Natalie,
Right on. If the rubrics are just made up "willy nilly" and not to assess the instructional objectives, they are worthless. It's good to have that strong connection to make sure you're assessing what you need to be assessing. Thank you.
I always believe in reviewing and re-assessing your work after you receive feedback. Most people cannot build something perfect the first time. Re-evaluating and improvement are key to success.
Mike,
Definitely. The revision process goes on forever. We can always do something better. Thanks!
Before grading each assignment, rubrics should be evaluated to ensure it matches the content of the assignment just in case the requirements have changed.
Shana,
Yes, you are so right. Reviewing everything we do to help us improve is essential. Thanks for your input.
I tend to think that evaluating rubrics is a lot like improving a PowerPoint presentation that is given to students in a virtual classroom. Bassically, it is difficult to perfect a PowerPoint presentation. I can only assuem that the same is true for rubrics.
Donald L. Buresh
I believe that regardless of whether I am modifying an existing rubric, creating one from scratch, or using a rubric developed by another party both before and after using the rubric is a good time to evaluate it and determine if it is the most appropriate tool for the assessment task. All rubrics are not appropriate for all situations. As the readings in the lesson suggested: there is no one-for-all rubric. Some questions I ask myself when evaluating my rubrics are: Are the criteria and scales well-defined? Is it clear what the scale for each criterion measures and how the levels differ from one another? Has it been tested with actual student products to ensure that all likely criteria are included? Is the basis for assigning scores at each scale point clear? Is it clear exactly what needs to be present in a student product to obtain a score at each point on the scale? Is it possible to easily differentiate between scale points?
Donald,
We can improve everything we do. We just have keep working to make the necessary improvements.
Willie ,
You are right about no one size fits all. Rubrics cannot just be pulled out of a drawer, they have to be carefully created.
In most subjects, the content and curriculum may change which leads to a change in modifying the rubrics. Additionally, professional development activities such as these can be utilized to improve current rubrics to ensure added reliability and quality.
Our rubrics must reflect changes in the courses and be updated regularly. The rubrics I must use do not relate to the requirements of the assignments which makes the use difficult for the instructors and not helpful for the students.
Kristina,
We all want to view our rubrics to make sure the are measuring the right things. Modifications may be necessary. Thanks.
Dr. Tena B. Crews
Diana,
UGH - can you not change the rubrics or at feast add criteria that relate to your learning outcomes? You are right, rubrics will not be helpful if they do not relate to the requirements.
Dr. Tena B. Crews
Any rubric should be continuously evaluated based on the general evolution of any class. Each semester, instructors should learn more about their own class based on student participation, feedback, and patterns. If there is a specific area in a specific project that an inordinate amount of students do not do well on, that pattern is clearly indicating a problem in the comprehension of the assignment or the deliverables. At any rate, inconsistencies as such can often be rectified by modifying the associated rubric.
Michael Maldonado
Rubrics should be evaluated to ensure the rubric does what you intend for it to do.
Rubrics should be evaluated for effectiveness. If rubrics do not aid students with continuous improvement, then they are not effective (or some area of the rubric needs to be tweaked).
We should ask questions about our rubrics as identified in the training.
Does it allow for multiple types of feedback?
Are levels of work identified?
Is criteria used to judge student work clear?
Its important to evaluate the rubrics to ensure that they are assessing the important components of the course. Since each class is different, its good to have the basic rubric and then consider enhancing the basics based upon the interests and performances of the students in that specific class.
Its important to evaluate the rubrics to ensure that the criteria being used is valid and appropriate. By that I mean questions like "Are they measuring the correct objectives?" "Are the clear to the students?" Is the rubric reliable?
Michael,
Absolutely. As with all we do, our assessments must also be evaluated to make sure they are assessing what they should be assessing and are connected to the learning outcome. Good information.
James,
right on. I just posted why it is important to evaluate your rubrics. Thanks for adding to the conversation.
