Blog Grading Rubric

Criteria	Poor (D or F level)	Average (C level)	Good (B level)	Excellent (A level)
Frequency	No or infrequent participation	Contributes one post and two comments each period, but only just before deadlines	Contributes in excess of minimum requirements, but participation is not evenly distributed	Contributes frequently and consistently
Posting	No postings, irrelevant or uninformed postings	Posts are adequate, but reflect superficial   engagement with course material	Posts are well-developed and engaged with material,   but perhaps lack  conceptual clarity	Posts are conceptually sophisticated, original, and engaged in a substantive way with the material
Commenting	No or few comments on others’ posts	Comments are perfunctory, and do not add to discussion or move it forward	Elaborates on existing post with further comment/observation; demonstrates careful understanding of peers’ arguments and positions	Carefully analyzes the thoughts of others; extends the discussion in new directions; relates post to previous discussions
Content Contribution	Posts irrelevant information, tangential to discussion; factually inaccurate	Repeats some previous content, does not substantially further discussion	Content is factually accurate, but may not include conceptual nuance or development	Posts draw directly on material to make a creative and/or substantive point that extends beyond the material
Clarity & Mechanics	Unclear, disorganized, unedited	Open and respectful tone; some typos; some organization; some editing errors	Organized, well-edited and thoughtfully composed	Organized around a central point/argument; concise, even striking, formulations; clear, easy to read, style
Reference & Support	No or few references or support for position	Appeals only to personal experience as support or only references source material in general ways	Appeals to the work/arguments of other students, plenary lectures, and class discussion; references source material correctly and precisely	Uses references that go beyond personal experience or course material in ways that strongly support the main position
Connections	Establishes no or few connections with other posts, websites, articles, texts, etc.	Infrequently establishes connections to other posts, websites, articles, texts, etc.	Regularly establishes connection to  internet resources and other sources of contemporary news, politics, and culture	Consistently and imaginatively draws course material into connection with day to day issues by integrating a wide-range of links, videos, images and other resources