Rubrics
Rubrics can be a bit cumbersome for a student to read. For an academic we are used to these sort of documents. I see students eyes glaze over in a face to face when I discuss the rubric. I think the language needs to be simple enough and succinct enough for everyone to understand. Any suggestions on modifying an original University Rubric while staying within the curriculum guidelines?
Dawn,
No, the rubrics should not be cumbersome. They should be clear, have appropriate criteria and help students understand the expectations. It may be as simple as rewording the criteria or breaking the rubric into two rubrics if there are too many criteria. When someone "hands over" a rubric for you to use and they don't teach the course, it's hard for them to understand what you need. You need to have the flexibility to tweak the rubric as you need it for your course.
Dawn - I totally agree with your comments. As you stated, the rubric needs to satisfy the requirements but not over-burden the student in trying to understand and follow it.
Julia Huston
Julia and Dawn,
Good point about not over-burdening the students. There are many positive reasons to use rubrics. Keep up the good work.
Dawn - I agree as well. In an effort to be all-inclusive rubrics can get extremely cumbersome and overwhelming! One suggestion I have is to ask the class to help you form the rubric, or provide for them the rubric areas and then ask them what grade percentage each area should carry. Sometimes when the class helps form the rubric, not only do they feel like they are in charge of their own learning and evaluation process, they also will understand the rubric areas a bit more!
Rubrics in general have a lot of negatives, especially poorly-designed ones, but I think the positives outweigh the negatives at the end of the day! Nothing in education is perfect!
Erin and Dawn,
You bring up some good points for all of us to think about. You are right that nothing is perfect, but we have to keep striving for perfections. Thanks for your thoughts.
