Assessment methods available for a discussion

Starting with Brightspace Learning Environment 20.19.09, any grades you enter in Grade Book for discussion grade items are also synchronized back to Discussions. This change ensures data consistency between Discussions and Grade Book.

Note: Currently, Discussion grades are not synchronized when the Discussion tool is updated by the Brightspace API or when Grade Book is exported and imported.

The following calculation methods are available to assess discussions.

Calculation method	Definition
Average post score	This calculation method averages all of the post scores included per user.
Maximum post score	This calculation method identifies the highest score of all the post scores included per user.
Minimum post score	This calculation method identifies the lowest score of all the post scores included per user.
Mode post score - Highest on multiple	This calculation method looks at the frequency of scores on posts, then selects the highest occurrence of a score per user. Once it picks the frequency, the system looks to see if multiple scores occur at that frequency. If not, it assigns that score to the user. If there are multiple scores with the same frequency, it will choose the highest of those scores. For example, if a score of 7 occurs 2 times, a score of 8 occurs 3 times, and a score of 9 occurs 3 times, the system will choose the frequency 3 and the score of 9.
Mode post score - Lowest on multiple	This calculation method looks at the frequency of scores on posts, then selects the highest occurrence of a score per user. Once it picks the frequency, the system looks to see if multiple scores occur at that frequency. If not, it assigns that score to the user. If there are multiple scores with the same frequency, it will choose the lowest of those scores. For example, if a score of 7 occurs 2 times, a score of 8 occurs 3 times, and a score of 9 occurs 3 times, the system will choose the frequency 3 and the score of 8.
Sum of post scores	This calculation method sums up all the scores on posts within a topic.