Sharing & Feedback

Daniella,

The use of the dice visual helps to remind the student of the acronym DICE, which they will have already been introduced to and have used or will be using.  

Some thoughts, questions, and suggestions:

1. What does the acronym DICE stand for?   What is the relationship between the words "Embark and Clarify" and the letters D. and I.  found in the first box and the words and letters in the other boxes?  Is there a way the acronym words could be used in the boxes as well to reinforce the acronym?

2. There seems to be little difference between the describers for "underdeveloped" and "developing"  whereas the other three describers are more clearly defined.  Would it help to use more specific detail words and not repeat any words to help more clearly define the differences?  

3. This is an open question:  Why do teachers pick score values and sums that are not easily converted to percentages?.  This could be my frustration with some of our math tests with scores of 12 and 45 that later need to be converted to a %.  Wouldn't 5, 10, 20, 25,  or 50 be easier for students to calculate sums and %? Would rubrics be easier to use if the scores were easy to add and convert?  just my rant, and thank you for listening.

I look forward to your revised rubric as many science/math teachers don't think science/math should be "rubricized".

Out of confusion comes clarity.

Leonne

I like this rubric. I think things are well-defined. I like how you broke up the one section into 3 - I am going to consider doing that also for clarity sake/better visual.

I also struggle a bit with the poorly vs. ineffectively. Not sure that difference is well-defined. 

Thanks for your feedback, Leonne. In response to your questions and suggestions:

1. DICE stands for:
Develop a research question
Information search
Critically appraise the journal article
Employ firsthand experience

As I tried to explain in my post, the letters from the DICE acronym are included by the skills (e.g., “Embark and Clarify”) to show the instructor and student what portion/step of the assignment was used to assess that research skill.

I was wondering if the acronym letters were unnecessary and just adds confusion, so I will reconsider.

2. Another thing I was concerned about. :( I like your idea of using specific and different words to help differentiate between those two levels.

3. So funny! When I first started volunteering/working in Education, I had the same thought. And I so love when it comes out to a beautiful number! :P I think the reasoning is that we try to assign points logically, so for mine, there’s 4 levels, if you do the best, you get 4 points for that skill, so then given it’s 4 points (and not like 5, let’s say), it’s going to be a weird, not-round number.

Regarding rubricizing science and math, I definitely think there’s a place for it in those subjects. Of course, it won’t work for all assignments nor when you’re assigning certain skills.

I won't be posting a revised rubric as I have a meeting with my boss next week to discuss fine-tuning it. However, I really appreciate the feedback I received from my peers. I haven't created rubrics in a while and felt a little rusty and my peers confirmed the areas of weakness I thought I had, most specifically not differentiating the first two levels enough. It was a concern I had while making the rubric and where I felt a little less confident.

Moving forward, I will focus more on differentiating levels and using language effectively to do so. I will also take away the idea that rubrics can be used in ANY type of course; doesn't matter if it's a course that is more commonly exams, like science and math. It gives me the confidence to push forward suggesting using rubrics in what may seem like unorthodox ways and stay affirmative in my rationale for why I believe it's the best way to assess students in certain cases.