May 27, 2008

Rubrics=Student Accountability AND Efficiency

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During this era in education, when standards are being stringently enforced and instructors are being held accountable for what they get done in their courses, the use of rubrics is becoming more common. They are a designed evaluation guide for instructors and students to use as a point of reference, with specific assessment criteria for any assignment, project, requirement, and/or course. Rubrics allow students to have an idea of what is expected of their work, thus putting responsibility into the hands of students. Students can see what the instructor is looking for when their work is assessed. The amount that a teacher has to repeat their expectations, and students feeling misguided, can be significantly reduced.


The traditional rubric with percentages and listed criteria for earning an "A" or "B" in a course have drastically changed. Today rubrics have become creative and versatile. A rubric can be created for essentially any aspect of any course. The website addresses below provide examples of different rubric designs and creations, and their rationale.

Indiana University at Kokomo's Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment

Kappa Omicron Nu Honors Society website

Chicago Public Schools online resource to rubrics

May 21, 2008

OLN - Resource of the Day


Many people are learning new words everyday by subscribing or going to the Merriam-Webster website or from Dictionary.com to expand their vocabulary or the size of their "word bank."  A brilliant resource for any educator can be found any day on the Ohio Learning Network's "Resource of the Day."  Daily random tips from how to deal with aspects of everyday classroom teaching, up to tips concerning Distance Learning-it can all be found at:

http://www.oln.org/rss/rotd.php

The Ohio Learning Network even has a Search option where you can determine your search by topic, date, field of dates, and/or keywords.  Please take a look at:

http://www.oln.org/rss/rotd_search.php