Assessment Tools: Rubrics

Key to the production of a meaningful ePortfolio is Guided Reflection (more on that, later). That is, students are guided to reflect upon how their work in a particular course project  -- the Signature Project -- has helped them to achieve a range of course goals or "Learning Outcomes." Exploring the Learning Outcomes together helps create a realistic sense of the end goal. Additionally, the metacognitive aspects of contemplating and reflecting upon what happened in the project aids learning powerfully. To help articulate how the Learning Outcomes are measured in assessment (in student terms, "grading"), teachers often use Rubrics.

For this Gen Ed ePortfolio Pilot, we are focusing on 1 of 3 Gen Ed Learning Outcomes -- Critical Thinking. The 3 Gen Ed Learning Outcomes are: 

1. Communication: A student will demonstrate the ability to communicate effectively in oral and written forms, and exhibit mastery of information and technology literacies.
2. Creative and Critical thinking: A student will demonstrate the ability to apply critical, analytical, creative thinking, and quantitative reasoning skills to understand and solve problems.
3. Community: A student will demonstrate the ability to be personally and socially responsible through collaboration, ethical reasoning and understanding, and stewardship of local, national, and global communities.
4. Note: There exists a sort of "4th C" (which is really a "K"), but given that the CCC cumulatively articulate the 4th C, it resides as a kind of shorthand for the focused criteria described by the CCC. The 4th C = Knowledge Foundation: A student will demonstrate knowledge of human cultures and the physical and natural world in the following areas of essential study: arts, history, humanities, languages, science and mathematics, social sciences. All courses at UVU contribute to this outcome as well as the specific courses mandated for General Education by Board of Regents policy.

These 3 Learning Outcomes are articulated and distributed more broadly in the University Essential Learning Outcomes (ELOs). These ELOs have emerged from years of work undertaken by various local, regional, and national organizations, and they trace most clearly to the AAC&U's Liberal Education for America's Promise (LEAP) organization, which sponsored an attempt to generate useful rubrics for assessing Learning Outcomes. These rubrics -- VALUE (Valid Learning in Undergraduate Education) rubrics -- will be especially useful for our pilot. Of the 15 VALUE rubrics, one is devoted to assessing for "Critical Thinking," which is the focus of our Phase 1 Assessment. Thus, you might consider using the VALUE rubric for Critical Thinking for your ePortfolio assignment. 

As we move forward with the Pilot, we will use the Critical Thinking VALUE Rubric. You may want to choose this rubric, as is. Or, you may care to create a hybrid rubric, one that draws language from the ELOs, the CCCs, the CT rubric, as well as from your existing course and/or program goals. Do note, however, that the work behind the VALUE rubrics was done by faculty from a wide range of institutions, disciplines, and levels; it may accommodate your needs, as is. So, have a look, first, and see if you actually need to make alterations. For details on the VALUE Rubrics and their faculty origins, here is some text from the AAC&U "Project Description" of the VALUE Rubrics:

AAC&U staff, the advisory board and selected teams of faculty and other academic professionals assembled a collection of extant rubrics for ascending levels of accomplishment. Investigating the range of outcomes and the criteria considered critical for assessing student achievement of each outcome uncovered that there were similarities among campuses. By identifying outcomes in terms of expectations for demonstrated student learning among disparate campuses, a valuable basis for comparing levels of learning through the curriculum emerged. This is especially useful as students, parents, employers and policy makers seek valid representations of student academic accomplishment.