
11. If
needed, select the title of the student’s post to review the student’s post
directly in the discussion. Once the title of the post is selected, a new
browser tab will open to the student’s post. When finished reviewing the post,
close the browser tab and return to the assessment page in the original browser
tab.
12. If
needed, there are two options to quickly access the discussion topic settings
and to return to the discussion topic main page by selecting the ellipsis icon
on the right side of the screen.
13. A
drop-down menu will appear. Select either Edit Topic or View Topic.
a. If edit topic is selected, a new browser tab
will open the discussion topic in editing mode. Edit the discussion topic as
desired. Once the edit(s) have been completed and saved, return to the browser
tab that is in assessment mode and refresh the page before proceeding. If
needed, refer to the tutorial on how to create a discussion topic.
b. If view topic is selected, a new browser tab
will open the discussion topic main page in the reading view to quickly review
the discussion prompt and instructions. Close the browser tab when done
reviewing the discussion main page.
14. Once
finished reviewing the student’s responses, enter a point value in the Score
field and the overall grade field on the right side of the page will show the
input score.
15. If
desired, select the statistics icon on the right of the overall grade field to
view the discussion topic statistics by class and user stats in a pop-up
window.
16. Next,
provide feedback to the student in the overall feedback textbox. For further
instructions on utilizing the editor textbox, please refer to the how to use
the MyFIRE Editor tutorial.
17. To
publish the score and feedback for the student immediately, select the Publish
button at the bottom of the screen.
18. If
you would like to save the score and feedback as a draft, select Save Draft.
19. If
desiring to grade the next student’s discussion submission, select the left and
right arrows in the top right corner of the screen to continue to the next
student’s submission.
20. If
desiring to return to the list of student submissions, select Back to Assess
Topic in the top left corner of the screen.
21. When
the page refreshes, the assess discussion topic page will appear. From this
page, instructors have the ability to publish or retract all or multiple scores
simultaneously by first selecting the checkbox to the left of the students’
names.
a. Then, select either Publish or Retract Feedback above the student list.
b. If publishing feedback, a confirmation pop-up
window will appear asking if you are sure if you want to publish all scores.
Select Yes if you are sure. Note: Once
the grade is published or updated, students will receive an instant
notification to their SEU email account that their assignment has been graded.
c. If retracting feedback, a confirmation pop-up
window will appear asking if you are sure if you want to retract feedback.
Select Yes if you are sure. Note: The student’s previously published scores
will be removed from the gradebook and drafted in the discussions assess topic
page.