Effective Grading: Using Rubrics to Increase Grading Efficiency and Student Learning CTLE Moodle Lunch Apr. 03, 2014 Spencer Benson, Director Center for Teaching and Learning Enhancement

"Teaching is leading students into a situation in which they can only escape by thinking"

What are Rubrics  Tools for assessment management  Helps keep grading consistent  Promote student learning  Help students understand what is expected  Convey consistent feedback  Help students understand their grade  Save time

Why Use a Rubric?  Allows for increased consistency of grading  Saves time and effort  Provide timely feedback to students  Helps prepare students to use feed back  Facilitates communication about assignments and criteria (transparency)  Enhances student learning and engagement  Refines and improves one’s teaching

Student Feedback (focus groups 2009) Students prefer transparency in grading  If given the choice, students prefer having grading rubrics and assessment criteria made clear  They need clarification of meaning:  having the criteria/rubrics explained to them more concretely (e.g., what is meant by ‘coherent’, ‘critical’ or ‘accurate’), or having samples that demonstrate different grades.  Improves student learning, engagement, and “happiness”  Inconsistence between different tutors in giving feedback/grade is often a source of confusion  This is detrimental to everyone, teachers and students

Student Feedback (focus groups 2009, student names have been changed ) Student Feedback (focus groups 2009, student names have been changed ) Kitty (business): “May be there are guidelines which say that you have to finished ABCDE, but they only provide you with adjectives. A is you do it very well and is very comprehensive, C is you do something wrong. Then what is the meaning of you do something wrong and you are comprehensive…So I think it can be more transparent to let students know.” Becky: “When you do certain steps in lab practice, the tutor thinks you are correct. But when it comes to be assessed by another tutor, he may think that your performance is not very good… So the rating scale in assessment is different by different tutors.”

Questions - Comments?

Simple Rubrics Work Better  With the first rubric: A diverse faculty panel scored samples of student writing. We observed a wide range of differences in the scores for the same writing  With the second rubric: A diverse panel of graduate students gave consistent scoring of a large sample of student writings

Rubrics Provide Consistency

Distribution of Scores

Rubrics Allow Novice Graders To Be Consistent and Faster  Introduction to Biology BSCI106  Very large multi-section introductory course  sections, with GTAs  Major learning object is the lab report which is significant part of the grade  By developing and using a standard coded rubric we were able to:  Reduce grading time  Increase consistency across sections  Identify general area were students were weak

BSCI106 Lab Report Rubric

Oral Report Rubric OutstandingGoodMarginalUnacceptable Content Material related to thesis; all points clearly made; material related to seminar theme Many good points related to the seminar theme, thesis Great deal of information not clearly connected to seminar theme, thesis of author Thesis not clear and the information presented not related to the author’s thesis or seminar theme Coherence and Organization Examples appropriate; presentation flows well; well-organized; within 3-5 minutes of the allotted time Mostly logical and organized; need better transitions; within 5-7minutes of the allotted time Concepts and ideas loosely connected; choppy; lacks clear transitions; within minutes of the allotted time Quite choppy, disjointed; no correspondence to author’s ideas; beyond 10 minutes of the allotted time Speaking Skills Poised, clear articulation; enthusiasm for the material; confidence, good volume, eye contact with peers Clear articulation but not as polished Some mumbling; little eye contact; little or no expression Inaudible; no eye contact; disinterested; spoke in a monotone Audience Response Involved the audience and maximized their learning with a handout; presentation generated questions Involved the audience most of the time; handout not as polished Tended to go off topic; lost the audience at times; no handout or hastily prepared Incoherent; off topic; audience lost interest; no handout or use of blackboard to guide audience

INDIVIDUAL REPORT RUBRIC Outstanding (5) Good (4) Marginal (3) Unacceptable (1) Content X Coherence and Organization X Speaking Skills X Audience Response X SCORE = __16__ x 5 = ___80__ Individual Report Grade

Questions Comments?

Less build a rubric for a different assignment

A Three Level Rubric DimensionsExemplary Do this first Competent Then do this one last Developing Do this next ……. …….. …………..

Share your rubric with the person side of you

Things to Consider  Adapt existing rubrics  Use the rubric as a short cut to reduce grading time  Check boxes  Circle the characteristics  Provide the rubric with the assignment  Makes grading more transparent  Helps students know what is expected  Involve students in developing the rubric  This can be a powerful learning activity

Contact Information Spencer Benson, Ph.D. Director Centre for Teaching and Learning Enhancement (CTLE) Professor Faculty Health Sciences Web site “TEACHING IS LEADING STUDENTS INTO A SITUATION IN WHICH THEY CAN ONLY ESCAPE BY THINKING”