Dale,
too many criteria and not effective criteria are common mistakes. You are right on target. Thank you.
Dale,
Thanks for your advice. Keep up the good work with your rubrics.
Thanks!
James,
I use to be like you, and not use them. However since i have started using them, my grading life is much easier. Rubrics take a lot of the guess work out of it.
I think some common mistakes are having to many criteria. Also, I think having rubrics that are hard to understand. If the student can not understand the expectation becasue it is not written clearly, then how are they expected to work to that rubric?
Dori,
It is so important that the criteria be just right. The criteria have to be complete and clear so the students understand the expectations, but they should still allow for creativity so students can complete the assignments in ways that best suits their learning styles. Thanks for your input.
Some mistakes instructors make are adding too many criteria in the rubric, using quantity components, using a varying scale within the single level assessment, not allowing for students to see improvement, not clearly defining the criteria. All of these can lead to incomplete, inaccurate or unusable feedback.
Patricia,
We do have to ensure the criteria and points are appropriate and make sure we are assessing correctly. Thanks for your input.
Patricia,
We do need to review our rubrics to make sure our criteria are correct and we are evaluating what we intend to assess. Thanks for your input.
Hi Fred,
I agree with you in regards to the rubrics that are completed for you already the points usually will cause a problem for the students and the instructor. We have expectations for our students but if we do not complete the rubrics properly then the importance of the assignment or discussion.
Patricia
Where I teach for they have rubrics already completed for each class but the point value is not seperated right so the students complete the area where they will get the most points and then they will leave the other part undone because they feel those points are not important.
I went through the rubrics that were like this and made sure that the points were allocated properly across the rubrics so that all parts of the assignments or discussions were important.
Patricia
BRIGITTE ,
You hit the nail on the head. Things have to be clear, criteria has to be on target and they have to be connected to the learning outcomes. Thanks!
Hello
All my classes I have ever taught online already has the rubric build into the course. But if I may elaborate I think that clarity is one of the greatest component of a rubric. At a few universities I teach the rubric is to "wide" category 1 may have a span of 20 points for critical thinking skills - the teacher then have to pick between 1 to 20 points for this student on their critical thinking skills. Just to extenteded and not clear enough for me.
Marie,
Yes, I rubrics should be reviewed and revised often. We need to make sure they are assessing what they should be and that they are connected to the learning outcomes. Keep reviewing and editing. Thanks.
I created my rubrics for my IT class a while ago. I am finding that each time I teach the class, the rubric needs to be tweaked a bit. I am finding that I have to clarify the criteria that I grade against for the students to understand and I need to make the points equitable to the learning I am trying to accomplish with the group. I am finding that it is a continuous learning process. Each student has their own comprehension about the grading scheme so I need to make it clear for them to understand. When we change the edition of the text, it is an opportune time for me to make the changes I think make sense for the course.
Steven ,
Ah - it's all in the criteria. Yes, they have to be clear and concise otherwise the students may not understand the expectations. This is true.
I find that including too much detail generates too much work for me and many students don't even read them. They become interested when they believe they should have received a substantialy higher grade.
DIANA ,
Yes, the key is in the criteria. They have to be developed so that they effectively refelct what needs to be assessed. Thank you.
If a rubric contains an enormous amount of criteria, the quality of the rubric is lost. I also believe the student may become overwhelmed by trying to review too much information. The wording in the rubric is also important and straight to the point.
Diana,
We should be assessing our rubrics each time we use them to make sure they are assessing what we need them to assess. We should be altering our teaching and rubrics to become better each semester. Thanks for your input.
I find that I also have to adjust my rubrics to fit the criteria for the class.
