Purpose

Before creating a rubric, one must first understand the purpose of the given assessment because the rubric must be designed to meet that purpose. The six most common purposes of rubrics are listed below. They need not be mutually exclusive in all cases.

• Formative Assessment
• Summative Assessment
• Evaluation
• Educative Purpose
• Motivational
• Communicative

Formative Assessment

Formative assessment occurs during the learning process. It can provide information about a student’s strengths and weaknesses. It can also be used to assess progress on a project. This information can be used to direct student’s learning in the most beneficial manner. Formative assessments do not have to include a grade, but can be used entirely as a learning guide. The assessment can also be carried out by the instructor or by the student, Examples – In the following example, an instructor is assessing student activity in a laboratory course. In addition to a summative assessment at the end, a formative assessment has been designed to make sure that students are on the right track from the beginning, or the entire lab could become an exercise in frustration for the student. The importance is that the rubric is used while the lab exercise is underway, so that the student can use the feedback to help complete the rest of the assignment well. This rubric could be scored or simply used as a guide for the student. Please note that this example and the others below are somewhat simple, and much more detailed ones could be created. We will also discuss the creation of exemplary examples for each cell later.

One of the most important assignments to keep tabs on in many courses is the progess of group work. If the group lost functionality early in the process, the entire assignemnt can be jeopardized. A formative assessment can help to determine whether the groups are on track and working towards the common goal. While this example looks at the group as a whole, individual students could also be assessed. To show some variety, this assessment does not include a score. If something is determined as unsatisfactory, then instructor intervention may be required.

Summative Assessment

Summative assessment is conducted after a program of study has been implemented and completed. It is generally used to provide information about a student’s current state of knowledge or to determine a student’s progress towards an agreed upon set of standards. Summative assessments can also be used to evaluate effectiveness of instruction or a program or to direct a student’s future learning. That is, based upon the results of one assessment, directions can be given for the next phase or stage of learning or instruction. Summative assessments can build the scaffold upon which students are guided, especially when given to the students prior to being graded. In such a way, they help the students understand the standards expected of them. Also, following the use of a summative assessment, the rubric can be used to provide customized, personalized feedback to the students. As with formative assessments, summative assessments can be carried out by anyone depending on the needs, and they do not have to be scored. Example – One of the most difficult aspects of an online course is to fairly and effectively assess participation in discussion. Many methods for this assessment exist. Some of them include rubrics. There are also many types and variations among these rubrics. The following is just one example of a discussion participation rubric that can be used at the end of a course to assign a grade to participation within the course as a whole.

Evaluation

In addition to assessing student performance, rubrics can be used to evaluate instructional design and instructional effectiveness. Evaluative rubrics are often used at the end of a course to view both the course and instructor quality. They typically use a mixed method involving both Likert scaled questions and open-ended short answer questions. Example – One way to use an evaluative rubric is to look at the quality of an experience. They are often used to evaluate instructors after a course. They can also be used to evaluate the course itself. The following example is just one of the many sections used in the evaluations that the Illinois Online Network uses to evaluate Making the Virtual Classroom a Reality courses. Ranking range from Examplary to Not Present in this holistic style rubric.

Structure / Framework of the Course

Educative Purpose

Educative rubrics are not intended for grading. Instead, they provide guidelines by which students can learn and study. Such rubrics can be in the form of an evaluation of a self-assessment. Like an advanced organizer, such rubrics can be used to contruct the scaffold on which students will construct their knowledge. They can also allow a presentation of guidelines and expectations. All rubrics can be educative in one form or another. Rubrics can be used to provide customized feedback to students following grading for example, even though the intent of the rubric is more for summative or formative assessment. Example – The following educative rubric is designed to give the students the expectations on an exam. An instructor can always give the students a summative rubric that will be used on an assignment or an advanced organizer to perform the same task given proper instruction. The educative rubric shown next, though, is more of a guideline on how the student can prepare for the exam. It has been simplified for presentation here, but you should be able to get the idea. There are many other ways to create educative rubrics, as well as all rubrics for that matter. Notice in the following rubric that their current status or study tips are presented after the “-“.

Literature Exam Preparation Rubric

Motivational

Rubrics can be used to provide motivation for learners. When rubrics are given out before an assignment is begun (NOTE: There are cases where you do not want to release a rubric, such as when it can give away answers), students know their expectations and can try to meet them. One argument is that some students will reduce their work in an effort to get the B instead of the A. The counter to this argument is that many students without motivation to begin with may not have even received a B, had there not been a rubric provided. It is an instructor and class dependent decision. Educative rubrics can also be motivational when the student realizes what they do not know and then seeks to learn that information. Motivational rubrics are not so much a class unto themselves as they are a modificaiton of other rubrics for a new purpose. In motivational rubrics, you want to supply students with an explanation of how they can do well on an assignment r the importance of meeting the objective. Example – In the following example, the first formative rubric example above has been modified to create a motivational rubric for the students. Grading has been removed, along with sub-par performance measures. They have been replaced with new language and objectives that relate to student real-world wants and needs.

Communicative

All rubrics, when given to the students, are a form of communication between instructor and students, instructor and family, instructor and administration, etc. They tell how the assignment will be graded or what the expectations of that assignment are. They can tell the students what is expected of them on a variety of activities, even attendance. They are also a way to communicate with students and other interested parties why a specific grade was received on a graded assignment. The one item that can set the communicative rubric apart is when it provides a rationale for final grade as shown in the following example. Example – In this example, a rubric has been modified to give the student a rationale for their grade.