The use of online learning is prevalent in higher education, in particular the use of Blackboard and other similar virtual learning environments (VLEs). Students' participation in online discussion forums is a common activity and the online threaded discussion tool provides opportunities for students to: (1) form collaborative groups for problem-based learning; (2) discuss learning experiences; (3) ponder over assessment issues; and (4) debate topics of interest. There is no shortage of research on the perceived effectiveness of online discussion forums; however, this paper evaluates the potential for assessing the content of online discussions as a means of contributing to summative assessment.