Developing a Rubric

While I was going through the website-Rubistar.com given in the course material of week 4, I synthesized that an instructor or evaluator must follow some steps to develop the rubrics. The first and foremost important task is to define the learning outcome or objective of the product/course/lesson. The instructor/evaluator should define possible highest performance to the lowest performance levels that students would possibly demonstrate. Make sure that each level should be directly observable. To describe each level, as high quality, average, and low, evaluator must have at least three samples of each level. The samples will help to evaluate the students’ performance.

Assign numerical or qualitative, or a combination of both, score for each level, from highest to lowest, or vice versa.

Once each level is determined, give the descriptions on how to use this. Ask students to give the feedback. This will make sure that each level is clearly understood by the students and what each level represents in relation to scores assigned. This kind of feedback ensures that students clearly understand how they are being evaluated and the standards that they are being held accountable to achieve. Rubrics are a great way  to  help students self- diagnose strengths and weaknesses of their own work and  they become part of the "self assessment" process.