Faculty Learning, NJIT and Rubrics

It's the season for professional development (though I am told the preferred term now is professional learning) in higher education. Grades submitted, graduation over, but early enough that faculty have not escaped to vacation or research projects.

I started these institutes at NJIT with my Instructional Technology group back in 2001 and they have continued ever since. The 14th Institute is this week.

Sessions are always about educational technology - new features in Moodle, Camtasia Relay and editing, WebEx, network security, Khan Academy, convergence models, clicker, Adobe Acrobat X, BYOD and more.

I'll be doing attending sessions in my faculty role and doing one session on rubrics.

A rubric started out as a word or section of text traditionally written or printed in red ink to highlight it. The word derives from the Latin: rubrica, meaning red ochre or red chalk. It originates in Medieval illuminated manuscripts where red letters were used to highlight initial capitals. It later became notes at the edges or margins and probably led to the practice of teachers making notes to students - often in red - in the margins.

I find rubrics to be a great tool for grading and assessment that can make the grading process more efficient and more objective. I actually use them as much as formative assessment and for students to use while working on projects as I use them for "grading."

In this session, I will go through many rubric types, discuss rubric creation, best practices for students and faculty use and talk about using the Moodle rubric tool.

I have collected some information and links on rubric use on my NJIT website.