Top Tips for Using Rubrics in Brightspace

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Using rubrics for assessments benefits learners and instructors. For the learners, it clarifies expectations and provides more focused and consistent feedback. For instructors, it streamlines grading, saves time, and makes it easier to arrive at an accurate grade.

Whether you're new to using rubrics in assessments, or whether you're looking at how to improve the process, we have some tips on how to make the most of the rubrics tool in Brightspace.

1. Know where to use rubrics: You are probably aware that rubrics can be used to assess an assignment, but did you know that they can be used in discussions and written response quiz questions? If you would like to know how to add them to a written response question, see this article: Manage quiz questions
2. Keep it concise: Try to use no more levels or criteria than necessary and keep descriptors short and precise. This will make it easier for assessors to grade against and for learners to understand the feedback.
3. Make the most of the 'initial feedback' option: When you write a rubric, consider the feedback that learners should receive based on their level for each descriptor. This is a great way to ensure that learners receive precise feedback and suggestions for improvement, without assessors having to make the same comments again and again.
4. Use custom points scoring for more advanced rubrics: If you would like the grade to be calculated automatically, a rubric can help. You may want some criteria to be weighted more heavily than others, in which case you would use custom points scoring.
5. Avoid using the rubric until it is finalized: If you assess against the rubric but then need to change its wording, you would need to retract the feedback first. It's best to avoid this if you can!
6. Let the learners see the rubric: The rubric can be made visible to learners before submitting an assignment or discussion post. Allowing them to self-assess or peer-assess against the rubric can be a very effective way of promoting their success in the assessment. You could even give your learners an example submission, and have them grade it using the rubric. If they submit their feedback as an Assignment, you could then conditionally release a page containing the grade and feedback that the example submission would receive, increasing the learners' confidence in how to score well on their own assignments.

What are your top tips for using rubrics? If you feel like sharing, please comment below!