I feel that rubrics are necessary and important when accessing students’ assignments. This will help students to understand portions of the assignments they did not score high and or the ones that were scored high, therefore allowing the students an opportunity to improve on future assignments. Some mistakes that I have made when I have created grading rubrics was creating too many objectives or criteria. I found this to be time consuming for my grading as well as tedious for students. For an example, if I was grading an essay, I had a several requirements for APA format, one for title page, one for in-text citation, references, spell check, indentation etc. I had to combine some of the headings together to speed up the grading process. Also the students felt that I was being too detailed. Once I combined the APA together this seem to avoid less emails and complaints. So I actually limited myself to a maximum of 5 criteria.
Natalie,
We all learn from our mistakes. I'm glad you are learning from the modules. We all continue to learn from each other. Keep progressing!
After having read this module, I can list several of my own mistakes in creating rubrics. I typically have anywhere from 8-10 criteria in my rubrics; 4 are static, found on every rubric no matter the assignment, but no less than 8 total. I include a lot of quantifiable components (at least 3 examples, 2 complete sentences, etc). I think I do some good things as well, like providing very clear criteria that other instructors could use as well, keep it objective, but I don't do a very good job of connecting the assignment to course outcomes. I have made a bit of progress in this area, but know I still have a ways to go.
Lauren ,
Good point. I actually put e outcomes in the rubric. It helps me make the connection. Thanks for sharing.
The biggest mistake that I make when making rubric, I do not give my self enough time. I finally realized, in order to create an effective rubric, I have to make sure I am aware of the outcomes. I now create and model the assignment before I create my rubric.
roger,
If pre-generated rubrics, please make sure they meet the learning outcomes and the projects are sound. Give them a look. Thanks!
All of my classes come with the pre-generated rubrics. There are a few units where the rubrics were ambiguous so I’ve taken it upon myself to add on to them in order to clarify the assignment step(s). Despite my doing this, many students, judging from the work submitted, do not connect the dots. It may be due to them not reading the Announcements, or looking at the rubrics themselves, or for any of a variety of other reasons. Is that my mistake?
For those that do read them as well as my modified versions with clarifications it turns into a win-win, since they are more focused and do the right thing more often, which gives them the right skill set and better grades. For me, it’s easier to grade assignments that are done right.
Rhonda,
We have to think about the rubrics, criteria, etc. carefully. Scope is one consideration. Thanks!
When using a holistic rubric, a common mistake is making sure the rubric matches the overall scope.
Elizabeth and Lee,
Thanks for continuing the conversation. Having a section about "evidence of research" is excellent. That's a great way to get them to think about research and not simply opinion.
That is very interesting Lee, because I find that the points assigned by the university at which I teach for "presentation," such as grammar, writing style, and APA usage are so low that most students do not take them seriously. I have refined my rubrics, so that the section on content includes evidence of research in an effort to remind students to cite their work.
Berrie,
And, make sure you connect the learning outcomes to the rubric. The students should see the connection. Thanks.
Darren,
Yes, this is good advice to others. Thanks for your input.
I agree with this, especially in the case of students who may not be properly prepared for higher level learning. If the student had challenges in high school and is now trying to focus their life, the writing criteria in an essay rubric can cause confusion. For example, sentence structure, spelling and grammar does not have the same meaning to the student as it does the instructor. It doesn't have to be super focused but in too general terms it will make the student just as intimadated.
The common mistakes when creating rubrics are having too many criteria. Too many criteria may reduce the quality of the rubric. Also another mistake is to have a varying scale. This will be confusing and inconsistent for the student to understand why there was a different score.
Stephen,
There is a fine line between a too simple and too detailed rubric. Thanks for your input.
Yes, I think that when you make the rubrics, "too simple" that you are probably providing a rubric that is too generic to really help the student know what is expected. When this happens, students will often tend to "blow off" the rubric because they consider the rubric to be ineffective.
I find that if you create a rubric that is too specialized and too detail-specific, that you can not only "tie up" your ability to grade, but you can confuse the student. Rubrics, although meant to be objective, need to also be a little flexible so that the instructor can use his/her best judgement as to which category in which to place the student. It is a mistake to make it so specific, that the student cannot use a certain amount of creativity in writing his/her assignment. The purpose of the rubric is to guide the student to learning objectives, while informing them of both their strengths and weaknesses.
Thomas ,
The criteria are so important. They can be lacking or too detailed - both cause issues. Thanks for your input.
Some of the more common mistakes that can occur might be that the Rubrics focus too much on just one aspect of the assignment and are lacking on information for some of the other areas of an assignment. Many assignments (at least at the College leve) contain multiple (6 or more required parts to answer) areas to address and your Rubrics need to align well with the areas the students will be covering in their papers or DB posts.
Tom
