Grading Chats
The rubric for chat is based on contributions and participation. It can be a challenge to determine a participant's contributions if the chat is very busy and folks have trouble getting a word in edgewise. The facilitator's ability to manage the conversation, or the participants' ability to manage themselves without a facilitator, will also impact each participant's ability to contribute to the conversation.
Basically, if a participant is present in the chat and prepared for participation even if there is not necessarily a huge amount of actual chat messages from that participant, then he or she should probably get full credit. Quality is more important than quantity.
Review the chat and grading options available in your LMS to determine how a chat grade should be recorded. Provide encouragement as well as a comment demonstrating that you did review the chat as part of the feedback for this grade. Approvals are appropriate for a useful resource shared or for a participant who went out of his or her way to help a colleague get more involved in the conversation. As with all assignments, feedback is strongly recommended if any points are lost.