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There are many benefits to using
rubrics. Likewise, there are some disadvantages. This page lists some of
there benefits and disadvantages, as well as methods for overcoming the
disadvantages.
Benefits
- Most assessments do not have
an answer key
- Rubrics can provide
that key.
- Rubrics allow consistent assessment
- Reproducable scoring
by a single individual is enhanced.
- Reproducable scoring
by multiple individuals can be enhanced with training.
- Greater precision and
reliability among scored assessments.
- They allow for better
peer feedback on student graded work.
- Rubrics can be impartial.
- Scoring can be prescribed
by the rubric and not the instructor predispositions towards students.
- They allow better or
more accurate self-assessment by students.
- Rubrics document and communicate
grading procedures.
- If parents, students,
colleagues, or administrators question a grade, the rubric can
be used to validate it.
- They allow justification
and validation of scoring among other stakeholders.
- Students can compare
their assignment to the rubric to see why they received the grade
that they did.
- Rubrics allow one to organize
and clarify your thoughts.
- They tell you what was
important enough to assess.
- They allow comparison
of lesson objectives to what is assessed.
- Instruction can be redesigned
to meet objectives with assessed items.
- Students can use them
as a guide to completing an assignment. They help students with
process and possibly increase the quality of student work.
- Rubrics provide an opportunity
for important professional disussions when they are brought up in scholarly
communication.
- Rubrics can help you teach.
- They keep you focused
on what you intend to assess.
- They allow you to organize
your thoughts.
- They can provide a scaffold
with which the students can learn.
- Non-scoring rubrics can encourage
students to self-assess their performance.
Disadvantages
- They may not fully convey
all we want students to know. If you use the rubric to tell students
what to put in an assignment, then that may be all they they put. It
may also be all that they learn. Multiple assessments are useful ways
around this disadvantage, as well as directed instruction or discussion
coupled with the assignment.
- They may limit imagination
if students feel compelled to complete the assignment strickly as outlined
in the rubric. Important to have creativity as a criteria if you wish
students to be more adventuresome in their assignments.
- They could lead to anxiety
if they include too many criteria. Students may feel that there is just
too much involved in the assigment. Good rubrics keep it simple.
- Reliability can be a factor
as more individuals use the rubric. Especially when used for peer assessment
among untrained users, the reproducability and reliability will be reduced.
- They take time to develop,
test, evaluate, and update.
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