Grading with Rubrics

Owned by Alisa Cunnington (Unlicensed), created
Last updated: Aug 21, 2023 by Stuart McCulley
5 min read

This page provides an overview on grading using rubrics via Assignments, Discussions, and Grades.

Views for Grading w/ Rubrics in Assignments & Discussions

An identical grading screen is used for both grading assignments and discussions. Once viewing a student in the grading area, there are two grading options:

Option 1

View a condensed version of the rubric through scrolling the panel on the right.

Click the arrow on the far right of the Rubric Title to expand the rubric within the panel.

View of condensed rubric in grading area

Option 2

Open the entire rubric in a new window by selecting the expand window icon above the rubric.

Expand window icon highlighted above expand arrow for example rubric
The icon is located to the right of the Rubrics title

The rubric will open in a full-view in a new window:

When finished filling out the rubric in the separate window, click Close, changes are saved in real-time.

If an overall score is selected by the grader instead of calculated from the scores above, this will override the scores above. The override can be cleared. Best practice is to score each criterion and allow the overall score to be calculated instead of manually selected. See example below.

Grading with a Rubric in Assignments

The rubric must be attached to the assignment in the assignment edit screen [see also https://cpibrock.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/BLEDOCU/pages/880574500 ]. Proceed to grading in Assignments [see also https://cpibrock.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/BLEDOCU/pages/885719077 ]. The attached rubric will appear on the right side of the screen above the grade entry field. The grade entry field is automatically populated with the results entered into the Rubric. For an analytic rubric select a rating or level first and it will automatically populate the grade based on your rubric. Scroll vertically to enter all rubric ratings for each criteria. The final grade will populate automatically. It is possible to enter textual, recorded or video feedback in addition to the rubric. It is also possible to annotate the document and use a rubric by entering the submission assessment screen as per usual. A visual example:

Tips and Tricks of grading with a Brightspace rubric in Assignments

  1. When grading with an analytic rubric always select a rating (or level) for the criterion before changing a grade. The rating must be selected or the rubric will show as ‘incomplete’ and students will not be able to see it.

  2. Be aware that the grade set for the assignment does not automatically come from the total grade for the rubric. Brightspace allows for the assignment and the rubric to have different maximum points. The grade set for the assignment is the dominant and any grade calculated in a rubric will be adjusted to match the denominator for the set grade. Matching denominators is a good practice for consistency of feedback.

  3. Once you grade you can’t change the numerics of a rubric created in Brightspace but you can edit to fix spelling errors. The rubric locks once evaluation begins.

  4. Noting that Rubrics can be created in Brightspace, however, rubrics created by the instructor in a word processing platform can be attached as a separate document in the Feedback area of grading an assignment if that is an instructor’s preferred method of using rubrics.

Grading with a Rubric in Discussions

The rubric must be attached to the Discussion Topic in the Topic edit screen [see also https://cpibrock.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/BLEDOCU/pages/912523285 ]. Proceed to grading in Discussions [see also ]. The attached rubric will appear on the right side of the screen above the grade entry field. The results entered into the rubric will not populate the Topic score OR any scores for Threads or replies. Threads and replies must be scored manually. Scroll vertically to enter all rubric ratings for each criteria. It is possible to enter textual, recorded or video feedback in addition to the rubric.

It is essential to be aware of the scoring style set for the Discussion Topic. In the example below the Overall Grade = MAX post score. Therefore out of the three posts the highest score is taken. Note that the rubric score DOES NOT populate the overall grade. It is important to coordinate these figures or use a non-scored holistic rubric to provide feedback but not a rubric score.

Alternatively, Topic scores can be manually entered via Grades. See below.

Grading with a Rubric in Grades

  1. Go to the Manage Grades tab at the top of the Grades area, then select Create New → Item

  2. While in the New Item Properties tab scroll down and select Add Rubric. To grade this new item and score using the attached rubric, follow the instructions outlined below:

  1. Select the Grade Item and click Enter Grades.

  2. On the enter grades screen click the icon in the Assessment column to open the rubric for that student.

    1. The rubric will open in a new window.

  3. Score the rubric.

  4. Save as Draft or Publish the rubric. You can now close the extra window the rubric is in as it is now saved.

  1. Enter the score/grade in the Grade column.

  2. Continue for all students and remember to Save or Save and Close once finished.

 

Please contact CPI at edtech@brocku.ca with any questions or comments about the contents of this site.