Discussion Post Guidelines

A critical part of the course, and of your online learning experience, will be the Discussion Posts. We will utilize weekly discussion posts to interact as a class, expand our awareness and knowledge, and establish/maintain an interactive learning environment.  To be successful in these weekly posts please be aware of the following:

• Your participation is necessary.  Not only for your own benefit, but the benefit of your classmates. The weekly discussion post will require you to comment on your classmate’s posts.  If you are not participating by posting your own discussion post, other students are left without the opportunity to complete this weekly assignment fully.
• Your participation should be respectful. Discussion posts will likely be mixed responses, meaning, there could be some opinions in there.  We all need to be mindful of what we’re saying, how we’re saying it, and how it might be perceived by others.
• Your participation should be a meaningful contribution to the discussion.  You will initially need to post your own response to the discussion and this should be 2-3 paragraphs of your own thoughts and ideas along with implementing/citing resources from that week.  If you also want to use an outside source to support your post, please do, but remember to cite appropriately.  If you do not reference the assigned readings, points will be deducted.  Always remember to circle everything back to the research.
• Next, you’ll need to comment on your classmates’ discussion posts as required for the particular assignment.  These responses should be thoughtful and have some “meat” to them.  Meaning, please avoid posting responses such as “I agree.” You most certainly may agree, but take the time to expand on that and share your reasons for agreeing.
• Always use APA formatting and refer to the rubric for earning full points. It is also encouraged/recommended to work with tutor.com before submitting.
• ORIGINAL POST IS ALWAYS DUE BY THURSDAY @ 11:59 PM EST
• REPLIES ARE ALWAYS DUE BY SATURDAY @ 11:59 PM EST
• Discussions submitted late will not be accepted or earn any points per BPU Policy
• In addition to the standard criteria listed below, there will always be 2 additional criteria each week that are connected to the learning outcomes. Please review each rubric for this information.