James,
Thanks for your opinion. I am sure it comes with experience. Thanks for sharing.
We learn from each other.
Jill,
I agree that the rubrics can only provide assistance to students if the instructor is consistant with grading. I was involved in a research study where several instructors used the same rubric to grade the same discussion participation of specified students. The results showed that instructors were not consistant, even though they worked at the same school in the same program. This would make learning difficult for the students, since we used the same rubric for discussions throughout the program. We held faculty meetings to help us all get on the same page with using the rubrics.
Lois
Dr. Crews,
The role of a rubric is to provide consistent feedback and grading to students. It helps faculty focus their feedback and gives them a tool to provide the feedback to students. The rubric is also a tool for students to understand what is expected of them. They can see what is expected to receive various scores. When the rubric is returned with comments from the instructor students have a better understanding of their score and information on how to improve.
Lois
Some believe that it takes the "subjectivity" out of grading. There is no subjectivity for a professional teacher acting in a professional manner. There is, however, professional opinion. Rubrics can serve as a guide in exercising that professional opinion.
Nicole,
Right on. A good rubric helps both the students and instructor but a poor one does not. A poor one can even hinder the learning process and cause confusion. Thanks.
The role of the rubric is to make assessment of outcomes/objectives consistent, easier, and efficient. However, developing rubrics can be quite difficult to develop, which makes it important to evaluate the rubric based on how well it guides the students' work, consistency in grading, and ease of use. A poorly developed rubric doesn't help anyone.
-NG
Matthew,
And the magic is that rubrics help all stakeholders. Thanks so much.
Chezree,
And, it's so important that the criter are clear. Without clear criteria, the rubric will not assist you or the students. Thanks for hte sources.
The role of a rubric is to inform students as to how they'll be graded and to give the instructor a way to fairly grade students. It's like a contract between the instructor and students. They'll know exactly what grade they'll get based on the amount of work they put in.
Dr. Thomas,
Right on. Rubrics need to be directly connected to the objectives. I even list the objectives on the rubric for all students to see. Thanks.
Rubric should first take into account the objectives and outcomes of the course. Of course there may be different rubrics for different assignments but the overall evaluation should be the same.
Penelope,
Don't forget that rubrics help both students and instructors. We want all parties to benefit from the use of rubrics. Thank you.
Judy,
Right on. The rubrics help all stakeholders. Thanks for your input.
For one thing, it makes the criteria more clear. When students have a better understanding of what the learning target is, they have a greater capacity to reach it, especially in cases with more complex assignments. Once students have a better understanding of the expectations, then they have the ability to find the materials or data that will better demonstrate their knowledge and skills for those particular areas.
Second, once instructors have provided the expectations for student learning, the rubric then serves to guide instructional design and delivery and further enabling instructors to keep the key learning targets as the main focus and create learning environments that will allow students to reach the course objectives.
Third, rubrics allow for more consistency and fairness in the assessment process. As instructors follow the rubric while evaluating each student’s progress, the instructor is able to make judgments with greater accuracy by keeping the review on track with the main criteria.
Furthermore, the rubrics have a role in enabling the student to use it as a tool for self-assessment and feedback. Having the assessment criteria on hand allows the students to measure the level of their own performance so that improvements can be made while working on a class project or assignment (Wolf & Stevens, 2007).
Wolf, K., & Stevens, E. (2007). The role of rubrics in advancing and assessing student learning. The Journal of Effective teaching, 7(1), 3-14. Retrieved from http://uncw.edu/cte/et/articles/vol7_1/Wolf.pdf
A rubric explains the assignment criteria and the how well they should be completed.
Rubrics give guidelines for both the student in posting the assignment and the instructor in fair and objective grading
Aubrie,
Right on. Rubrics assist both students and instructors. Being more objective in grading is a good thing. Thanks.
Rubrics provide concise feedback to the student. What I appreciate the most about utilizing Rubrics, is that it removes all subjectivity out of the assessment process.
Pamela,
Yes, I like that you refer to students assessing their own work. Self-evaluation is so important. And, rubrics help instructors as well.
Thanks!
Esther,
Hmmm - a "featured assignment." Are they the only ones graded with a rubric? I wonder if this plays into the accreditation of the institution.
Thanks for your feedback.
