I see student involvement being useful when the assignment is a group or collaborative effort
Melinda ,
Yes, they must be involved especially in the group assignments. How do you get them involved?
Thanks!
The course suggests involving students at the beginning of the process. A general guide include criteria and levels which aim at the course outcome may be given to the students. They then can complete the criteria.
Alan,
When students are involved in connecting the learning outcomes to the criteria, they can then see how to move forward toward those outcomes. Thanks!
Sure.
Students can help assess the greatest need and outcomes of the assignment. They can help set the weight points for things like creativity, critical thinking, presentation..and other important but historically subjective areas (in design). By allowing them buy in and a voice the rubrics will have more impact and the students should have an even better experience.
Nathan,
Maybe you could engage the students in helping develop the rubrics and they may have good insights on how to assess creativity and the such. Thanks!
It would be useful to talk about the rubric when an assignment is given. I use rubrics for grading essay assignments.
After the question for the essay is understood, it's a logical next step to break it down into the component parts and use the rubric as a guide to discuss each of those elements.
Janette,
Rubrics should always be given before or with the assigner to allow for questions and/or self- or peer-assessment. Thanks.
I teach math. Essentially, the answer should be correct! There should be little room for debate on that issue. However, all too often, students memorize the steps to punch the calculations into the calculator, and they get a correct answer. However, this could lead (and it does in a lot of cases) to the student not having a clue as to what they did, what the concepts mean, and why they punched the steps in the calculator. So much for the "right answer" and the one and only criteria of learning.
I am thinking that I could have students design a rubric for how the problems of a particular section will be graded. If they had to decide the type of learning that is required to understand the material, I think this will help the "mathphobics" understand that there is more to math than just punching in the numbers and operations into the calculator.
I teach math. Essentially, the answer should be correct! There should be little room for debate on that issue. However, all too often, students memorize the steps to punch the calculations into the calculator, and they get a correct answer. However, this could lead (and it does in a lot of cases) to the student not having a clue as to what they did, what the concepts mean, and why they punched the steps in the calculator. So much for the "right answer" and the one and only criteria of learning.
I am thinking that I could have students design a rubric for how the problems of a particular section will be graded. If they had to decide the type of learning that is required to understand the material, I think this will help the "mathphobics" understand that there is more to math than just punching in the numbers and operations into the calculator.
Janis,
You may find that having the students design the rubric will help them think through the process. Maybe you could also have the students do something additional with the "right answer." Not sure that will work, but it's something to think about.
Janis,
I thought I just answered this posting, but sometimes, my post doesn't "take." ;-) But, I think you may find by involving the students in developing the rubric will help them understand the steps to getting the right answer. Thanks!
I think that I would involve the student in rubric when evaluating the discussion and TBLS portion of the class. I feel like that section is directly aimed to the student growth and success and they can be an active part of this decision.
Daron,
What's the TBLS portion of the course?
Thanks!
I think that student comments and recommendation on rubrics is productive. I would do this early in the course starting with a discussion Board forum then a chat to put it all together. I agree that student performance would more likely make them understand the expectations and outcomes as well as how they are being evaluated and why.
George,
Yes, the comments we can provide to students helps make the feedback more meaningful. This meaningful feedback helps the students improve. Nice job.
The only time I would involve students in Rubric Development would be after they used the rubric I created. I would create a questionnaire and give this to them before they completed the assignment in order for them to be aware of the assignment outcomes. It would state the outcomes of the assignment and a place to indicate whether the rubric assessed these outcomes. Did the students think it was an accurate assessment? Allow room for comments.
Carolyne,
Good point. This is excellent. They have to have used a rubric before they can begin to develop one. This is exactly what I do. I use several rubrics with them first and then involve them on the "big project" rubric so they have buy in. Thanks!
I hope I'm understanding your question correctly. When you say "creating" are you asking about one from scratch? Perhaps involving students at that point would require more thought, planning and time. But to involve them in adapting, modifying, and implementing a rubric would seem essential.
I would like my students and I to create one from scratch for a debate project that we do in class. The debate project isn't done until the end of the quarter, so we would have some time to start a bit smaller...using other rubrics to adapt to our use.
Usually, I have the rubrics already modified (I shy away from making my own because I think they are hard to do by oneself. It needs some collaboration to catch errors in content and categories. The descriptions of my categories may have gaps. So I usually adapt one. My students get the rubric at the onset of the activity or project. We discuss the rubric and the project begins. In the past I've been disappointed that the students didn't refer to the rubric before turning in their assignment. So, I started having "peer checks"....students work together and use the rubric to "grade" their partner using the rubric only. This also helps me to check reliability. But as important...they begin to see the rubric as a tool.
Now, this quarter. Our debate took a turn. The students determined a topic that didn't fit our rubric. So this week....the rubric has gone into adaptation.
Your question...when? Whenever possible. Sometimes that's at the beginning....sometimes it's not. But I think they should be brought in when possible. If I select a rubric...modify it.....I never let it go "live" without discussing it with my current class. Classes change...rubrics have to as well.
Carol,
Sometimes we create rubrics from scratch and sometimes we "create" by editing a rubric to meet the assignment's objectives. Many times it's good to have students use a few rubrics you have provided for smaller assignments and then engage them in helping create the rubric for the "big" project. It's good that you and your students are seeing how the rubric may need to be edited and they see the importance of connecting the objectives to the rubric/criteria as well. Thanks for your scenario. It brings up very good points.
