5.9 | The Benefits of Rubrics

Feedback and Rubrics from the Student's View

Feedback is an important tool that helps students to improve their learning and their work product. Even though feedback is designed to help, it can be intimidating to students and they may simply ignore your feedback, especially if the feedback is perceived as too lengthy, too negative, or too difficult to decipher.

Rubrics are a particular type of feedback, but if they are published at the same time as the assignment, they can also serve to clarify difficult or confusing assignments, and/or provide benchmarks that help set performance expectations. In order to clarify assignments and/or set expectations, though, rubrics need to be carefully designed. 

Rubrics spell out explicit expectations for individual assignments. In doing so, they delineate hidden and often unspoken assumptions of academic culture such as the need for citations, proper grammar, and academic language. By spelling out the criteria used in grading, and emphasizing that the same criteria are used for all students, rubrics can help to reduce concerns of unfair grading practices and foster equitable grading practices for both students and instructors.1

Summary

  • Rubrics help clarify vague, fuzzy goals
  • Rubrics help students understand expectations
  • Rubrics can help students self-improve
  • Rubrics can inspire better student performance 

Feedback and Rubrics from the Instructor's View

Creating a rubric helps instructors to establish objective criteria by which a student’s performance can be scored. A common rubric also helps to promote consistency between faculty and departments scoring the same assignment in different sections, and empowers students by affirming that anyone who meets the standards will succeed. A shared rubric also allows the same standards to be applied to different works, which can allow for cultural variations in demonstrating learning.2

Be sure to share with your students the rubrics and expectations you have for them. Be absolutely transparent and provide as much clarity for students as possible on assignment requirements. 

Excellent rubrics are extremely useful, but it may take several iterations and some careful tweaking to design the perfect rubric for an assignment. Use your students' performance, your experience grading with the rubric, and your feedback to continually tailor assignment rubrics. 

Summary: 

  • Rubrics make scoring more objective, unbiased, and consistent
  • Rubrics make scoring more efficient
  • Rubrics improve feedback to students
  • Rubrics improve feedback to instructors 

Video Resource

Check out the following video (3:48) from your friends at @One (Online Network of Educators). It references the development of an effective rubric and the benefits of rubrics for instructors and students. 

 

Prefer to read than watch? Check out the video transcript. 

Navigate to the next page to read in more detail about developing effective rubrics. 

Works Cited

  1. Levi, A., Stevens, D. Leveling the Field: Using Rubrics to Achieve Grater Equity in Teaching and Grading. Essays on Teaching Excellence Toward the Best in the Academy Links to an external site.. Vol. 17, No. 1, 2005-2006. 
  2. "Equity an Assessment Resources." Austin Community College District Links to an external site.. Accessed 10, January 2022. "
  3. Suskie, L., & Ikenberry, S. (2014). Five dimensions of quality: A common sense guide to accreditation and accountability. John Wiley & Sons.

Please select Next to go to the next page