Having recently participated in online discussions during my OU module I am unsure how to answer this question. On the one hand by assessing contributions you are more likely to increase participation (Klisc, et al). So for the teacher this can help generate a more dynamic discussion it can also encourage deeper learning and exploration of the subjects being discussed.
On the other as a learner I found the prospect of my contributions being assessed extremely stressful. Every time I wrote anything I was worried that it wasn't good enough. That the language was not articulate or high brow (I feel the same when writing this blog) and that even though I had spent considerable time composing it I should have spent more.
Although I have dyslexia it is very mild and it does not affect me on a daily basis but how we were using this tool within the course did make me consider how other learners with dyslexia would have found this assessed element. Would they have found this a big barrier to completing the course? There was never the suggestion that you could contribute to the discussion in other ways using audio or video files.
