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Rubric Best Practices Guide
When used effectively, rubrics facilitate clear and consistent assessment, enhancing the learning experience for both students and instructors. In the online classroom environment, where students do not have the frequent, physical access that a traditional classroom provides, rubrics can provide the added benefit of increasing student engagement with course material and clarifying an instructor's expectations (Keengwe, Adjei-Boateng, & Diteeyont, as cited in Haught, Ahern, & Ruberg, 2017). In fact, according to Martin & Bolliger (2018), online learners have reported that grading rubrics are highly important for learner-to-instructor engagement. For instructors, too, rubrics simplify the grading process, promoting consistency across students and terms. Eliminating the guesswork from grade determination, well-designed rubrics can save professors precious time and energy.
The Power of Retrieval Practice
Faculty aim to impart lasting knowledge and skills, but sometimes, learning doesn’t stick. One of the most powerful techniques for enhancing students’ long-term retention is retrieval practice, the process of actively recalling information to mind rather than passively reading or reviewing it. In this piece, we’ll dive into the evidence behind retrieval practice, provide strategies for how to incorporate it into online courses, suggest ways to frame its utility to students to ensure they fully reap the benefits of this learning strategy, and describe specific types of retrieval practice activities.
Types of Retrieval Practice Activities
By incorporating regular retrieval practice into your online course, you can ensure that key takeaways are actually being taken away by students to use in the future rather than being left behind due to lack of use. The following are some specific activities that can help move learners from a hazy recollection of something toward more clarity and permanence.
Rubrics as a Tool to Support Equity and Inclusion
While student populations have become increasingly diverse, many groups, including first-generation, non-native English speakers, and individuals with disabilities, still face barriers and bias that can derail their success in college (Super et al., 2020). Traditional grading practices—including penalties for late work, writing in dialects other than standard English, and even plagiarism— are prone to bias and only perpetuate disparities, the research says (Feldman, 2019; Savini, 2021).
Five Need-To-Know Rubric Grading Tips
Rubrics provide a framework for students, helping them submit stronger assignments while decreasing confusion as they write and create. While leveraging Canvas to provide clear, efficient, and consistent access to rubric, take a minute to learn a few settings, saving yourself valuable time and a possible headache.
Using Hotspots
A unique way to share information, images with hotspots offer online learners the opportunity to interact with course content. Learners can click or hover on particular parts of an image and receive pop-ups giving them more information. Hotspots represent information in a particular context; thus, they fulfill the multimedia principle—use words and graphics rather than words alone—and the contiguity principle—align words to corresponding graphics (Clark & Mayer, 2016).
Game-Based Learning Experiences
Game-based learning (GBL) is a learning experience, or set of learning experiences, delivered through gameplay or game-like activities with defined learning outcomes. GBL is often confused with gamification, which is the application of game elements to a non-gaming experience. GBL engages students cognitively, emotionally, behaviorally, and socioculturally (Plass et al., 2015). Many factors should be considered when designing GBL, including narrative, player positioning, and interactive design (Dickey, 2005).
Discussion Best Practices Guide
Discussions are an impactful way to build engagement and discourse in asynchronous online courses. When properly designed, discussions can encompass the three pillars of engagement: student-content, student-student, and student-instructor. Asynchronous discussions allow students time to reflect prior to participating, which can lead to deeper insights and richer discourse. Moreover, when participating in discussions, students have the opportunity to collaborate with others, participate in an online learning community, and gain insights from others’ unique experiences and perspectives (Ransdell, Borror & Su, 2018). Facilitating multiple types of engagement in an online course can improve student motivation, satisfaction, and achievement (Dailey-Hebert, 2018).
Formative Assessments
Formative assessments encompass a broad range of low-stakes activities aimed at improving student learning outcomes. In contrast to summative assessments, which are intended to measure products of student learning, formative assessments are oriented towards the learning process itself (Black & Wiliam, 1998). They can provide students with opportunities to evaluate their developing understanding of key concepts, practice new skills, and prepare for summative assessments (McLaughlin & Yan, 2017; Orange, Agak, Okelo, & Kiprotich, 2018). They can also provide instructors with valuable data on student progress (Bell & Cowie, 2001; McLaughlin & Yan, 2017). The results of formative assessments can indicate where individual students are struggling or excelling, allowing instructors to provide targeted feedback and tailor their instructional delivery accordingly.