It is widely recognised that feedback is an important part of learning: effective feedback should result in a meaningful change in student behaviour (Morris et al., 2021). However, individual feedback takes time to produce, and for large cohorts -- typified by the North of 300 challenge in computing (CPHC, 2019), it can be difficult to do so in a…

The rubric, a canonical matrix of criteria presented to students as the road map to academic success. An "Ah-ha" moment, "that is what I'm looking for" utopia for the instructor. While rubrics provide the possibility for solving the complexity of some teaching problems, we have come to know them as a tool that is as useful as…

Literature reviews are often used as part of teaching undergraduates about secondary research. The assignment, however, presents challenges for inexperienced researchers and writers and can be difficult for instructors to read and grade. This "quick fix" piece offers an alternative assignment to begin students in gaining secondary…

In this article, the author shares some tips for improving university-wide assessment conversations, focusing on meetings with faculty creating and doing assessment. The lessons are from a multi-year project where the author observed meetings and interviewed faculty about their involvement in university-wide assessment.

Aspiring teachers must develop an in-depth understanding of high-quality instructional practices. In order to prepare, instruct, and coach aspiring teachers, the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET) has developed a the NIET Aspiring Teacher Rubric (ATR) based on principles of excellence in instruction. This research brief…

To ensure each county board of education provides a thorough and efficient education for its students, the West Virginia Board of Education (WVBE) annually reviews county scorecards and efficiency profiles provided by the Office of Accountability. County statuses are reviewed and determined based on multiple measures of student performance and…

This paper describes a project undertaken at Grand Valley State University in which a co-creative model was used to develop a rubric for assessing student learning in library instruction. It outlines the design process as well as the training and support provided throughout implementation. It concludes with the authors' reflections on the…

A revision-based assessment system, driven by clear rubrics, can mean less stress, more effective feedback, and greater student learning. English teacher Alexis Wiggins shares an effective and time-friendly revision-based assessment system she developed that allows students to focus on learning, not their grade.

In theory, rubrics are useful because they inform students of their level of achievement, providing detailed descriptions of a range of evaluation criteria. Teachers know it's best practice to continually update and tweak their rubrics in response to student performance and feedback. But the question remains: do students actually use these…

As the number of students pursuing opportunities in higher education from communities that are underrepresented and marginalized has increased over the last decade or so (National Center for Education Statistics 2022; Wilson et al. 2022), the student population of the University of Arizona Global Campus (UAGC) has exemplified this trend with 48%…

Former elementary school teacher Kasandra Singh shares how she used gamification to encourage her 5th-grade students to drive their own learning. Students were initially divided into groups based on their demonstrated ability to get their work done. Those in Level 1 were given direct instruction, those in Level 2 worked together to complete…

Well-crafted rubrics create a shared language that lets teachers and students work together. Rubrics are typically used to judge the level of students' understanding and skills or quality of a product. High-quality rubrics can also give students and teachers feedback to improve teaching and learning. Authors define "effective" feedback…

Assessing student knowledge based on their writing using traditional qualitative methods is time-consuming. To improve speed and consistency of text analysis, we present our mixed methods development of a machine learning predictive model to analyze student writing. Our approach involves two stages: first an exploratory sequential design, and…

Intelligent systems of essay grading constitute important tools for educational technologies. They can significantly replace the manual scoring efforts and provide instructional feedback as well. These systems typically include two main parts: a feature extractor and an automatic grading model. The latter is generally based on computational and…

Public relations and strategic communication are offered in communication departments with a field of study largely geared toward professional communicators. The majors place a heavy emphasis on internships, which seem to be more competitive than ever. A class project can jumpstart students' preparation for entry-level positions in the industry by…