Anonymous Discussions with Grading

[AlexanderHeaton]

Anonymous discussions have been recently implemented, and that is great!  However, grading is not allowed for these discussions, even grading based on completion.  Why not allow the instructor to assign grades to each discussion post, without knowing who posted?  This would also be easy to implement.  Also, based on the comment below, an option for "anonymous to peers, but graded and hence not anonymous to instructor" option for Discussions would be great.

Benefit:  Instructors can create *required* anonymous discussions. This motivates students to post, on schedule, with effort, and yet protects them from feeling judged *by peers* for wrong answers.

[rake_9]

Because then it wouldn't actually be anonymous. 

If you can give a grade based on completion, you can somewhat determine who posted what, early on, based on who has a grade.  Toward the end, you can eliminate possible identities, based on who hasn't posted.

Actually there are two levels of anonymous that are conflated.  Anonymous to peers (so, not judged by colleagues) but also anonymous to instructors (who may also judge, and also wield grading power).  If I were a student, thinking about posting something that needed anonymity before I said it, I'd be as concerned about my instructor as my peers.

[AlexanderHeaton]

Very good point.  I have been conflating those two kinds of anonymous!   As a math instructor, I frequently find that students are willing to make mistakes in front of me, but less willing to do it in front of 20 peers.   Therefore, I should really request an "anonymous to peers, and graded" discussion option.   I know for a fact that many students would greatly appreciate this option in my calculus course.

[rake_9]

Interesting angle.  Usually, when I have been asked about anonymous discussions, it is in the social sciences and humanities, where people might be talking about personal experiences as it relates to course content.

[JaniceHudgings]

Sakai has the features mentioned in the original posting, and they have been super helpful in my class.  I'm sorry to lose these as my institution switches to Canvas.  Canvas, please consider implementing this!

[ddessauer]

I also want this feature of a graded discussion where the facilitator has an overview but learners are anonymised from their peers.

My use case is showing and critiquing design work. They are meant to rehearse giving constructive criticism but acquiescence  dominates the discourse as they all just pat each other on the back! In an end of unit survey I asked if making it anonymous would promote more in-depth critique and deeper discussion. The result was students unanimously requesting this be implemented for their future classes.

I really should have checked I can do that before I said anything to them shouldn’t I‽