Week 5: Rubrics have become an integral part of teaching and learning
Rubrics have become an integral part of teaching and learning at all universities and places involved in ELT. EFL. ESL and others in the past few years. Here at UTN University, Teachers, directors and faculty developers have engaged in discussions in faculty meetings, in lunchrooms, and it certainly was one of the topics at the UTN EFL International convention recently held.
Remember that assessment is not necessarily an either-or option. Instead, these assessment strategies can be used together in order to gain a better picture of your students' grasp of the content. In one workshop, they talked of tools for grading complex assignments, the purpose and characteristics of rubrics and the use of RubiStar was analyzed. At the end of the session, participants drafted a rubric for an assignment and gave and received feedback from a colleague.
Benefits they reported include clearer complaints and more focused teaching. Of course there are also teachers who have reasonable reservations about rubrics; here is what one teacher expressed:
1. Making a good rubric takes a lot of time, and some teachers are skeptical about breaking down grades and feedback into specific criteria and categories in art and design classes.
Personally, I think that with standard assessment based practices, it’s not always easy for teachers to monitor the learning and growth of their students. When students are given a “C,” or a comment like “good work” – how is it possible for them to know what they did well versus what they didn’t? How can students improve their work and how can teachers improve their instruction?
Rubrics in this respect, gives the students relevant and timely feedback without diminishing their effort into preparing the assignment.
With rubrics, teachers can align their benchmarks/standards of proficiency based on the skill sets they have already taught. By aligning their instruction to match assessment criteria, students know in advance how they can get a good grade.
What I particularly like about using rubrics is that they can be customized to suit the content of a classroom. In the past, I’ve also had students evaluate their own and their peers’ performance using rubrics; in some classes, we decided together on the criteria for evaluation. Coming up with the criteria can be tricky but using them to evaluate students’ work becomes a breeze.
Students also know in advance what they need to strive for and how they can improve their grades. It’s also comforting for students to know they can get in-between grades.
Remember that assessment is not necessarily an either-or option. Instead, these assessment strategies can be used together in order to gain a better picture of your students' grasp of the content. In one workshop, they talked of tools for grading complex assignments, the purpose and characteristics of rubrics and the use of RubiStar was analyzed. At the end of the session, participants drafted a rubric for an assignment and gave and received feedback from a colleague.
Benefits they reported include clearer complaints and more focused teaching. Of course there are also teachers who have reasonable reservations about rubrics; here is what one teacher expressed:
1. Making a good rubric takes a lot of time, and some teachers are skeptical about breaking down grades and feedback into specific criteria and categories in art and design classes.
Personally, I think that with standard assessment based practices, it’s not always easy for teachers to monitor the learning and growth of their students. When students are given a “C,” or a comment like “good work” – how is it possible for them to know what they did well versus what they didn’t? How can students improve their work and how can teachers improve their instruction?
Rubrics in this respect, gives the students relevant and timely feedback without diminishing their effort into preparing the assignment.
With rubrics, teachers can align their benchmarks/standards of proficiency based on the skill sets they have already taught. By aligning their instruction to match assessment criteria, students know in advance how they can get a good grade.
What I particularly like about using rubrics is that they can be customized to suit the content of a classroom. In the past, I’ve also had students evaluate their own and their peers’ performance using rubrics; in some classes, we decided together on the criteria for evaluation. Coming up with the criteria can be tricky but using them to evaluate students’ work becomes a breeze.
Students also know in advance what they need to strive for and how they can improve their grades. It’s also comforting for students to know they can get in-between grades.
Hi Javier,
ReplyDeleteVery interesting post about rubrics and the conference! I think there is still much to learn and discover about rubrics!
Rubrics is a very effective way to assess students progress especially of the oral presentations and written taskswhich are subjective in terms of assessment. They give a very detailed explanation of the students' grades but not only "well done" or "poor". I think students feel more confident when they know what criteria they will be evaluated by and it gives them more chances to be better prepared.
I agree with you that the very strong side of rubrics is that it can be adapted to the content of your lesson and teachers can vary their criteria as they want.
So I think rubrics are far-reaching tools of evaluation