Below are practical suggestions for designing and using rubrics aligned with various stages of the teaching period.
Before semester starts
Alignment with course and program learning outcomes
Before developing rubric criteria, identify the tasks that students need to complete in the assessment and how it aligns with course and program learning outcomes.
Assessment tasks should allow students to work towards and demonstrate achievement of learning outcomes, so criteria in the rubric must align with relevant knowledge and skills.
- Write criteria and descriptors of performance levels according to the course level (e.g., a first-year essay task may place more focus on content and knowledge whereas a third-year essay task may focus more on critical thinking and synthesis).
For any guidance regarding learning outcomes and alignment, refer to the ANU Course Learning Outcomes resource.
Before introducing the assessment
- Use rubrics in class discussion and activities to prepare students and clarify expectations with students.
Provide opportunities for students to self-assess or peer-assess learning or task-specific progress with rubrics, as this helps deepen their understanding of requirements.
Timing
- Provide rubrics to students early in the semester but only analyse the rubric in class after students have started forming ideas and writing their assignment.
- Review the rubric during lecture time to ensure it is recorded. This allows students to revisit the recording whenever necessary.
- Share the rubric with students by explaining the criteria and levels of performance and make the rubric available on the learning management system (LMS) before they start the task.
Using exemplars with rubrics
- Use ‘excellent’ exemplars to model the learning goals and standards that students can progress towards (Carless, 2018).
- To develop students’ evaluative judgement, allow students to begin their assignments first, then give exemplars to students, and finally engage in analysis of exemplars and rubric (Smyth et al., 2020).
Involve students by organising them into groups and giving them anonymised exemplars to grade using a rubric. This allows them to better understand the quality of performance across levels in the rubric.
After assignment submission
Feedback
- Provide additional comments, annotations, or other notes on performance to supplement the rubric during feedback stage (Dawson, 2017). This helps students to identify strengths and areas of improvement.
Grading
- Assess students’ performance using the rubric; concurrently, collect samples of student work that exemplify each performance level for moderation.
Rater training and moderation
- To prevent carryover effect and improve uniformity, consider scoring all students on the same question before moving to the next one (Brookhart, 2008). However, it depends on the discipline and assessment type.
- Clarify marking criteria and expectations, and practise using rubrics with sample work or exemplars in pre-assessment moderation meetings.
For larger cohorts, calibrate marking with other colleagues by reviewing submissions together using the assessment rubric.
Here is a visual representation of the timeline for the recommended practices:
References
Brookhart. (2018). Appropriate criteria: Key to effective rubrics. Frontiers in Education (Lausanne), 3. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2018.00022
Carless, D., Chan, K.K.H., To, J., Lo, M. & Barret, E. (2018). Developing students’ capacities for evaluative judgement through analysing exemplars. In D. Boud, R. Ajjawi, P. Dawson & J. Tai (Eds), Developing Evaluative Judgement in Higher Education: Assessment for knowing and producing quality work. Routledge.
Smyth, P., To, J., & Carless, D. (2020). The interplay between exemplars and rubrics. In P. Grainger, & K. Weir (Eds.), (2020) Facilitating Student Learning and Engagement in Higher Education through Assessment Rubrics (pp. 57-68). Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Dawson, P. (2017). Assessment rubrics: towards clearer and more replicable design, research and practice. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 42(3), 347-360. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2015.1111294
