Using Rubrics to Help Students Focus on Learning
March 15, 2012
Dr. Paul Wilmarth, Technical Trainer, Faculty Resource Center
Keeta Holmes, Instructional Designer, Center for Teaching and Learning
University of Missouri – St. Louis
Presentation Overview
Why Use a Rubric?
Discussion Activities
Examples of Rubrics
Sites to Create Rubrics
How to Use Rubrics to Develop Learning?
Negotiated Learning Example
Summary / Overview / Questions
Activity 1: Testing the Rubric
Biology: Original Scientific Experiment
Virginia Johnson Anderson, Towson University, Towson, MD
Original Assignment: Semester-long assignment to design an original experiment, carry it out, and write it up in
scientific report format. Students are to determine which of two brands of a commercial product (such as two
brands of popcorn) is better. They must base their judgment on at least four experimental factors.
YOUR TASK: Read each of the student experiment titles below and give your score according to the
instructor’s rubric below. (*Note: this rubric contained many criteria, but for today's activity, we will only
evaluate the title.)
Evaluation Rubric for evaluating the title of the work
Is appropriate in tone and structure to science journal; contains necessary descriptors, brand names, and
5
allows reader to anticipate design
Is appropriate in tone and structure to science journal; most descriptors present; identifies function of
4
experimentation, suggests design, but lacks brand names.
3
Identifies function and brand name but does not allow reader to anticipate design
2
Identifies function or brand name, but not both; lacks design information or is misleading.
1
Is patterned after another discipline or missing.
How would you rate each of these student titles?
Your
Score
Actual Student Titles
A Comparison of Prell and Suave Shampoo
The Battle of the Suds: Budweiser and
Weiderman Beer
Would you Eat Machine Made or Homemade
Cookies
A Comparison of ARIZONA and SNAPPLE ICE
TEA for pH, Residue, Light Absorbency, and
Taste
Research to Determine the Better Paper Towel
A Comparison of Amway Laundry Detergent
and Tide Laundry Detergent for the
Characteristics of Stain Removeal, Fading,
Freshness, and Cloth Strength
Notes/Rationale
Activity 2: Thinking about your own course activities
Choose an assignment that you've used recently. This assignment should be one that you have
designed to promote and/or elicit an important aspect of the learning you intend for students in
one of your courses.
Examples: homework set, computer simulation, paper, student project.
Answer the following:
1.
Have your students ever asked or commented "I don't know what you want. What are
you looking for?"
2.
How is this assignment important to your overall intentions, course design, conception of
your field?
3.
Are there distinctly different formats you could have chosen that might have highlighted
different dimensions of the idea or the field?
4.
What do you hope your students will demonstrate in their work on this assignment?
5.
On what standards do you currently judge student work on this assignment? Would you
consider an alternate method?
o
o
o
Grade description: what constitutes an A, B, and so on
Check sheet: lists of what the student should check for and what the teacher will
look for
Rubric: format in which each trait of the student's work is described using a scale
from high to low
Rubric Creation Websites
Web-based
iRubrics (RCampus): Free for educators
http://www.irubric.com
Rubistar: Free online rubric creator for project-based assessments
http://rubistar.4teachers.org/
Roobrix: a Rubric Converter. The Roobrix converter performs the calculations for you after
you specify a few parameters, including your student's rubric score.
http://roobrix.com/
Teachnology: Online rubric creator for various types of assessments
http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/rubrics/
iPad Apps
(Note: Be mindful of FERPA regulations regarding the storage of student confidential data)
Easy Assessment: App for capturing and assessing performance in any context or
situation. 2-step rubric tool
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/easy-assessment/id489279817?mt=8
Essay Grader: App for grading essays/papers according to your own customized rubric and
stored feedback.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/essay-grader/id376946246?mt=8
Software
Waypoint Outcomes (commercially available enterprise system that integrates with
Blackboard Learn)
http://waypointoutcomes.com/