1. Rubrics for College
The Easy Steps Way™
Susan Lieberman

2. Program
 Let’s go to the Opera!
– Objectives of rubrics
– Preparation of assignments
– Elements of rubrics
– Resources
– Application – Draft a rubric
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3. But first “What is a rubric???”
 Rubric derives from ruber, the
Latin word for red
– In medieval times, legal instructions
were written in red and rubric
meant something that authoritatively
instructed people (Wiggins, p154)
 “A rubric is a scoring tool that
lays out specific expectations for
an assignment” (Stevens & Levi, p3)
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4. Rubrics for College 4

5. Types of rubric
 Choose from many types
 This presentation focuses on
one type of rubric
– Easy to mark
– More objective
– Based on a grid system
 Criteria along one axis
 Numerical scores along other axis
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6. Farah’s Teaching Challenge
 Farah was a new faculty member
teaching two different courses that
changed each semester
 Other teachers would say to her,
“Farah, use a rubric. It will make
your life easier.”
 But when would she ever find the
time to create the rubric?
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7. Farah’s Challenge 2
 Students asked “Miss, where’s the
rubric?” & were upset when there was
no rubric
 And because no rubric, Farah had to
spend extra time explaining the
assignment to students
 And Farah had to spend extra time
marking the assignments
 And, after handing out the marked
assignments, Farah had to spend extra
time justifying her assessments.
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8. Farah’s Challenge 3
 Farah works hard preparing her courses &
wants to explore more online resources,
but time is always chasing her
 She wishes that she could tap into useful
resources more quickly – both using and
sharing resources
 She needs an “all-in-one” rubric resource
 Finally, a colleague told her to visit a lens
at Squidoo solely devoted to Rubrics for
College
 She said to herself, “This is it! I will visit
this lens do something for ME finally!”
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9. Objectives – What does Farah want
to achieve through use of rubrics?
 Save grading time
 Convey effective feedback
 Promote student learning
 And….
– Reduce hassles!!!!!
– Minimize marking complaints
– Prepare better assignments
– Provide more perceived objectivity
– Give transparency and consistency in
marking
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10. You need a good rubric!
 But first, you need a good
assignment!
 The next slides examine
the design of a good
assignment
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11. Sample Assignment
Farah turns to her students
and says “Oh, your final
assignment is due in 2
weeks. Write an essay on
“The Life of a Bat” and
prepare a 10 minute
presentation”
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12. What do you think of this
assignment?
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13. Prepare an adequate
assignment
 Written
 Detailed
 Relevant
 Content-driven
(to be explained …)
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14. Written & Detailed
 Why?
2 marks off for
presentation? At least 12 I’m sure I told
font Times New Roman them all the
& 1 inch borders – like, requirements – I
how would I know that?! think?!
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15. Relevant
This is a n
anthropology class –
just what am I
supposed to say about
the life cycle of a bat?
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16. Content of an assignment
 C ontext
 O bjectives
 N umbers
 T imelines
 E xpectations
 N orms
 T opography
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17. Context
 How does assignment fit into
Course?
 Course name
– Anthropology 100
 Assignment title
– The Lifecycle of a Bat
 Summary
– This assignment will
demonstrate your understanding
of …
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18. Objectives of assignment
 Why do this assignment?
 Define assignment objectives
– Refer to course outline objectives
 Knowledge, Skills, Attitude
 “Rule”
– Whatever is shown as assignment
objective must have some grade
assigned
– Whatever has a grade assigned
must be listed as an objective
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19. Numbers
 How many marks is assignment worth?
 How much of final course mark is
represented by this assignment?
 How much is each objective worth?
 If a student “meets expectations”, how
much is this worth?
 What are mark penalties for non-
compliance?
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20. Timelines
 When is assignment due?
 Late penalties?
 Last date to hand in?
 Progress report dates?
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21. Expectations
 Identify & articulate instructions
 Content expectations – eg …
– Perform & record an experiment
– Select and analyze an article
– Prepare a grant proposal
– Write a one-act play
 Process expectations – eg …
– Group and/or individual?
– Use of resources
– Presentation standards
– Progress reports?
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22. Norms
• Convey level of
expectation
• What is the average
targeted mark?
• 65%, 70%, 75% …
• Use this mark for the
“meets expectation”
level of the assessment
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23. Topography
 Assignment
should map out
the instructions
and expectations
in a logical &
descriptive way
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24. Assignments
 Assignments
– Written, detailed,
relevant
– CONTENT – driven
 “A successful rubric
begins with a well-
drafted assignment”
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25. Elements of a Rubric
 E lements of a Rubric
– Rows
– Columns
– Cell descriptions
 What do each represent?
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26. Elements of a Rubric
The “Awesome” OSM Approach
 O bjectives
– Row headings
– Criteria
 S tandards
– Column headings
– Levels of achievement
 M easurement
– Cell descriptions
– Achievement differentiation
– Grade assignment
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27. Objectives/Criteria (Rows)
 Recall assignment objectives
– Connect each to an assessment criterion
– Specific, measurable and action-oriented
 Learning objective  assessment criterion
– Eg Assignment objective requires student to
analyze practical situation
 Rubric Criterion (row heading) - “Application of
theory to facts”
– Eg Rubric criterion assesses correct grammar,
spelling, organization …
 Assignment objective – Student will prepare a written
summary demonstrating good grammar, spelling and
organization
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28. Standards (Columns)
 Determine number of proficiency levels
 Total of all “meets expectation” grades should
produce approximate average mark
 Generally, three or four levels work well
– Highest level (Excellent/ Exceeds expectation/ Expert/
Professional)
– Next level (Good/ Meets expectation/ Proficient/
Adequate)
– Lower level (Satisfactory/ Needs some improvement/
Developing/ Needs works
– Lowest level (Weak/ Needs much improvement/
Novice/ You’re fired!
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29. Measurement (Cells)
 Select measurement tool for each criteria
– Decide how to measure proficiency for that criteria
 Quality (How well was the task done?)
– Eg Did the student connect the theory to the facts?
 Quantity (How many of the tasks were done?)
– Eg Were all the instructions followed?
 Frequency (How often was the task done?)
– Eg How frequently were grammatical/spelling errors
made?
 *Consequence (What is effect of the work done?)
– Eg Did the presentation hold the attention of the class?
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30. “Extra”
 Farah likes to provide her students
with lots of comments pointing out
to them where additional work is
needed
 A chart summarizing common
weaknesses is useful
– She marks applicable points
– They use as a completion checklist
 Example appears on Slides 4 & 26
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31. Special Situation
Group Rubrics
 Concerns?
– Is each member contributing?
 Free-loaders?
– How to apportion marks?
– Reliable feed-back about group
dynamic?
 Has there been intimidation?
– Has each member tackled all
aspects?
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32. Groups - Suggestions
 Members assign group roles at outset
and monitor
 Members each submit rough work
 Peer assessments
– Compulsory or voluntary
 Submit process description (who did
what %)
– Organization, research, writing,
presentation …
 Progress report(s)
 Written submissions describing group
problems within a tight timeframe
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33. Resources about …
 Farah asks where she can
find useful resources about
– Types of rubrics
– Methods to create rubrics
– Theory of rubrics
– Samples
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34. Creating & Sharing
Rubric Resources
 Squidoo Lens (http://www.squidoo.com/TeachCollege2 )
– “Reduce Hassles, Teach Smarter – Rubrics for College”
 Delicious bookmarks (http://delicious.com/srl18/rubrics )
– Tagged bookmarks which relate to rubrics
 RubiStar: (http://rubistar.4teachers.org )
– Helps the teacher who wants to use rubrics, but does not have time
to develop them from scratch
– Provides template rubrics that can … be printed and used for
many typical projects and research assignments.”
 iRubric (http://www.rcampus.com/indexrubric.cfm )
– Site for free development and sharing of rubrics
– Public gallery, how-to videos and building tools
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35. Rubric Template
•OK to reduce/increase/ rename
standards
•OK to reduce/add more criteria
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36. And, one more word …
“Hello Susan,
I attended your session last Wednesday
evening. Was it timely! I had just picked up
[a major (10-20 page) assignment] to mark
from my class. The first thing I did was
prepare a rubric. It made the whole process
manageable, fair and consistent, and will
provide the necessary feedback to the
students. I believe that the use of rubrics
should be mandatory not optional...”
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37. Wrap-up
 Follow The Easy Steps Way™ to
create rubrics for college and
better understand
 Objectives of rubrics
 Preparation of assignments
 Elements of rubrics
 Resources
 Application – Draft a rubric
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38. About the author …
 “TeachCollege” (Susan Lieberman) teaches at Humber Institute
of Technology & Advanced Learning, Toronto, Canada
 As a lawyer and a chartered accountant, I mainly teach business
students Introduction to Business Law
 My passion is 'Teaching through Multi-media Storytelling' - stay
tuned as soon I'll present slides on that topic
 I enjoy working with other faculty and helping them to develop
their teaching skills
 Keep checking for slides on various college teaching topics such
as classroom management and lesson plans
 I thank my dear family, friends and colleagues for their support
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