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Rubric Design#

See also: design

Designing an assessment rubric#

Designing and assessment rubric - TEQSA

Gives some higher level advice. Not a lot specificaly mechanical/straight-forward.

What is possible to learn?#

A sample taxonomy provided

  • Conduct systematic research including collecting, analysing and organizing ideas and information
  • Communicate coherently in writing and verbally to express ideas and convey information
  • Solve problems, including problem posing, hypothesizing, setting objectives and evaluation
  • Using mathematical ideas and techniques to solve problems
  • Self-manage: including planning, prioritizing and organizing activities
  • Work cooperatively and collaboratively with other individuals and in teams
  • Select and use appropriate technologies and take up new technological affordances
  • Undertake personal, critical self-reflection and provide others with constructive feedback
  • Empathise with others’ experiences with which they are unfamiliar
  • Form opinions based on evidence and take a reasoned stance on a social issue

Draws on Blooms and SOLO and many others - perhaps useful as a source of verbs

Blooms#

Cognitive Level Learning Behaviours
Remembering Recognising, listing, describing, identifying, retrieving, naming, locating, finding
Understanding Interpreting, summarising, inferring, paraphrasing, classifying, comparing, explaining, exemplifying
Applying Implementing, carrying out, using, executing
Analysing Comparing, organising, deconstructing, attributing, outlining, finding, structuring, integrating
Evaluating Checking, hypothesising, critiquing, experimenting, judging, testing, detecting, monitoring
Creating Designing, constructing, planning, producing, inventing, devising, making

SOLO#

Stage Learning Behaviour
1 Pre-structural Students are simply acquiring bits of unconnected information, which have no organisation and make no sense.
2. Uni-structural Students can report single facts and constructs and make simple and obvious connections, but their significance is not grasped.
3 Multi-structural Students know a number of facts, but can make few connections between them and the significance of the whole.
4 Relational Students know and understand a significant body of knowledge and appreciate the significance of the parts in relation to the whole. It is desirable for all university students to reach this level. Biggs called it the ‘B’ grade level. Most universities correlate this with a Credit
5 Extended abstract Student make connections not only within the given subject area, but also are able to evaluate the quality of the ideas, transfer the principles and ideas underlying the specific instance and generate new ways of using the conceptual knowledge

Rocking rubric writing#

Summary of GU workshop

Aim, rationale, types, and components#

Espoused aim

  • Enhance consistency and fairness;
  • assist the teaching team when marking;
  • help students understand expectations.

Rationale for rubrics - hence the question for evaluation

  • Clarity
  • Consistency

Components of a rubric

  • Criteria - are the knowledge and skills that you want the students to demonstrate (e.g identify, evaluate, create, perform)
  • Standards are the actual level of performance which might be achieved by students against each criterion.
  • Performance descriptors– provides details about what performance looks like for each standard against each criterion
  • Weighting – the relative value of each criterion

Two types of rubrics (examples)

  • holistic - all criteria altogether.
  • analytic - each criterion and each level of achievement as detail

Creating an analytical rubric#

5 steps to creating an analytical rubric

  1. Make the link between the criteria the task, and the learning outcomes clear.
  2. Can you develop a list of the skills, knowledge and understanding that you want students to demonstrate?
  3. Can you answer the questions "what to learn?" and "how well was it learned?" interesting
  4. Provide an indication of the relative value of each criterion.
  5. Are each criterion distinct, clear, and meaningful?
  6. Decide which type of standard descriptors to be used.
  7. Write performance descriptors
  8. Start by writing satifactory standard of performance.
  9. Ensure the criterion is consistent across the standards.
  10. Ensure they are measurable/observable.
  11. Clearly articulate the expectations for each performance level.
  12. Include examples of student responses to illustrate the performance descriptors.

Creating performance descriptors#

How to design rubrics

Methods for describing the relative differences between performance levels

  • using specific aspects of the performance which will be at different levels
  • e.g. analyses/ describes / lists
  • Using adjectives or adverbs to specify performance levels
  • examples
    • accurately explains/explains with some accuracy/explains with limited accuracy
    • provides a complex explanation/provides a detailed explanation/provides a limited explanation
    • comprehensive/sound/basic knowledge
  • use numeric references (combined with some form of qualitative reference)
  • refer to the degree of assistance required by the student
    • correctly and independently / with occasionable peer or teacher assistance/ with teacher guidance