Most of the courses I teach have a subjective element to them (viscomm, for those I much prefer a very loose rubric. Perhaps splitting the total points into 3 or 4 sections with the overall assignment parameters, allowing quite a bit of subjectivity and preventing students 'checking the boxes'. On the flip side though, for scripting/programming or IT related courses, rubrics are great and the more detailed the better; in those cases, 1+1 doesn't equal blue, like in viscomm, but 1+1 equals 2 and the rubrics speed grading where subjectivity doesn't come into play. That said, I've been in both types of courses with the opposite types of rubrics and it proved the exact opposite of helpful, rather, it caused confusion, hurt feelings and grade challenges when 1+1=canary in an IT course. Trip

I have been using rubrics on assignments for years. But, recently I have had a number of strange issues. For example, in a recent assignment the students were to build a PowerPoint of 6 to 8 slides. I included in the assignment points for meeting the required length but I did not think any students would miss the part about doing a PowerPoint. I had one student turn in a paper in word. Because my rubric only gave a few points for required length the student ended up with a B on the assignment because they covered the topics in the rubric even though they did not do the assignment. I am still debating in my mind if this is good or bad.

This was interesting to note this is the best for online environment. I like that it focuses on the student, too. With the online school I adjunct, the student is our focus. There are numerous assessments for the students in order for the school to provide the best educational opportunities for the student. I now understand the assessment process better having learned more about the Alternative assessment.

I totally agree that feedback needs to be given with diagnostic testing. In the English Department we give a pre-grammar test. This test gives the students a general idea of their strengths and weaknesses. I go over the answers in class and give a study sheet that reviews those areas of weakness. It is a great assessment for the students.

I like the idea of pre-diagnostic testing. In the English Department we give the students a topic the first day of class and ask for a well-written essay. From the start, we know who knows what an essay is, without even asking! There are basic skills that are required, and as the module suggested, we are able to go forth knowing what skills need to be reviewed.

I serve as the Assessment Coordinator for the English Department at a state college. I am very aware of assessment, tools utilized, and how important the results are from using the various assessments. It is very important to determine the best assessment tool for the course. I use a rubric for the assessment of our research papers. By distributing the rubric, the assessment of the research papers by our department goes smoothly and determines end results for me.

How have you used authentic assessment in your online course? I utilize Portfolios to bring student's work together at the end of the course for synthesis. Potfolios are a great way for students to see the results of their cummulative efforts in the course and can provide a better picture of acquired skills than an summative assessment.

How have you used evaluations in your course? Obviously, Objective Assessments are easy to administer and grade. The drawback of this type of assessment in an online environment is that they are commonly open book. There is no way to prevent students from using their resources unless they were administered in person. With respect to Discussion Threads, a rubric is utilized. This is a must to provide guidance and structure to an otherwise completely subjective activity.

When conducting summative assessments, what do you believe are the two most important things to consider? 1. What are the most important outcomes? Because Summative Assessments cover a lot of material, the main objectives need to be identified. 2. Questions need to be worded appropriately. for the Summative assessment to be valid and reliable, the type and wording of the assessment must be carefully considered.

When assessing the use of technology assessment tools in an online learning environment, what do you believe are the three most important things to consider? 1. Does it work? Assessments must be tested and work properly or students will get frustrated. 2. Is it valid? Assessments must test what they intend to tes. 3. Is it reliable? Can students replicate the results at a later time.

My question/statement would be, Is it possible or ethical for that matter to utilize summative assessment data from a prior class as a diagnostic for their next class of the same field? It sounds like an arborous task because I would assume that you would have to generalize all the data/questions into categories, much like the SAT's results, e.g English, math, etc, since you cannot provide specifics to the next instructor. We used to do student summaries that we would pass along to the next instructor so they could get a little heads up on students that might need a little more attention in certain areas. My thought is can we utilize technology and the online medium to automate this and make it even more effective?

I teach new students in their very first class. Do you feel it's too early to engage them in creating a rubric?

Can rubrics be use to evaluate appearance of a food item and leave subjectivity out of it?

Can students effectively critique others correctly using the rubric if they don't have the experience with the product?

Culinary rubrics can be very difficult to write. How do you take the subjectivity out of certain rubrics?

In one of my course I had to create my own rubics. I find it was time consuming but worth it. Actually the rubics is a great feedback for students and how they learn the material.

Each term, I have students who provide evaluations based on quality information that is aimed at helping develop the course. However, I also have students who provide evaluations are that do not yield much relevance in regards to making needed or relevant modifications in the course. Typically, the evaluations by the latter are from those students who chose to avoid taking responsibility in the course although every effort was made by me to help the student. I found that instructors cannot be swayed by such evaluations because it will cause the quality of your course to diminish. Doing so does not help the student or instructor develop in the course. We must take these types of evaluations with a grain on salt and move on. However, I found that the students who truly engaged the course have provide quality and constructive criticism through the formative and summative evaluations that helped me make needful and beneficial changes in the class. Over time, I have seen how these changes help future students, and certain modifications are made each term. This may include adding a particular technological tools in the learning process or making modifications to what is already included the class. Student evaluations are absolutely beneficial and are a vital part of the educational process.

This area is of particular interest to me based on my experiences. It seems that there are many students who have trouble in the area of grammar (proper sentence structure, punctuation, spelling, etc.). It seems that the students must first master the skills in English / Language Arts before matriculating into core major courses. Without this, the student's ability to perform at the expected (and reasonable) level will not be satisfied, and the student's grade will suffer, not to mention the onset of frustration by the student and instructor. A few other instructors have shared the same issue, and we find ourselves having to perform some type of remedial training based on those informal formative assessments that occur during the term. The entire teaching team or institution should make an effort to ensure that every student is indeed prepared to move into more demanding work unique to their chosen field of study by first covering the basics and ensuring that the student has mastered those basics. Otherwise, we are left to handling those issues ourselves for the sake of the student's pending success in the class.

I firmly believe that objective and subjective evaluations are necessary in every class because each offers a level of assessment that gives the instructor a final and accurate picture of the class generally and each student specifically. However, subjective evaluation is important for reasons beyond regular assessments. I found that many students lack the ability to think critically, express themselves in writing, properly structure and organize thoughts, and use proper grammar. While not every instructor teaches English, part of our duty is to ensure that each student is prepared to function in and beyond the class for their overall success. By using the subjective evaluations (i.e. essays, etc.), we are able to help the students develop in these areas so they perform well in the class, absorb the learning objectives, and can be successful in their chosen field of employment.