My rubric is geared towards the evaluation I have to do for the Office of Deacon Formation on the student at the end of the term. 

I give one point for each five lines (I have a standard size screen and font) up to five points. I count any long quote as one line, no matter how long it is. “Me, too” posts don’t count at all. Otherwise, I give one point for each of the following categories:

• Theology (whether there is any theological argument)
• Summary (whether there is a summary of a reading or some other source)
• Analysis (whether the post contains analytical content)
• Pastoral (whether the post makes a pastoral application)
• Personal (whether the post makes a personal observation or application)
• Deacon formation (whether the candidates relates the content of the post to diaconal formation or ministry)
• Reference (whether the post contains a reference to a source outside our readings, biblical or otherwise)

The most points a student can get are 12. I did get one 12 and one 10.  Otherwise the scores are fairly evenly distributed across the numbers from 2 to 9. The highest average I got this term was 7.2. The lowest was 3.2. The average for all students was 5.15. In the future I want to add a category “biblical.” I’m also thinking of adding a category, “special insight,” for those that really knock it out of the park. 

This data has proven to be very helpful in evaluating the student at the end of the term. You can see who is tracking and in what area they are tracking.

Dr. Robert Gotcher