Best Practices: Let's Hear It for Rubrics!
From the faculty, in our workshops, and among our colleagues we hear.
“I always give out the rubric before students start working on their assignment. That’s when they’re most interested in doing it right and getting a good grade. I use it as a teaching tool.”
“I used to worry that I graded some papers differently from others, especially those that I graded first versus those at the end. I feel much more secure when I grade with rubrics that I’m being consistent in my grading. I know I’m using the same criteria for all the students.”
“I get a lot fewer complaints about grades since I started using rubrics. I even get fewer office visits.. Less stress for me and less stress for students. a win-win all around!”
“The folks at the Writing Center tell me it’s a lot easier to help my students when they bring in rubrics for their assignments.”
“Rubrics are great for explaining the many different tasks that go into writing a paper in small, manageable bits. It’s not so overwhelming for the students. Or me, for that matter.”
“I do a team-taught class with five other professors. We created a joint rubric. I thought we’d argue a lot, but it turns out that we pretty much agree on what we want in a paper.”
“My students love the rubrics. My teaching evaluations have gone up!”
