A step-by-step guide to creating rubrics, this presentation goes through the basics in creating a rubric for an assignment on plagiarism.

1. Building RubricsThe Easy Steps Way™ Susan Lieberman The Business School 2011 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 Canada License.

2. Session Format Explain what a rubric is & why it is useful Describe how to create a rubric Design a rubric for a short assignment on Plagiarism Building Rubrics 2

3. Mort’s Challenge Mort created an assignment on Plagiarism He heard about rubrics and wants to create a rubric for this assignment Building Rubrics 3

4. Plagiarism Assignment Building Rubrics 4 BBC News Europe German Defence Minister Guttenberg resigns over thesis

5. Question : What is a Rubric? “A rubric is a scoring tool that lays out specific expectations for an assignment” (Stevens & Levi, p3) Building Rubrics 5 Let’s look at an example ...

6. Building Rubrics 6 RUBRIC

8. Convey effective feedback

9. Promote student learning

10. Reduce hassles by minimizing marking complaints

11. Result in better assignments

12. Provide more perceived objectivity

13. Give transparency and consistency in marking

14. Reveal standards of discipline

15. Share benchmark qualitiesBuilding Rubrics 7

16. Question: How are rubrics made? Rubric consists of Columns Standards, proficiency Rows Objectives, criteria Cell descriptions Measurement, differentiation (May add optional “Needs Improvement Checklist”) Building Rubrics 8

17. Columns (Standards) Determine number of proficiency levels 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!) Recognize that in rubrics: 4 = 3, 3 = 2, but 4 ≠ 2 Total of “meets expectation” grades should approximate average mark Building Rubrics 9

18. Let’s help Mort … Label the columns for Mort’s rubric, using a scale of 0, 1, 2, 3 Building Rubrics 10

19. Rows (Objectives/Criteria) Learning objective ↔ assessment criterion Eg Assignment objective requires student to analyze practical situation & provide relevant solution Rubric Criterion (row heading) -> “Analysis & resolution of practical situation” (can be > 1 row) Eg Rubric criterion assesses correct grammar, spelling, organization … Assignment objective -> Student will prepare a written summary demonstrating good grammar, spelling and organization NOTE: May have to revise objectives! Building Rubrics 11

20. Plagiarism Assignment Objectives Distil information from a well-selected newspaper article Engage in research Demonstrate understanding and avoidance of plagiarism Demonstrate correct & neat use of citations, grammar, spelling, words & sentence structure Relate abstract concept to practical situation Follow instructions Building Rubrics 12

21. Help Mort set up rows A few hints… Not every row has to be worth the same amount (eg in sample rubric, some are out of 3 marks and others only 2 marks) Set up the rows & then see if any can be combined or split Remember the one-to-one correspondence test! Consider whether overall weighting is reasonable Building Rubrics 13

22. Rubric Resources 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.” Research & Writing, Research Report iRubric (http://www.rcampus.com/indexrubric.cfm ) Site for free development and sharing of rubrics Public gallery, how-to videos and building tools Let’s search for the sample rubric called “Going to Court” Building Rubrics 14

23. Cells (Measurement) Select measurement tool for each criteria Quality(How well was the task done?) Eg How well did student apply theory to 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? Building Rubrics 15

24. Help Mort complete the cells Add descriptions to each cell, differentiating the different degrees of accomplishment Hint: put into words how you’ve already been assessing previous assignments At the same time, add categories to the “Needs Improvement” chart Building Rubrics 16

25. … One Suggestion Building Rubrics 17

26. Other resources Squidoo (www.squidoo.com/TeachCollege2 ) Slideshare (www.slideshare.net/TeachCollege/rubrics-for-college-the-easy-steps-way ) Merlot (www.merlot.org ) M.E. Huba & J.E. Freed, Learner-centered assessment on college campuses: Shifting the focus from teaching to learning, 2000 (Allyn and Bacon) D.D. Stevens & A.J. Levi, Introduction to Rubrics, 2005 (Stylus) Building Rubrics 18

27. Your “Final” Rubric – huh!!!! There is no “final” rubric! We review and revise, and review and revise, and ... Also, a suggestion for using the rubric: mark the first 10 or more assignments in pencil because even your interpretation may change – then go back and re-mark Building Rubrics 19

28. Happy Mort You’ve helped Mort create a rubric for the Plagiarism Assignment He’s now ready to tackle lots more rubrics! He, and I, say “Thank you”  Building Rubrics 20