A devil's advocate view of the rubric
Reality: Higher education is scrutinized more and more as it moves into the competitive marketplace. Therefore, rubrics must also be recognized for it practical and institutional values. It validates the the grading procedure.
Years back when I was a college student and and started my college teaching career...my knowledge and my ability as a teacher formed my rubrics. The change is the key point, but the rubrics do not handcuff the instructor, but serve as a guide independent of his or her subjective assessment.
Thomas,
Nice post and interesting point of view. Do you change your rubrics as your knowledge and abilities change over time?
Thank you,
Matt
Matthew and Thomas,
Thanks for continuing the conversation. I change/update/edit my rubrics each time I teach a class - typically each semester. They are like all the other things we have to keep up with in teaching - always changing.
When I read the headline of your post, I was compelled to read it... I agree, actually, that rubrics provide a fail-safe for the grading process, especially when as instructors and educators we are processing a high volume of assessments.
I'd like to take your devil's advocate approach a step further--as educators we need to be careful about relying solely on a rubric to determine an assessment. No one wants truly exceptional work to be overlooked because of a technicality, and it's equally difficult when a lack luster project meets or exceeds the rubric requirements but clearly falls short. It can be difficult to measure true innovation when a rubric is too strict.
I know many educators feel that the process becomes too automated with the over-reliance on rubrics. Online, though, there is nearly no other way to insure across the board assessments.
Katina,
Oh - you bring up a very good point. We have to be careful with all we use and not let the "tool" become the teacher. Nice job.
Obviously, online, the rubric is crucial to insure across the board assessments. What other tools can be used to insure quality assessments?
Douglas,
Are you familiar with Quality Matters? I'm a Peer Reviewer and Master Peer Reviewer and it very much goes to show that good design impacts good teaching - hence assessment and evaluation. Thanks!
The other concern that I have with rubrics is that they may set students up to expect similar, point-by-point instruction in the workplace.
So much of the workplace (in any industry, I would guess) entails being a self-starter and independent worker. In fact, these skills are often advertised for on the job-hunter Websites.
I wonder what happens when a student hits the workplace and is expected to just "figure it out," without having a step-by-step breakdown of what they exactly need to provide and what their client, supervisor, or boss will be looking for in their work.
Mica,
Rubrics are not point-by-point instruction. And, I know a lot of annual performance reviews that are more point-by-point in the workplace than rubrics are in the classroom.
