Rubrics are a great way to give definition to a project. They allow students to follow a guide throughout a project to help them focus on elements which will lead to a successful assignment. Rubrics are not needed for every project especially those that focus more on an artistic view.
Rubrics have advantages and disadvantages.
Yes rubrics can be time consuming in developing but can save grading time later. THey can be refined from term to term. They also set expectations.
Students need the rubric as much as the instructors.
Rubrics not only allow the students to know exactly how an assessment will be graded, but it can also provide them with a structure for completing a task.
It was very informative about the different types of rubrics and I plan to use it to upgrade some of my rubrics I currently use.
Verification that using a rubric in an art class, depending on the assignment, can stifle creativity. However, in discussions and other research assignments these rubrics can be quite helpful for students.
A ruberic is a new name for a long standing practice. Tests, quizzes, homework, labs and practical finals always had different weights. When you add up all labs and give an average you have gained nothing. You have to isolate and review each grade to learn the weakest parts of a students. Now a computer does what people did. All with less contact with the students.
Proper use of rubrics give students a clear understanding of what are expected. It justifies the grade the instructor gives.
I find that students need orientation of the rubrics after the lecture is completed as they now know the project better and the rubrics provides a good sturcture how to organize the final project. Orientation and some examples help student to understand and follow better.
I have used rubrics my whole career in teaching, the way it is explained here is far too confusing. The courses I teach are more analytical than creative. I have definitely learned to keep it simple.
I can speak from experience as I have been developing and using rubrics for quite some time. They are time consuming to develop but the payoffs are huge. More efficient, consistent grading and better feedback for students.
The use of rubrics allows the students to analyze assignments
The time consuming part of rubrics is the creation of them. They can save lots of time in grading. HOWEVER, there seems to be a need to tweak them often. How would this work when we don't have access to our Master Shells on the spot? Wouldn't they need to be tweaked there, rather than our classroom?
Never thought about a rubric as such:
-
Rubrics improve student performance by clearly showing the students how their work will be evaluated and what is expected.
-
Rubrics help students become better judges of the quality of their own work.
-
Rubrics allow for student self-reflection and self-assessment.
-
Rubrics allow assessment to be more objective and consistent.
-
Rubrics force the instructor to clarify his/her criteria in specific terms.
-
Rubrics reduce the amount of time spent evaluating student work.
-
Rubrics promote student awareness about the criteria for use in assessing peer performance.
-
Rubrics provide useful feedback to the instructor regarding the effectiveness of the instruction.
-
Rubrics provide students with more informative feedback about their strengths and areas in need of improvement.
-
Rubrics accommodate heterogeneous classes by offering a range of quality levels.
-
Rubrics are easy to use and easy to explain.
Rubrics are helpful to both student and the instructor and simplifies grading and ensure consistency.
I am not a big fan of holistic rubric.
So far, I have learned that rubrics are helpful to the students to guide them in the development and production of their work, and they are also helpful to the teachers in planning the instruction, staying focused on the objectives and in evaluating the learning and the instruction. However, rubics can be complex to develop. The more holistic the rubric, the less helpful it will be in defining especific expectations; the more analytical the rubric, the more time-consuming it will be to prepare and the less useful in evaluating creativity and other factors affecting work, such as effort and time spent.
I look forward to using rubrics to help clarify work expectations for my students and to help focus my instruction.
I am currently using a discussion rubric designed by Concorde. One of the problems I noticed with the rubric is it does not adequately address the college's policy on APA formatting. It is not mentioned directly in the rubric and creates a problem when grading student answers and replies that either do not use APA formatting or use it correctly.
Both students and teachers are able to use rubrics to make improvements.
