Rubrics and Engagement

During our 20 Course Designs, we have been fortunate to engage in a rich discourse on how to consistently assess, measure and evaluate student efforts using analytical rubrics. So, this recent 2018 article that examines the Use of Rubrics on academic performance seems timely.

The study introduces an assessment rubric for the student to use when completing assignments. The researchers examined student engagement through a disparate application of the rubric, when students do/do not

- have the marking rubric;

- engage in a discussion about how and why to use the rubric and

- engage with the rubric discussion plus additional resources.

The findings suggest that by virtue of simply providing students with a rubric, their level of performance does not always increase. However, higher grades were shown when students engage with discussing the rubric. Further analysis showed that grades continued to climb when students engaged with the rubric discussion and additional task-related learning resources (online rubric, the rubric discussion, printed report guide with references and two tutorials that included practice tasks).

Emerging from this work are three key implications for educators:

1. Scaffolding a rubric;

2. Using rubrics within a suite of learning resource; and

3. Empirical evidence .about the importance of student engagement

Overall, the results highlight the importance of the context in which a rubric is introduced as well as the context of student engagement.

Francis, J. E. (2018). Linking rubrics and academic performance: An engagement theory perspective. Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice, 15(1). Available at: http://ro.uow.edu.au/jutlp/vol15/iss1/3