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What Is A
Rubric?
A rubric defines the
performance levels for each element of a
gradable activity. The creation of rubrics can be very
time-consuming,
but is worth the effort. Nancy Pickett and Bernie Dodge have a great website that defines a rubric and explains why a rubric is important.
Why Use A
Rubric?
Expectations held by both
teachers and students are better met when
evaluation criteria is presented at the time a task is
assigned. A
rubric clearly states the expectations for the activity and the effort
required by the student to achieve a desired score. [adapted from
Engaging the Online Learner]
Discussion
Activity Rubrics
Soliciting student
responses to discussion posts is a common
activity in online courses, but assessing the quality of those
responses can be challenging for instructors. Students find
the
activity especially challenging when they do not know what standards
are being used to evaluate their responses.
Students may generate
more thoughtful responses when given guidance through rubrics. This
section contains several models and examples from online faculty; feel
free to adapt them for your own courses.
- Example rubric for asynchronous
discussion contributions
This rubric uses a
scale of 0(unacceptable) to 3(outstanding).
Source: Teaching and
Learning at a Distance, Michael Simonson, Sharon Smaldino, Michael
Albright, Susan Zvacek, 2006
- Online Discussions Rubric
This rubric is
for a class in which students discuss and practice supporting a written
viewpoint, and to share responses with others. For each
instructional
unit, they post three to five responses; this rubric is used to assess
both the quantity and quality of responses.
Source: Engagement for
Online and Face‐to‐Face Learners Through Online Discussion Practices,
Alice Bedard‐Voorhees, 2005
- Sample Rubric for Final Class Discussion Grade
This sample grading rubric was taken from
the course "Student Assessment in Online Courses," a component of the
Making the Virtual Classroom a Reality series of online faculty
development courses offered through the University of Illinois Online
Department (http://www.mvcr.org).
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