Creating Rubrics
Rubrics are a tool to assess student learning and streamline grading. They’re good for other things, like assessing job applicants, because they reduce subjectivity.
Good rubrics start with well-articulated, clear, observable and measurable learning outcomes that make explicit what you expect students to learn and how you expect them to get there.
Writing learning outcomes and creating rubrics requires faculty to articulate often unspoken and implicit assumptions about student learning and teaching. There are basic questions faculty need to ask before designing a rubric: what do you want students to learn, how will they learn it, and how will you know they have? That’s why learning outcomes need to be observable and measurable.
Once you’ve articulated the learning outcomes of an activity, assignment or course, a rubric can help you assess whether students have achieved it. Rubrics can — and should — be shared with students so that your expectations are clear and they know how their work will be assessed. While it takes some time to formulate a good rubric, they ease the act of grading. And they make very clear to students on what they’ll be assessed and how.
These resources can help you get started and refine your rubric:
How to Build a Rubric
Parts of a Rubric
How to Adapt a Rubric
Blank Rubric Template
Rubric Examples
Common Rubric Mistakes (and how to fix them)
Talking Teaching: Faculty Present Why and How They Use Rubrics
- Rubrics & Why They Matter: Anette Millington, Assistant Professor of Fashion Systems & Materiality, Associate Director MFA Textiles, Parsons, on how she designs rubrics that align with learning outcomes and uses them to communicate expectations and offer meaningful feedback to students.
- Generative Artificial Intelligence and Rubrics: Cotter Christian, Associate Professor of Interior Design, Dean, School of Constructed Environments, Parsons, demonstrates his approach to developing effective rubrics, offers practical guidance on using them, and talks about when and how generative AI helps.
- 5 Reasons to Like Rubrics: Killeen Hanson, Assistant Professor of Strategic Design and Management, Parsons School of Design, demonstrates how rubrics help reduce time (and aggravation) spent grading (yes!), ensure consistency (especially across multiple sections of a course), and (almost) make Canvas fun.