Question
When do Rubrics become too cumbersome?
Erin,
No control over the assignments OR descriptions? Hmm. . .keep giving feedback to your instructional designers and/or administrators who "create" these assignments and descriptions. That may help. But, if the descriptions are confusing, create a good rubric explaining the criteria and break the description down among the criteria. Make sense? This may help.
I would completely agree with this. I had the same experience with the rubrics for my classes. The problem that I have is that I don't have control over the assignments or the descriptions. Are there any tips or suggestions for streamlining rubrics for difficult assignments? I often spent 15 minutes out of an hour long class period explaining assignments and expectations. Would a trim rubric help this at all? Thanks!
Nathan,
I teach Web design and I simply put in a category in my rubric as creativity or no creativity. I don't think it's difficult to assess. As a good designer, we know creativity or a lack of creativity.
I teach design courses online and find that rubrics can provide a good base line but become cumbersome when dealing with subjective traits like creativity. How do you scale creativity and be objective. It is difficult and a rubric makes us put something that is organic into a box. It is problematic. This can be offset by very clear instructions and examples of creativity around that specific project or outcome so they have a base line to go off of.
John,
You are right, with right/wrong answers, there is no need for a rubric. But, what is in come class students are expected to do a research project about a career in Accounting. Then, the rubric would be valuable. Thanks!
That is a question I hope to answer as I move through this course. I teach accounting and for the most part, an answer is right or wrong. There are seldom levels of correctness. As I take this class I am trying to determine their usefulness. I am getting some ideas early on and hope to see other ways they can be used.
At this point, I think when a rubric adds another level of complexity to the assignment or to the grading process, it may be too cumbersome to use.
LaShanta ,
Yes, the criteria are the key. If you are given the rubrics from instructional designers or others, please make sure they are measuring what you need them to measure. Thanks.
Irun across problems when the evaluative criteria is linked only to the specific elements in a particular performance test that it becomes totally task specific and therefore essentially worthless from my stand point. The main thing i try to remember is to make my criteria evaluate essential components of a skill being measured and not a particular display of skill applied in a specific task.
Thank You
LSingleton
Steven ,
When you say "from scratch" do you mean you make them up when you need them or at the end of a course or when?
Thanks!
When creating them from scratch for highly technical Information Technology courses
Elizabeth,
You are right. At first it may seem like a daunting task, but so worth it. Sometimes we try to put too much in a rubric and get to critical with the criteria. We learn as we go. Keep up the good work and tie the rubrics to the learning objectives.
I find that starting a rubric can be overwhelming, but that initial investment of time is invaluable. I fine-tune or, at the very least, review my rubrics after each course. I am careful, however, not to get too specific or breakdown the work too much to make sure that the students are writing in their own voices and not mine. Rubrics should demonstrate how to fulfill the assignment's requirements, not how I would fulfill the assignment's requirements.
Berrie,
As a first time online instructor, you will kearn so much from the other in this course and your peers. You'll fine a good balance and as you get more experience, it will all come together. Keep up the good work.
I am new to online instruction and this is the first time that I have experienced the Rubric. I tend to believe it is a great tool for streamlining the expectation of the student and focusing the instructor on the same points for everyone equally in the grading process. That being said, I do find that if the criteria is too general it makes the deducting of points more difficult. It narrows the window of how many points are too many and how many are too much, especially when the project it is assigned to is not skilled based but "reply" base. i.e. Do you agree or disagree that Sally should report the conflict? Why? Could I be over analyizing this in my first session? Am I trying too hard?
Lewis,
Criteria, relevance and rubrics are key words you included in this post. Thanks for your input
Trena,
There is a fine line in being too broad and too specific. The criteria are the key elements and the connection to the learning outcomes are essential.
I have found that rubrics often help students focus on what the submission needs to achieve in order to maximize demostration of competentcy. Sometimes, though, students lose sight of their learning in order to achieve the standards set forth by the rubric. For students than discuss the matter with me, I am often able to help them find common ground between the objective(s) of the assignment and the rubric compared to their desire to to explore topics that may (or may not) have relevence to the topic. For students that do not discuss with me, or review the material presented to contextualize rubrics, it is often a result of learners exploring tangents that do not align with the competencies being assessed. Thus rubrics help students focus, but can also create the sense of supressing learning for the student that does not have context for how their research relates to the assignment. It goes to the comparision of trying to use rubrics for an artistic work. In the area I teach for general education, many times students try to incorporate personal experience in conjunction with the topic of learning. While their expereince is important, it often is antedoctal, thus rubrics are may not capture their persoanl learning and context compared to the assignment objective.
In my experience, rubrics become cumbersome when the instructor attempts to capture the key elements of the assignment in too much detail. The broader the topics, the easier it is to include many factors of an assignment. So I always try to make my rubrics as general as possible. Then I can apply my feedback to whatever broad catetogy it applies to.
Lee and Hannah,
Rubrics differ depending on the course, criteria, and learning outcomes. The key is to effectively develop rubrics that measure the learning outcomes and meet your/your students' needs.
