Students should be involved in creating the rubric at the begining of each new topic area. This is help guide the student throughout the course because the instructor and students can plan with the end in mind.
Lauren ,
With student inviolvement, they will better understand the expectations and work toward meeting the learning outcomes. Thanks for your input.
I do like this idea.
I agree that when students are involved in the development of how they are going to be graded, then there is a higher propensity that they will deliver the best work in compliance with the rubric that they designed.
An interesting concept!
Janis,
Thanks for sharing your ideas. We are learning so much from each other. Thanks for your input.
This is a question that I have never before considered. I will try.
I think that students should be involved in evaluating rubric as beta testers. Students should evaluate rubrics when the rubrics are first being constructed so as to make them better almost immediately. However, over time, I am not sure that students should be involved in evaluating rubrics after the rubric has been used successfully over a period of time. I tend to think that over time marginal benefit of involving students in the revision process tends to decline dramatically.
Donald L. Buresh
I agree with Donald. It makes sense to have student involvement after you've developed an initial notion of the criteria and standards that should be in the rubric. In this case, I'd view student involvement as akin to a focus group, something widely used in marketing research. The students could add new perspectives on criteria that have been overlooked--or that it doesn't make sense to include. They may also help to clarify standards and what is reasonable to expect from them.
I also believe that the age/grade level of the student makes a difference in the amount of weight given to student involvement. Children in lower grades might not have the sophistication or language skills to contribute to a good rubric.
To tell the truth, I have never involved students in the process of evaluating a rubric. I guess that I have never thought that their input on how to grade them is important. This lesson, however, has taught me the importance of involving students in the process. However, what are some pitfalls to involving students in this process? Will students give objective opinions, or say what they think you want to hear?
Donald,
Glad we are making you think. :-). Give it a try.
Mara,
You might be surprised at what students can do. I have even had students develop a rubric for a project I have introduced and the provided them with my rubric, let them compare the two and we worked together to develop the final rubric. It worked well as we all bought in on what was important to assess and understood the expectations.
Willie ,
See the last posting I provided about how to integrate what the students design and what you have designed. Think about it.
I believe I could involve students in creating rubrics after completing their first assignment. Then they could be asked to compare their rubric to the rubric used by the instructor to assess their work. They could be asked to self-evaluate their own work using their rubric and also to make peer evaluations.
I have solicited the viewpoints of my students as I have created rubrics. I think that this experience has taught me to listen to what my students think are the most important elements of an assignment. In return, I have been able to use this informaton to really develop a solid rubric that my students find helpful. As a result, I began to see higher scores over time.
Hi, Charles:
I think that final projects would be a good place for you to work with students to develop a summative rubric. I also think that students would appreciate the buy-in that they can contribute to this process.
I think the best time to involve students when creating rubrics is when a assignment is discussed in class or on a discussion board in the first portion of the class. Then the instructor can go back and take their suggestions into account before rolling out the finished Rubric. Of course, this would mean that the instructor take those ideas into consideration almost immediately, because you would not want to leave the students without the rubric for too long as they begin their projects.
Dulcinea,
Yes, you may want students to complete an assignment or two before they assist in the development or involvement in developing a rubric. This will give them an opportunity to see a good rubric first. Thanks.
Dr. Tena B. Crews
Adib,
Excellent. Buy in is good. Glad you have had a good experience with this. Thanks for sharing.
Dr. Tena B. Crews
Adib,
Good point. If it is final project, they halve seen many other rubrics before then to help them determine what criteria would be appropriate for the final project. Good idea.
Dr. Tena B. Crews
Daniel,
Good point. If you were to do it like this, you would want to move as quickly as you can. Thanks so much.
Dr. Tena B. Crews
After taking this class, one should get the students involved with the process as soon as one has decided to use a rubric for an assignment. It would be good to use the students in a class for the same class in future semesters.
There is no question we do not get students involved enough in the class room with this process. Maybe it is that thought process of "I know better, I am the teacher".
David: After reading your comments, I agree the students should be involved as a group not as individuals. This also would give some self assessment and peer assessment of the assignment.
