I recently led an assessment workshop that included both 2-year and 4-year faculty participants. As part of the workshop, we discuss the assessment toolbox. We discussed common tools like pre/posttests, embedded assessments, portfolios, standardized tests, and rubrics. While all the tools can assist faculty in assessment activities, rubrics are a popular tool for both grading and assessment.
One faculty member raised a question concerning whether or not to share rubrics with the students? There was some lively discussion among the faculty on their practices and it was fairly evenly split between those who always shared their rubrics and those that didn’t. I don’t have a strong stake in the decision to share rubrics, with one caveat – if the faculty members decides not to share a rubric, is there another document or description of the project that shares the requirements with the students? Whether in the form of a rubric or a description within the syllabus, the most important task for faculty is establishing expectations for the assignment students have access to.
Another discussion concerning the use of rubrics at the workshop was how they can accomplish the multiple tasks of grading and being used for assessment purposes. Several of the faculty thought it was necessary to use two separate rubrics to accomplish these complementary tasks, but functionally that is not the case. Rubrics are flexible enough to cover both needs in one document. Grading can be accomplished using weighting of important components of the assignment, while still capturing information for a planned assessment of student learning. For example, a rubric with five to six associated tasks can be used by faculty to grade an assignment, at the same time two of the categories can be extracted to assess the student’s ability related to a program goal.
Rubrics are a great flexible tool, so go create one!
