I think it depends on the instructor, the level of the course and the maturity level of students that one is trying to engage students to develop the rubrics.
While, studying at Kellogg School of Management of Northwestern University, we were asked to develop a curriculum for GIM course - Global Initiative Management course for the students to learn about one major country by studying about it in the classroom for 10 weeks and then visit the manufacturing facilities in that country, meet with the law makers, CEOs and other major players to understand the economic policies, the Government’s agenda to help the economy of that country. After this visit, students are expected to present their findings and their understanding of the economy of that country, and future economic and business potential. This is an initiative to get students exposed to a foreign country to have first hand exposure to their businesses and the market dynamics. In this case, China was the target country and we were involved right at the course design stage to select the relevant topics that were appropriate to learn with the help of text as well as case studies for China. We selected the topics that we wanted to learn about this country, country's economic policies, etc., with case studies from Harvard Business School, Sloan Business School, London School of Economics and INSEAD. Based on these topics and the text, we developed the rubrics for our faculty to grade consistently across the classes. This was a fascinating experience as we learnt so much about the country, the purpose of this initiative and grading method even before officially going through the course!
I used the similar methodology when I taught similar courses at Kellogg and other business schools to enrich students' learning. However, I am skeptical about the practicality of engaging students for every time we teach we teach the same course, unless the course is dynamic as it was in my case. Also as mentioned above, it also depends on the maturity level of the students contribute at the professional level. Otherwise this exercise will be a futile effort.
Thanks,
Sunil
Sunil,
The course content, level of student and activity all affect the engagement level of students. The higher the engagement level, the more results you will see. Thanks again for your input.
I find that student input is concerning rubrics is very important. When I receive the same types of questions from multiple students over the courses of multiple sessions concerning assignments directions or rubrics, I find that this is a very strong indicator that I nee to modify the assignment expectations in order to make them clearer. On multiple occasions I have used this method to modify rubric language or to change completely some elements of the rubric. With time and occasional modifications, I seem to receive fewer questions about the rubrics I present in the classroom. I believe this is due to allowing input from students concerning the rubrics themselves.
Dariusz,
The feedback we get from students on assignment and rubrics is essential in the ongoing edits. Thanks for your input.
One of the activties for my class is team bulding and problem solving. The contruction of several rubrics would engage the students in working together to solve a problem (how to construct a rubric for measuring class participation).
William,
Good point. It's a way to engage students and make them think about what they are doing int he project/team.
Thanks for your input.
I really like your idea as beta-testers Roger, because students like to be in the know and involved. Anything they can put extra on their resume is a plus for them! I would think they would consider it an honor to be invited to test!
Claudia and Roger,
Yes, good idea. Get those students engaged and hooked! Rubrics help us all.
Thanks for your input.
Honestly that is something that I had not even thought of, however it seems like a great idea. Having them help design exactly how they will be graded will give them some buy in into the process
Mark,
Cool. Sounds like what you are doing in this course is making you think. Glad it is!
Even though a general rubric has been provided to me by the school, I have tweaked them according to the questions on clarity on portions of the assignment I have received from the students. I have found that once these sections of the rubric have been changed, the student’s understanding of how they will be graded has improved their submissions. They tend to ensure that all aspects of the assignment are addressed. The content of their material has also improved.
Charlene,
Keep tweaking. You want to make sure they assess what you need to assess. Thanks!
This is a really open ended question! I think that students could be involved in developing rubrics for many types of education. After reading the content of this class, I think that the students could best be involved in metarubrics. This could help students buy in to the concept of using rubrics. Another option might be when a school or program is making plans to change rubrics that have been used in the past.
Tina Cressman
Tina,
It's just nice to think about letting students be involved in the rubric development process. I typically do a couple of assignments and provide rubrics and then when it comes to the big project, I involve students in the rubric development process. That way, they've already seen a few rubrics and are more familiar with them before they start to create one themselves (which I typically let them do as a group and then we compare the groups and make one for the class). Thanks again for your input.
Learners can use rubrics to assess their own effort and performance, and make adjustments to work before submitting it for a grade.
Students should become involved in creating rubrics especially in 'project-based' learning.
DIANA ,
Yes, rubrics help the students and the instructors on so many levels. Thanks for keeping up with the use of rubrics.
I have never thought about that process of involving students in creating rubrics before, but having nearly completing this course, that makes perfect sense, because you motivate your students and get them involved in how they will be evaluated--and thus cut down on the questions about why they were graded and so on--that is simply such a smart approach, and I had not thought of that--how did that happen? LOL---Dr Jim Young
James,
We learn as we go. If we can involve our students, they will also learn as they go. There are many things that are simple that we miss - it is true. Thanks for sharing.
I teach at several different institutions where the terms run from 4 weeks to 16 weeks. It would be difficult to dedicate class time in the 4 week courses to creating rubrics with students, particularly in asynchronous online courses. Trying to get them together to complete term projects as a group is difficult. Trying to get them together to work on developing a rubric at the beginning of the term would be very difficult. In my longer classes, it would would easier to dedicate some time to working on developing course rubrics. In my shorter classes, I think it would be best to spend time explaining the rubrics and asking students to provide individual feedback using "I believe" statements as mentioned in the module. In longer courses, it would still be important to provide students with as much detailed information as possible (objectives, assignment instructions, etc.) to guide the process and allow them to be as focused as possible. I do, particularly after the first assignment using a rubric with a new class, ask the students to respond to the rubric and feedback to tell me what they found helpful. This allows me to either modify the rubric, modify my feedback, or provide individual students with more directed feedback that they will find productive.
Hello
I find it important to evaluate and refine a rubric as my students may begin to raise questions regarding a rubric. Students feedback is extreemly important because it is the learner who becomes the customer of utilizing my product - the rubric.
I think that when teaching certain courses it may be a good practice to involve students in creating a rubric to promote engagement especially when working with group project and there is peer review involved.
