Agenda for UCO LC Assignment/Rubric Workshop
This workshop invites you to use backward design to create a learning centered assignment and then determine the skills required of students to complete it successfully. You’ll choose the skills' training to embed in your course design, determining how much direct instruction to provide, to which web resources you will link, and how best to use UCOs learning resources and support programs.
The workshop will end with your having created an assignment and a rubric to introduce and lay out the assignment’s requirements, enumerating and clarifying the tasks inherent in it. The rubric will walk students through the process needed to finish the work, serving in addition as a student self-assessment tool, and finally as an assignment scoring mechanism, pointing out to students the areas where they need to invest more work, providing them with precise feedback and recommendations forfollow-up.
1. Assignment Making
Bring a significant assignment to use in building a Rubric
Best Practices
1. Michigan Assignment Calculator (Pg 6)
2. Assignment making Guide (Pg 15)
3. Cooper Guided Writing (Pg 23)
2. Rubric Making
1. Holistic
2. Analytic
3. Value Rubrics
4. Hybrid Rubric/Checklist (Pg.11)
5. Looking online for rubrics in your own field
The Learning Centered movement, from which SLOs emerged, evolved out of the effort to find out:
1. How we learn
2. What students should learn
3. How something can be taught so that students in fact learn it
4. How faculty can be sure it was learned
5. Which interventions to use if learning didn’t seem to be taking place
The message shifted from ‘you must learn this’ to ‘what can we do to help make that possible.’ To help you locate the main characteristics of your approach on this continuum, here’s a broad range GPS:
Please put a check by each answer to which you have an affirmative response:
I. Do you perform an analysis at the beginning of the semester to determine if your students
1. are comfortable in the room
2. can hear you
3. can see the white board
4. can read your writing
5. have the textbook or course pack if you use either
Do you introduce and discuss the Course SLOs during the first week?
Yes__ No__ Comment:
II. Do you use (circle none, any, or all)
1. STLR ePortfolios, D2L, Facebook or Google groups… to establish an online environment inviting students to share ideas, get information, updates, discuss course material?
2. D2L to post
a. your syllabus, documents, media required for the course
b. supplemental course materials
III. Do you devote any time at the start of the semester to having students get to know one another?
Yes__ No__ Comment:
IV. Do you provide opportunities during the semester for and encourage students to connect with and support each other?
Yes__ No__ Comment:
V. Do you learn your students’ names early in the semester?
Yes__ No__ Comment:
1. Do you use a seating chart?
Yes__ No__
2. Do you use an App such as Attendance2 or D2L to help you keep track of students’ participation?
Yes__ No__ Comment:
VI. Do you tie any of your assignments or instruction to the college’s ISLOs/ILOs? Yes__ No__
1. Do you teach the skills inherent in the ISLOs/ILOs needed to complete your assignments:
(Please check all the skills you teach, the training to which you provide links, the referrals to support services you make.)
a. Reading skills (How to read your text book, Primary Sources…)
b. Writing Skills (How to write a lab report, research paper, journal entry)
c. Critical thinking, problem solving skills
d. Listening skills (note taking)
e. Speaking skills ( class participation, discussion, presentation skills)
f. Quantitative analysis skills (interpretation of statistics, of data, using math to solve problems, to apply the scientific method to test hypotheses…)
g. Metacognitive skills (assess their own knowledge, skills, and abilities; set personal, educational, and career goals…)
h. Information, Technology, and Media Literacy
i. Team skills (working in groups, group project participation)
j. Social skills (ethical behavior, ability to work effectively and civilly with others, respecting cultural, gender, and other group and individual differences.
VII. Do you Ask students about their educational and career goals?
Yes__ No__ Comment:
VIII. Do you Create opportunities throughout the term for students to provide feedback on their experience in your course?
Yes__ No__ Comment:
Assignment Making
When and to what extent do you do these things:
1. Determine students’
a. pre knowledge (discipline related, course related)
b. skills levels?
Comment:
2. Do you tell your students the skills you want them to develop and why they are necessary to their success in the course and workplace?
Yes__ No__ Comment:
3. Do you use scaffolding and/or sequencing of assignments to help students develop the knowledge and skills they need to perform well in your course?
Yes__ No__ Comment:
4. Do you give students
a. individual feedback on their performance on an important exam or assignment, explaining areas of weakness
i. Frequently
ii. Once or twice a semester
iii. Never
b. creating a follow-up plan for them based on your assessment of their learning needs
i. Frequently
ii. Once or twice a semester?
iii. Never
5. Do you use assignments, quizzes, exams/tests, projects as learning tools?
Yes__ No__ Comment:
6. Do you provide guides to help students complete assignments?
Yes__ No__ Comment:
7. Do you use rubrics
a. to help prepare students to
i. complete assignments
ii. self assess
b. to help you
i. score assignments
ii. provide feedback
iii. provide follow-up
8. When students do poorly on an assignment, do you use DLAs (Directed Learning Activities/Contracts, Pg 43) to refer them to tutors?
Yes__ No__ Comment:
9. Do you conference with students
a. Once a semester
b. Several times a semester
c. I do not schedule conferences. Students can come during office hours
i. How frequently do students in need of help show up to office hours?
1. Regularly
2. Infrequently
3. Never
ii. How frequently do students in need of help seek assistance from support services?
1. Regularly
2. Infrequently
3. Never
Lecturing
1. How frequently do you lecture
a. In every class
b. Once a week
c. As needed
2. How long are your lectures
a. 10-15 minutes
b. the entire class
c. generally ______long
3. Do you flip your class?
a. Do you focus on delivering content in class?
b. Do you mix delivery of content with discussion?
i. If yes, in what proportion generally? ______
c. Do you post your content/lectures online and use class to work through homework questions and problems?
4. To what extent do you use class to focus on what students are having trouble grasping
a. Do you use clickers, Smartphone polling applications or CATs to determine if your students are understanding and internalizing what you are asking them to learn?
b. Do you stop class to focus on concept problems as they become evident?
c. Do you use quizzes to accomplish the same?
5. Do you use groups, peer learning, during class to give students to opportunity to help one another work through difficult problems or concepts?
6. Do you find the SLOs for the course to be of any help as you explain what successful students will be know and be able to do as a result of taking your class?
7. Do you use the SLOs for your course as you design and develop the way you will teach it?
Assignment making (For more, see Pg. 15)
1. Do a Bloom analysis of the assignment you have chosen
2. Develop a rubric to score the assignment
3. Develop a process to prepare students to complete the assignment
a. Pre test for the skills needed
b. Discuss with students their sense of readiness to complete those tasks
c. Determine the most common learning needs of your student with respect to the assignment
4. Prepare students in class and/or via DLA to complete the tasks required of them in the assignment
a. Provide DLA contract (http://www.sbcc.edu/pss/dla.php)
b. Links to Web resources
c. Consult the Minnesota Assignment calculator
(https://www.lib.umn.edu/apps/ac/
https://www.lib.umn.edu/apps/ac/templates/59
6
Assignment/Instructions:Tasks
Focus on the Verbs in the Assignment, each represents a task. Nouns represent products/genres: Lab report, Persuasive Essay… They have Primary Traits that determine what must be included / Skills Needed / Help Available:
· Teacher
· Tutor
· TA
· Peer Advisor
· Counselor / Resources Available:
· Mini Lecture
· Exercise
· Handout
· Web Resources
· DLA
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
20
Basic Steps for Developing and Using a Rubric for Assessment
Rubrics offer significant advantages:
· Developing a rubric helps to precisely define faculty expectations.
· Rubrics are criterion-referenced, rather than norm-referenced. Raters ask, "Did the student meet the criteria for level 5 of the scoring rubric?" rather than "How well did this student do compared to other students?"
· Ratings can be done by students to assess their own work*, or they can be done by others, e.g., peers, fieldwork supervisions, or faculty.
Rubric Making
Preliminary Steps
1) Identify the outcome(s) [Student Learning Outcome(s)] you want to assess.
2) Determine how you will assess students’ achievement of each outcome:
What kind of assignment do you use? Look at the ways you currently assess students to determine grades.
• Objective exam? (An objective test receives a score or percentage, so you don’t need a rubric unless the exam is part of a larger assessment.)
• Project?
• Presentation?
• Skill(s) demonstration?
• Performance?
• Written report, essay, research paper, etc.?
If you don’t have a single assignment or set of assignments that assesses a given outcome, you probably need to create one.
3) Consider how you already grade this assignment. A rubric can translate the professional judgment (e.g., paper gets a B- with some comments) into quantifiable terms, which can be illuminating for both students and instructors.
4) If you want to develop a rubric, look at examples by searching online to determine the degree of detail, the actual form of scoring (e.g., range of numbers), and format that would be appropriate for the assessment tool, student feedback, and data collection.
Developing a Rubric
5) List the main traits, criteria, or areas that you consider when assessing a student’s performance on an assignment, exam, project. An example for a writing assignment: content, style, mechanics, critical thinking. An example for a skills demonstration: knowledge/understanding; technique; style; attitude, etc.
6) Describe specifically the actions, products, or behaviors that would represent a fully successful achievement of the SLO (the highest score). That is, what do you expect of a top student? Use wording that states what that level of achievement looks like. It’s often helpful to have an example of outstanding student work to show students what to expect and what the highest level of success looks like.
7) Consider ways of using a grid or list as the scoring mechanism. Examples:
• Simple yes/no checklist that leads to points.
• Numeric scores to represent levels of specific criteria (e.g., score of 0-3 or 1-6)
8) Decide how to score. Consider what fits the purpose of the assignment, what provides the most effective feedback for students, and what would best lend itself to data analysis leading to useful conclusions.
• If using a scoring grid, consider writing descriptors of the highest and lowest levels only (again, referring to examples of student work can be helpful).
• Have students use the strengths and weaknesses they note in high, mid and low scoring essays… to establish descriptors for best and worst performances.
Using the Rubric
9) Share with students before giving them the assignment.
10) Use for student self-assessment and your grading.
11) Use to collect numeric data for assessment of course SLOs.
Drafting a Basic Rubric
1. State the Student Learning Outcomes for a course you teach.
2. Write the method of assessment you will use to determine the degree to which students achieve this outcome.
3. In the first column to the left, list the main areas or the set of criteria you will use when assessing or scoring a student. Add rows as needed.
a. Identify what you are assessing; e.g.; critical thinking.
b. Identify the characteristics of what you are assessing, e.g., appropriate use of evidence, recognition of logical fallacies.
c. Describe the best work you expect using these characteristics.
4. In the second column on the left, list descriptive words and phrases to represent the highest level of student work, demonstration, or performance.
5. List a description for the lowest level in the next column, creating a continuum. Add self-assessment, your score and comment columns, and feedback/follow-up. (See Pg. 11)
6. Review, refine, and try it.
* Student Involvement in Rubric Construction: Try negotiating the rubric with students. Give them sample papers, projects, images, show videos of presentations (excellent, acceptable, unacceptable) if possible. Give them the opportunity, before the assignment is due, to develop categories and descriptions of performance levels of their own for the work they are assigned, then introduce your version and invite comparison.
Use the discussion of the rubric to determine where they will need the most help in completing the assignment/task.
Point them to task-completion-support resources, assign them DLAs well in advance of the due date. Refer them for assistance as suits their needs when you hand this rubric back to them, using it not only as an annotated scoring guide but as feedback and follow-up tool. (For more, see Pg. 340
20
Category / Criteria / Student Self-Assessment/Score / Faculty Score / Faculty Comment / Recommendations and ResourcesThesis preparation and Statement / □ The writer’s awareness of audience and purpose is evident and appropriate.
□ Important sides of the topic are researched.
□ The topic is approached fairly and without bias
□ The thesis statement is limited to one main idea that articulates what the writer wants her/his readers to know, believe, understand.
□ The thesis statement previews your supporting points.
□ The paper has strong thesis statement summarizing what the paper is about, offering a clear point of view and providing evidence supporting the writer’s opinion. / For more on developing a strong thesis and support see:
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/engagement/2/2/56/
http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/thesis-statements/
https://www.butte.edu/departments/cas/tipsheets/style_purpose_strategy/thesis.html
Go to the Writing Center to complete the Research Paper DLA (http://www.sbcc.edu/clrc/writing_center/writingcenterforms.php)
Support / □ The writer’s position on the topic has been clearly defended.
□ The essay supports the thesis specifically
□ The thesis is supported with detail or evidence– facts, statistics, expert testimony, specific example– appropriate to the writer’s purpose and audience.
□ Every supporting paragraph clearly ties back to the thesis. / See: http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/evidence/
http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/using_evidence.shtml
Category / Criteria / Student Self-Assessment/Score / Faculty Score / Faculty Comment / Recommendations and Resources
Credibility, Accuracy, Reasonableness and Support of Internet and other Sources (CARS) / Credibility
❏ Each source is credible
❏ Each is trustworthy
❏ The author's credentials are reliable and apt
❏ There is sufficient evidence presented to make the argument persuasive.
Accuracy
❏ Each source is accurate, comprehensive, up-to-date
Reasonableness
❏ Each source is fair, balanced, objective, and reasoned
Support
❏ Each source is valid, its claims documented / For more information about CARS see:
http://www.virtualsalt.com/evalu8it.htm
http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/evaluating-print-sources/
Introduction / ❏ States the thesis and previews the content and structure of the paper. / See: http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/introductions/
Development and proof of argument / ❏ Facts and details support the thesis in an orderly manner such that the reader can readily follow the line of reasoning. / See: http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/paragraphs/
Conclusion/
Findings / ❏ The conclusion’s connections to the research and thesis are clear and relevant. / See: http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/conclusions/
Mechanics and Usage / ❏ The work has no to very few mechanical or usage errors / See: https://www.msu.edu/~jdowell/135/areaVI.html
Citation and Bibliography / ❏ Conforms to MLA or APA rules for formatting and citation / See: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/
Category / Criteria / Student Self-Assessment/Score / Faculty Score / Faculty Comment / Recommendations and Resources
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
Category / Criteria / Student Self-Assessment/Score / Faculty Score / Faculty Comment / Recommendations and Resources
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
20