Rubrics
Are rubrics always necessary and if so, when should the students be involved?
Terry
Terry,
What are your thoughts? Have you used them? I do!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Yes, I beleive rubrics should always be used.
1. It helps you the instructor clarify what you are looking for in your own mind.
2. it create fairness and consistency from paper to paper
3. It can help you if you need to objectively justify what grade you awarded.
4. it helps the student reach clear objetives while completing projects
5. it can almost serve as an outline.
Can anyone else thing of things to add to the list?
Tanya,
I think you can build rubrics with different degrees of information to develop and educate students to think for themselves. What do you think?
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Yes, I wish we had a rubric for this brief course! I am finding some of the questions rather surprising - asking questions on the quiz that I did not expect. I wish I knew the emphasis of the measure of knowledge gained. In my opinion, the Quiz questions are not always directly related to the objectives of the task.
My question is how to design a rubric for right-brained workforce -- the artsy types. They don't always respond to a "constrictive" type of feedback, nor negative/improvement measures. I find IT staff respond differently to feedback as well -- they are a particular personality and mindset generally and respond better to "suggestions" rather than feedback including the words unacceptable and needs improvement.
Does this make sense?
Who has devised a rubric for an artistic project and have it work?
Rebecca,
You are right. How do you measure creativity? That is my one concern when you devise a rubric. You made some GREAT points!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Descriptions of dimensions either make things more difficult or allow for greater flexibility. It is suggested that dimensions with only one description provide elements to assist with personalization however, increase the time to score and grade content. based on the research I have conducted, three dimension descriptions are the most common however, the more descriptors, the more difficult it becomes to grade any given assessment.It is suggested that once the dimension has exceeded more than five descriptions, grading becomes difficult.
Jade,
Right on. Too many descriptions can become more time consuming and "water down" the feedback. It is important to think about this during the development of rubrics. Thanks again for your input.
Terry,
Yes I believe that rubrics should always be used. This provides communication to the students regarding instructor expectations on assignments.
I have not utilized students to create the rubrics. This would be a challenge to say the least in the online environment. However, this makes sense to involve students as a way to develop their skills and make stronger feedback in the rubric set up.
Laurie
Laurie,
They realy do help both the students and the instructor.
Terry:
I believe that a Rubric should always be used because it makes grading easier and it provides consistency to the grading program. As I tell my students the grading isn't just what I think but is evaluated through a process that is consistent for everyone. I also agree with this module that grading can be subjective. That might be another reason that the Rubric is so important, it assist in eliminating the subjective issues and makes the grading more reliable.
Rachelle,
Yes, as an instructor, rubrics keep me on track. Thanks!
Laurie, I agree with your point about the difficulties in the online environment, especially when we have a set curriculum and limited time. I do think involving students can work well in instructor-created "onground" classes, and I did this a great deal during my time teaching in a traditional university.
However, I do believe that even in online ed, we can at least allow the learners to access the rubrics early in the term, or early in the week, and perhaps publicly ask for confirmation/questions/suggestions over the rubrics - this involves students and lets them invest in their own outcomes and scores, and it helps to ensure that all learners clearly understand the objectives early on.
Thank you!
Darcy
Darcy,
Absolutely. I'm a front loader and everything student need for the entire course (including all rubrics) are loaded on BBoard a week before courses start. Students have everything they need.
When I was at Boston College earning a masters in economics, my Industrial Organization professor stated at the beginning of the class that there would only be a final exam. That exam would consist of being given a published paper, and writing an essay describing why the paper was garbage, to put it politely. I am paraphrasing the instructor.
Over the next 16 weeks, I created a eight page type written paper that asked all of the questions that I could think of or find out why a published paper was of poor quality. Thirty two years later, I refer to my series of questions periodically.
My question is: Could my instructor have achieved the same or better result if he had used a rubric? I wonder. What do you think?
Donald,
I would suspect the expectations would have been easier to explain and understand with a rubric. From the instructor perspective, I would prefer to have a rubric from an assessment standpoint.
Just my thoughts.
Dr. Tena B. Crews
I do believe that rubrics should be used in any class where papers are a part of the student's assessment. Given that there are infinte ways for student's to write, the academic environment should suppport their option to present the information in their own style. However, that same academic environment needs to require essential information to be presented, applied and conveyed for evaluation. By providing a rubric that outlines what is expected, the point value/depth of information and other evaluative criteria, the student can determine the level of effort they will have to apply to get the grade they want. If they want to excel, they know what is expected. Conversely, if they "just want to pass", they can do a minimum level of performance. This leaves the choice up to them. Moreover, should a grade question arise in the future, the instructor has a published evaluative scale for supporting the grade that was given, helping to reduce the discussion of "why did you give me that grade?".
Beth,
Yes, you bring good thoughts to this forum. The choice is the students' and they can "EARN" whatever grad they like. ;-)
Thanks for your input.
When I was working on my master's degree, having grading rubrics was very helpful. Knowing what to focus on was very helpful.
Paula,
Ah - the voice from the student's perspective. Thank you for your comments and helping others understand this perspective.
