It is very important to not be too generic when creating rubrics. When providing feedback to students, I like to be as specific as possible with what they need to work on for the future assignments.
I would say a common mistake when creating a rubric is that the content/coverage in the rubric is not detailed enough or does not align accurately with an assignments instructions. Student's may feel that they covered all the assignments content but then their grade shows otherwise. Student's need a detailed rubric that aligns with assignment instructions so they have a clear understanding of what they need in order to successfully complete the assignment.
Rebecca,
Sure - we all have different strengths and weaknesses and I like to leave room for creativity. All that must be taken into consideration, but we must also keep the learning outcomes in the forefront of our minds. Thanks!
Carolyn,
That's a good clue that something needs to be revised when students are confused. This in itself is great feedback. Thanks for adding to the conversation about rubrics.
It is important to consider all students strengths and weaknesses also when designing a rubric to make it fair in overall grading to include the whole class
When I have done my rubrics I have found that my mistake is when I am not clear cut. I have found many questions from students when they have project and don't understand exactly what i'm going to be grading on. I have taken suggestions from my students in the past to make sure I am more clear...
for example project is 75 pts I will break out each section into a point system so they understand it.
Betsy,
Yes, that is true. When the rubrics are not clear, they can cause more confusion than help. As we set up the criteria and connect them to the objectives, they will benefit the students better. Thanks!
Common mistakes - trying to be very detailed - and ending up with too much criteria - it is not only visually overwhelming but can end up confusing to the online student.
And not relating the rubric back to the course's learning objectives and outcomes - this is demotivating for the student.
Kathy,
The key is a well-designed rubric. We, as online instructors, need to be careful about developing the points or percentages for each category and making sure the criteria match up well with the learning outcomes. Thanks!
I totally agree with you. If we are using a really well laid out rubric, students will complain and moan that they didn't know what was expected of them and they were graded a certain way because of a popularity contest. This nips it all in the bud, if well designed.
Michelle,
The criteria are crucial. We have to make sure the students understand what they are striving for and we have to make sure the rubrics are tied to the learning outcomes. Nice job.
Some of the mistakes faculty can make when creating a rubric is if the rubric provides detailed feedback the students will be able to understand and learn from - when an instructor develops a rubric he/she really needs to understand what criteria the instructor wants the student to learn from.
After the rubric is created the instructor also needs to determine how he/she will grade the assignment and provide additional feedback outside of the rubric columns.
Matthew,
Yes, many people thing rubrics stifle creativity, but carefully planned, they do not. But, as you note, there is a fine line. Thanks for your input.
I teach a lot of design and drafting based courses. The rubrics for these need to really be fine tuned so there is enough wiggle room for student creativity and still are dialed in enough that some specifics are covered. I have seen rubrics that are too specific so students do exactly what the items are and do not worry about the rest. This results in a very high grade for a project that may actually be lacking and not exhibit good understanding. Many of the online courses I have taught have had rubrics like this. It leads to grade inflation and poor understanding of the big concepts.
It is a fine line that an instructor has to walk to create a rubric for an art or design based class where you want to have some pretty specific elements that must be done well and still allow for creativity and creation of the big picture project.
Scott,
Right - either way - too much or too little can be confusing to the students and not helpful at all. We do have to make sure the objectives are connected to the rubric so that we don't assess the wrong things. Good point.
I would argue that one mistake that an instructor makes with a rubric is assigning too few points or too many points for one or more parts of the project. In other words, putting too much weight in a works cited page might sink the whole grade when in reality it was worth too much. Moreover, another mistake is when the wrong things are assessed.
William and Le,
You both bring up some very good points. We do learn from our experience and from the feedback from students. And, thanks to these posts, we learn from each other here. Thanks!
Patricia,
This would be a bad mistake. If the students can't understand the expectation from the rubric, the rubric if flawed.
Thanks!
Le,
In my early days of Rubrics I was being to general with the breakdown which would lead to disputes about the grading from students. Since then I have learned to be specific but still leave enough room for creativity.
They are not clear when it comes to expectations.
