A rubric is a table that allows you to assess students’ work efficiently and reliably. It can also be used to give feedback.
In a rubric, you use the learning objectives or assignment description to formulate a description of the work for one or more criteria per level (e.g. unsatisfactory, satisfactory and good). Rubrics are ideally suited for assessing open-ended questions, writing assignments, oral presentations, projects or creative work.
A rubric can be organised in various ways, depending on the set-up of your course or assignment: with one criterion (holistic) or several (analytical), with or without scoring or weighting, with two levels (e.g. only pass/fail) or more. Three common types of rubrics are described below.
With holistic rubrics, you look at the work as a whole: so you are not looking at the work on several criteria, but on one holistic criterion. You can distinguish as many levels as you want. They are quick and easy to fill in. A disadvantage is that they offer less specific feedback; it is unclear which aspects weighed most heavily in the assessment. For more complex or heavily weighted assignments, a holistic rubric is therefore less suitable.
Below is an example of a holistic rubric. The scores in the left-hand column can also be replaced by levels (e.g. excellent, good, moderate and unsatisfactory).
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With an analytic rubric, you assess the work on multiple criteria and multiple levels. The advantage is that the assessment highlights different aspects, which clarifies the final grade and gives the student more specific feedback.
There are also disadvantages: it is time-consuming to make such a rubric because you have to describe several levels for each criterion, which in practice often do not always fully match. Also, the differences between these levels are often subtle and open to interpretation, so the more criteria and levels you use, the less useful they become in practice. More is not always better for students either: they may be less inclined to carefully examine a rubric with many criteria and levels. On the other hand, when meeting to discuss their assignment, they may focus too much on details to try to increase their grade. Analytic rubrics may also get in the way when students compare their work among themselves in detail.
Below is an example of an analytic rubric. Here too, you can rearrange the levels (e.g. excellent, good, moderate and insufficient). Scoring is optional.
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A single-point rubric is a more practical alternative to an analytic rubric: it distinguishes multiple criteria, but you only formulate a description for one level: that of the pass mark. The columns on the left and right remain empty: you only fill them in when grading to indicate where the student performs below or above the expected level.
The advantages of a single-point rubric are that they are quick and easy to make: after all, you only need to define the pass mark. They are more convenient to use for both students and instructors because there is less reading. Nevertheless, instructors can use them effectively to justify the final grade and they can serve as a common reference point in teaching teams. Students can also easily see how to improve their work. They are also more flexible than traditional rubrics: you don’t have to anticipate in advance in what ways students may perform below or above expectations. This gives students more leeway. A disadvantage is that the instructor has to fill in more when grading, which takes more time.
Below is an example of a single-point rubric. You can also name the left and right columns differently (e.g. unsatisfactory/excellent, or areas to grow/areas that glow).
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Tip: Ask an generative AI such as ChatGPT (or others) to create a rubric for your assignment. The right prompting is crucial here. Give the generative AI the assignment description and ask, for example, which criteria should be in the rubric. Then specify which criteria and levels you want to use and ask the generative AI to create a rubric in a table. Be careful not to enter any privacy-sensitive information.
Prompt example:
“I want a rubric for an essay on X. The rubric should contain four criteria: ‘Quality of Research,’ ‘Argumentation,’ ‘Organisation,’ and ‘Language and Style.’ Each criterion should be rated on a scale of 1 to 5, with detailed descriptions for each level. ‘Quality of Research’ and ‘Argumentation’ are more important and should each account for 40% of the total grade, while ‘Organisation’ and ‘Language and Style’ weigh 10% each. The rubric should be presented in tabular form and have a formal, academic tone.”
Would you like advice on using rubrics in your course? Feel free to schedule an appointment with the FGw Assessment Experts.
Do you need support for creating rubrics in Canvas? Feel free to schedule an appointment with the FGw ‘Team ICT in education’.
Would you like advice on using rubrics in your course? Then make an appointment with the FdR’s assessment expert: Ingrid Pancras (i.c.m.pancras@uva.nl).
Would you like advice on using rubrics in your course? Feel free to contact the assessment experts from the central team of the TLC network via tlc@uva.nl.
Would you like advice on using rubrics in your course? Feel free to contact the assessment experts from the central team of the TLC network via tlc@uva.nl.