Clearer Expectations
Rubrics, and the standards of achievement they lay out in advance, benefit both students and instructors. Students are more aware of how their grade will be calculated, and can use the formative feedback that a rubric provides to plan their work.
Weekly Ed-Tech Spotlight:
As you consider assessments for Winter, remember that Canvas now has two portfolio tools. ePortfolio is internal to Canvas. Portfolium, available as “Folio” in the Account menu, can be made publicly available. If your students might benefit from creating a public portfolio, consider using the Folio tools.
Students also learn more from a rubric score than a numeric score alone because the detailed criteria guide students in working out what is missing and how to do better next time. Rubrics can even provide an opportunity for students to self- or peer-reflect on their own learning prior to submitting an assignment for the final grade, especially if used during peer review. Rubrics also speed up the grading process, conserving instructor effort and reducing the time needed to give meaningful feedback. Returning timely feedback has been shown to be very effective in helping motivate students and allowing them to adjust their effort towards a long-term goal [3] such as course or career learning goals. While instructors sometimes feel that a rubric may be too impersonal, the data show that a well-crafted rubric truly provides excellent guidance for students in improving their performance.
Faster, Smoother Grading
The grading workflow created by rubrics in Canvas make grading quicker and easier. Rubrics appear in SpeedGrader, and instructors can simply click on the appropriate level of each criterion to grade a submission. Because it’s fully integrated with Speedgrader, the score is generated automatically, and all the usual feedback tools (text, video, audio comment) are still available in case you wish to expand on any point. Rubrics additionally ensure consistent grading across multiple sections, especially in larger courses where multiple GSIs may be determining grades for student activities.
Creating Rubrics in Canvas
When you create a rubric in Canvas, the system provides you with a suggested template: one criterion and three achievement levels will appear, ready for you to fill in. You can add as many additional criteria (rows) and levels of achievement (columns) as you need. You will also be able to choose the way you evaluate student work: letter grades, a numerical scale, or terminology like “developing,” or “exceptional” are all possible with Canvas rubrics.
See below for one simple example of a rubric in Canvas [4]
Rubrics in Canvas are quite flexible and offer many possibilities. If they are not currently in use in your course, consider implementing a rubric on a single activity, to start with. You will likely find that rubrics are worth the effort of locating and creating because of the benefits they proffer students and instructors alike.
Locating Rubrics in Canvas
Of course, once you have your rubric, it’s important to make sure your students can see it! Rubrics display in different locations for the three major types of Canvas activities (assignments, quizzes, and discussions). Locations where rubrics appear are listed below, and you can find additional information on adding a rubric to each type of activity by clicking on the name of the activity.
If you use rubrics with your activities, especially Discussions or Quizzes, be sure you direct students where to find the rubric. An example is shown below; one sentence added to your directions generally does it.
For a consultation regarding rubric construction, rubric use in Canvas, or assessment modalities, please reach out to us at [email protected] or request a consultation here!
Resources
- Andrade, Heidi Goodrich (2000). Using Rubrics to Promote Thinking and Learning. Educational Leadership, 57(5), 13-18.
- Rubrics, Center for Teaching & Learning, UC Berkeley, (2020).
- Wiggins, Grant (2012). Seven Keys to Effective Feedback. Educational Leadership, 70(1), 10-16.
- Creative Thinking Simple and Detailed Rubric, University of South Florida, (2020).
