Assignment Rubrics Ensure Instructional Transparency A digital assignment rubric allows all students to fair and equal access to the standards their grade on an assignment will be assessed by. Students in Jennifer Byall’s Mathematical Reasoning course know what is expected of them through the use of digital rubrics. Students are assigned to present and explain a lab that they completed during the course. They can choose any lab, including labs they have completed and received a grade and instructor feedback on. This allows students to focus on the presentation aspect of the assignment since they can choose a lab that they have successfully completed. Byall provides students with the presentation rubric along with the assignment instructions so there is transparency in how the assignment will be evaluated. The rubric clearly defines the different scores for the components of the presentation. This tool benefits students by allowing them to know as they are planning and completing their presentation what elements to include and to what level they should be shared. Since beginning to share rubrics with students in advance, Byall has noticed fewer questions about grades from students. She receives questions about the presentation in terms of elements of the rubric and is able to help students prepare a stronger presentation by the due date rather than trying to negotiate points after the assignment has been submitted missing required elements. Digital Resources Digital rubric in the LMS The level of the class should influence the rubric, and instructors should recognize that students have different levels of experience with rubrics. A rubric used in an introductory class could have more instruction since students in the class may not have worked with a rubric before. Byall advises that explaining the rubric is helpful, even how students can use it as a checklist to make sure they have fulfilled all the assignment requirements. A specific rubric that has objective elements is more equitable due to the grade clearly fitting in the described point value. Download the rubric Digital Enablement A digital rubric defines different scores for components of a presentation assignment. For consistency, Byall uses the same rubric across all modalities of her course, allowing the results to be analyzed across students and sections. Clearly building the assignment rubric within the course LMS allows students to access the rubric and reference it while preparing their presentation, and after receiving their grade. Have an Example of Your Own? Help us build our Instructional Example Library! We are looking for contributions from higher education instructors across disciplines who use technology to enable evidence-based teaching practices. To learn more and to submit an example, please visit the form page linked below. Thank you for helping us support the field. Submit an Example
