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[cs_prof]

I don't know if this would work for you, but in terms of quality, there is a possible shortcut.

You can ask the students to choose their 5 best posts for you to grade for the quality fraction of the participation grade.

I like this idea - thanks. Yet setting the quality criteria are still the issue. How to measure quality so that the student could it measure too, or at least estimate before making a posting?

[wanna_writemore]

I'm grading discussion posts in WebCt (now called Blackboard, I guess) Vista this semester for the first time.  Students must post at least twice a week (once before x time on x day, and once during the remaining half of the week).  Is there a particular way to set up discussions to make this easier, or will it not matter?

[finallyfullprof]

In the Description area, I give a specific prompt about which to write so I get more focused answers. Right now I'm just using the point grading system, and it seems to work well for my purposes. If you want to put comments or more emphasis on the way you grade, then you can create a grading rubric to go with your discussions and upload it into My Files. I have found grading to be much easier because I can just go into Grade Book, click the column with the particular discussion, and then grade each student's submissions in just that topic. This is so much easier than with WebCT CE, where I had to set up placeholders in Quiz and then assign points there.

[makor77]

I have a page or so in my syllabus that outlines what makes a good post, and it all sounds really strict and tough.  I got it from someone on here in a thread.  I tell my students I read the posts and if they don't meet these strict requirements then they will not count.  As a result, I don't get too many "I agree" posts because they think they won't count.  I delete the useless posts once in awhile since they won't count.  I also will post "great post" or "this needs more explanation" when warranted to keep the posts at a high level.  This works.  I just count up the posts each week and I read them during the week.  I rarely have weak posts.  It sounds a little crazy, but it's working for me.  I also help guide discussions which keeps me aware of who is not up to par.  Also, the gradebook is really useful, and when I used webct last summer, it allowed for exporting to excel.  I don't remember if you could import.  Google is sometimes useful for searching for help with webct.  It was for me.  You might try that.  I also remember I was able to search for posts from a specifc date, and that helps with grading.  The system I am using now does not have that sort of tool.  Good luck.