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Rubrics can be a powerful educational tool for sharing expectations with students and then subsequently for grading students’ work. When rubrics (or portions of rubrics) are designed around student learning outcomes, the completed rubrics can be used to assess how well students have acquired the skills and knowledge described in the learning outcomes. Click on the image below to see how grades and assessment can be combined.
IAS has sponsored a pilot study of a software product that facilitates on-line interactive grading of student work using rubrics. The completed rubrics can be shared with students to provide detailed feedback on their work. Moreover, the completed rubrics are automatically stored in a data base. This data base can be accessed later for the purpose of aggregating rubric data across students and analyzing the data in order to assess student learning.
We wish to thank the 23 faculty members and 13 teaching assistants who agreed to participate in the pilot study this semester. They will use the software to grade student coursework, comprehensive or qualifying exams, and TA performance. Throughout the semester and into the summer, they will provide feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of the software. Combined with IAS evaluation of the software, their feedback will inform a decision about software purchase. We expect to complete the pilot study in summer 2008.
Rubrics are useful to assess complex student work, such as
papers, essays, or presentations, which cannot be evaluated with complete
objectivity. Below you will find information to assist in the development
and use of a scoring rubric, along with sample rubrics and further resources.
Sample Rubrics
Additional Resources
| Developing a Rubric |
- Brainstorm a list of what you expect to see in the student work
that demonstrates the particular learning outcome(s) you are assessing.
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- Keep the list manageable (3-8 items) and focus on the most important
abilities, knowledge, or attitudes expected.
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- Edit the list so that each item is specific and concrete, use
action verbs when possible, and descriptive, meaningful adjectives
(e.g., not “adequate” or “appropriate”
but “correctly” or “carefully”). For assistance, see the action verb list.
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- Assign values, either numeric or descriptive, to varying levels
of competence or skill.
- First, decide the number of levels for the scale.
- Second, define in detail what each level would look like.
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- Test the rubric with more than one rater by scoring a small sample of student work. Are
your expectations too high or too low? Are some items difficult
to rate and in need of revision?
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| Using a Rubric
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- Evaluators should meet together for a training/norming session.
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- A sample of student work should be examined and
scored.
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- Discuss the scores and make decisions about conflicts between raters that arise.
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- More than one faculty member should score the student work. Check to see if raters are appyling the standards consistently.
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- If two faculty members disagree significantly (e.g. more than 1 point
on a 4 point scale) a third person should score the work.
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- If frequent disagreements arise about a particular item, the
item may need to be refined or removed.
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By using a rubric to evaluate complex student work, faculty can produce both grades and assessment data simultaneously. Here is how this may be done.
Sample
Rubrics
You may find it useful to begin with a pre-existing rubric
and customize it to suit your purposes. The following links provide sample
rubrics for a variety of learning outcomes.
General Education
Action
Project (Miami University)
Critical
Thinking (University of Virginia)
Information
Literacy (McKendree College)
Oral
Communication (University of Virginia)
Online Discussion (Boise State University)
Team Projects (University of Virginia)
Undergraduate Research (University of Virginia)
Writing (University of South Florida)
Art
Theatre
Appreciation (Miami University)
Engineering
SEAS Grad Program Assessment Site (University of Virignia)
Humanities
Book
Review (Miami University)
Classics (Miami University)
Drama (Miami University)
English
(Miami University)
Humanities
and the Arts (Minnesota State)
Narrative
Essay (Maricopa)
Philosophy
and Religion (Buena Vista)
Interdisciplinary
Liberal Studies Seminars (BIS - University of Virginia, work in progress)
Languages
Language
(Oakland University)
Linguistics (Miami University)
Sciences
Physics (University of Virginia, work in progress)
Science Lab (National Health Museum)
Social
Sciences
Anthropology (Miami University)
Resources
The below resources may be useful in developing and using
a rubric.
IAS Presentation: Types of Rubrics
(.ppt)
Teaching Resource Center Newsletter: "Grading
with Rubrics" (.pdf)
Rubric
pointers and examples (.pdf)
Create Rubrics with
Rubistar (external link)
Cognitive Level and Quality Writing Assessment System (external link)
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