Something Old/Something New: What More is there to Rubrics?

Rubrics are an incredibly important form of assessing students. While the aspect of using a rubric is not a new idea, there are always new and creative rubrics out there to use and learn from. Teaching in a virtual setting, ePortfolios are becoming more widely used. When introducing students to ePortfolios it is beneficial to also provide them with a rubric. Joan Vandervelde of the University of Wisconsin – Stout shared a detailed rubric for creating an ePortfolio.

While viewing the rubric, I found that it was very detailed (image above is only a snapshot) and covered every single aspect of creating an ePortfolio. If I were to use this with students or teachers I would have to spend a lot of time modifying the rubric. Working with elementary school students, I cannot give students 15 different criteria on a rubric with a rating scale of four. What I did appreciate was that this resource gave me key topics to focus on and a template to start with and modify.

This rubric was shared by a peer in my class and this is what she shared:

• The basic criteria requirements in this rubric can be modified for any subject and grade level (2nd – adult) that are completing a summative (end of unit or end of the year) portfolio.
• This rubric is written in a clear and concise way that lets the student and teacher know what is being assessed.  There are no cryptic instructions on what should be included in the portfolio and how the portfolio will be graded.
• I would suggest reversing the order of the continuum though so that the highest expectation is first rather than last in each row.

I agree with everything that my peer shared out, especially in how easy this rubric would be to modify and meet the needs of the students. I also really like the idea of reversing the continuum of the rating scale. I do not believe that it is necessary to change the continuum on the ePortfolio rubric unless students are used to this format/order. As long as the continuum is consistent across all rubrics, students will find success with it. Overall, I appreciate my peer sharing this resource and believe that it could be beneficial to all educators who are implementing ePortfolios in their classrooms.