Category: Assessment

Assessment, Blackboard, educational technology, Faculty Development, Instructional Design, Online Learning, Rubrics

Single Point Rubrics

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I came across a post from Cult of Pedagogy on Single Point Rubrics. The blogger, Jennifer Gonzalez, pointed out that single-point rubrics are more efficient and more effective for teachers and for students. Who doesn’t want to be more efficient and effective? Single-point rubrics can be created in less time and allow for better feedback. They are not so wordy, so they don’t take students as long to read, so perhaps they will be more inclined to do so (Gonzalez, 2015). 

To differentiate between different types of rubrics, consider looking at an earlier blog post by Gonzales titled Know Your Terms: Holistic, Analytic, and Single-Point Rubrics. It spells out the differences between the types of rubrics and provides templates for each kind. As a user of primarily analytic rubrics, I’d like to give the single-point rubric a try. Two templates for single-point rubrics are available by clicking on the preceding link and scrolling to the bottom of the page. 

If you’d like to read more about single-point rubrics, see this study by Jarene Fluckiger (2010). For a refresher on how to create, use, and grade with rubrics in Blackboard, check out my previous post titled Blackboard Rubrics: Efficient and Consistent.

Fluckiger, J. (2010). Single point rubric: A tool for responsible student self-assessment. Teacher Education Faculty Publications. Paper 5. http://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/tedfacpub/5. 

Gonzalez, J. (2014, May 1) Know your terms: Holistic, analytic, and single-point rubrics.[web log] Retrieved from https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/holistic-analytic-single-point-rubrics/

Gonzalez, J. (2015, February 4) Meet the single point rubric.[web log] Retrieved from https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/single-point-rubric/

Assessment, Blackboard, educational technology, Faculty Development, Instructional Design, Rubrics

Blackboard Rubrics Help Make Grading Efficient and Consistent

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If you’ve never tried using a clickable Blackboard rubric for grading, you’re missing out! 

Video: Why use a rubric?

Not only do rubrics provide students with clear expectations for their work and how it will be evaluated, but well-designed rubrics can also be a timesaver and make grading more consistent. Making them clickable – even better!

You may already have some favorite rubrics saved as Word documents or PDFs that can provide a head start with Blackboard rubric creation. If not, a quick search will yield a number of examples, or perhaps colleagues or departments have common rubrics for papers, discussions, and projects available. Once you have your rubrics on paper, or as digital files, or just some general rubric ideas, you’re ready to create rubrics in Blackboard that may be utilized in all of your courses. Then when students click on an assignment in Blackboard, they will be able to access the rubric associated with the assignment and see the expected criteria and varying levels of achievement. In addition, it’s a good idea to include the rubric file in Course Documents and add the file to the assignment instructions.

Video: How to Create a Rubric in Blackboard 

Steps: 

  • In the Control Panel under Course Tools, click rubrics 
  • Select create a new rubric 
  • Add title
  • Choose points, percentages, ranges
  • Add criteria descriptors
  • Submit
  • Edit the rubric as needed

Once you’ve created your rubric, you can use it with assignments. To do this, you’ll need to associate the rubric with the assignment or discussion. You can associate the rubric with the assignment when you’re creating the assignment or you can go in and edit the assignment and add a rubric.

Video: How to Associate the Rubric with an Assignment

Steps:

  • Associate the rubric with a gradable assignment, discussion, etc. by clicking edit assignment
  • Select add rubric. 
  • Select the desired rubric. 
  • Select how you want students to view the rubric. 

For grading with a Blackboard rubric, watch the video and follow the steps below.

Video: How to Grade Using a Rubric in Blackboard 

Steps: 

  • Access the Grade Center – Needs Grading or Full Grade Center 
  • Select a student’s assignment to grade 
  • Click the little white square to access the rubric 
  • Grade the item by clicking on the applicable levels for each criterion
  • Provide feedback and save the grade 

Select a level of achievement for each criterion and provide feedback for specific criteria and add overall comments if desired. Students can easily see why they received a particular grade because it’s all laid out in the rubric, perhaps with personalized comments. Blackboard calculates the score and enters it in the Grade Center. Students will see the scores and the feedback provided in My Grades.

If you would like to use the same rubric in another course, watch the video and follow the steps below.

Video: How to Reuse Your Rubric in Another Course

Steps: 

  • Click on Course Tools in the Control Panel. 
  • Click on Rubrics 
  • Check the box next to the rubric you want to move 
  • Click Export (Export to the local computer) 
  • Click Submit 
  • Click Download 
  • Go to the new course 
  • Click on Course Tools in the Control Panel 
  • Click on Rubrics 
  • Select Import Rubric 
  • Browse to your Downloads to find the file for the rubric that was exported and downloaded 
  • Click Open and then Submit 
  • Associate the rubric with desired assignments, discussions, etc.
Assessment, Faculty Development, Instructional Design, Portfolio, Web Design

Websites as ePortfolios and Assessments

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Have you ever wanted to build your own website or perhaps assign students to build websites for sharing their learning? Whether you want to enhance your web presence, share resources, or assess your students, it’s easier than ever to build a website. No coding experience is needed! Many free web applications are available, and they make creating a website fun! 

Over the past six years, I’ve created a number of websites using these very intuitive website creation applications. As a student, I’ve had assignments that required the creation of a learning log, an e-dossier, an online course, an e-portfolio, a website with a blog, and as an assessment to display my learning. In addition, I’ve made several websites for organizing and sharing audio and video resources. Here are a couple examples.

War and Life: Discussions with Veterans

Military Response to Jonestown

My personal favorite application for creating websites is Weebly*. It’s simple to use, and it has a large selection of customizable templates. Though WordPress is known for blogging, it’s great for websites as well. I also like Google Sites. There aren’t as many options there, but it is great for simple websites. Wix makes for some very nice-looking websites too, but it doesn’t seem to be quite as intuitive as the others in my opinion. And there are many others. The websites created with these applications are responsive, and so the views automatically adjust for various devices. Most of them also offer password protection in case you only want to share the site with specific people.