Dr. Tena Crews

Monica, Breaking down the elements can very well help students more clearly understand all components of the assignment. The better they understand, the better they can perform. Nice job.

Monica, The seven principles do help us, as online instructors, think carefully about what we are asking students to do and how we are providing feedback and establishing professional relationships. Thanks!

Francis , Right on! We have to assess our rubrics. When we do that we also think about the assignment in connection with the rubric. Thanks!

Francis , I think we do tend to make everything ourselves when we get started, but as we learn about more things that are available to us, we start to wonder why we are reinventing the wheel every semester. ;-) Thanks!

Francis , We do have to be clear with our expectations and make sure we are helping the students understand the expectations. Thanks!

Janis, We do have to think about the course content and what we are asking the students to do. I do not think you are misunderstanding. Thanks!

carol, Definitely. Rubrics help make things more clear for students and the instructor. Thanks!

carol, Excellent. Any time we have to think more critically about what we are asking students to do, the better. We have to completely understand what we are asking and that we are asking things that connect directly to the learning objectives. It's good we take a step back many times to ensure what we are doing. Thanks for your comments.

Francis , Good point. The analytical rubrics can be very beneficial to students and help us, as instructors, help them understand what needs to be done. Thanks!

carol, The rubrics for special education students would most likely need to have fewer criteria and not too complicated of criteria. Also, you may take an assignment and grade the different parts with different rubrics. For example, if they do a PowerPoint presentation, have one rubric for "look and feel," one rubric for "spelling and grammar," etc. That way they will not be overwhelmed with one big rubric and feel they can't accomplish everything. Hope this is helpful.