Elsevier

Nurse Education in Practice

Review

Writing exceptional (specific, student and criterion-focused) rubrics for nursing studies

Abstract

Effective assessment of nurses in higher education is dependent on the interpretation and demonstration of learning outcomes by students and educators/academics. Rubrics can effectively communicate unit learning outcomes to students and may contribute towards the academic rigour of nursing courses, when assessment criteria are articulated clearly and consistently to both students and educators/academics. This paper aims to describe the different types and uses of rubrics, as well as outline the steps required to develop exceptional rubrics whilst using the literature as a basis for suggestions. Well written rubrics can facilitate consistency of marking across a student cohort, which may result in decreased student anxiety regarding assessment expectations, uniformity of assessment style and layout and may ensure that educators/academics across a teaching team are interpreting assessment criteria, consistently. Exceptional rubrics can empower students to success in academic assessments.

Introduction

In any academic endeavour, few things challenge students more than assignments or assessments, and few tasks frustrate and oppress educators/academics more or become arduous and time consuming than marking ill-conceived or poorly structured assessments (Daggen, 2008; Cockett and Jackson, 2018). The norm in nursing education is to base interventions and actions on evidence and this should be applied in an educational context. As such, educators/academics need valid and reliable rubrics to reduce the potential for grade grievances (Singleterry et al., 2016). However, there is a gap in the evidence that supports the development of evidence-informed rubric development. Few articles were located that explained exactly how to develop a rubric and establish reliability and validity. As well, writing and developing rubrics manifest a multitude of challenges and can be undertaken in several ways. However, ensuring that assessment tasks are streamlined, clear, transparent and consistent helps both educators/academics and students to minimise stress, manage their workload and reach expectations in terms of addressing learning outcomes (Naber and Theobald, 2015). This article will principally address rubrics designed for written assignments, however the principles could be applied for rubrics required for oral presentations, reflections, portfolios, case studies and a host of other assignment formats. Rubrics, if designed well and drafted with care, can be the tool to help limit assignment trauma as they help make expectations clear and concrete (Naber and Theobald, 2015). They also support students to articulate higher level writing skills and achieve greater confidence in what is expected of them throughout their studies (Rochford and Borchert, 2011; Singleterry et al., 2016). However, rubrics do so much more than outline a set of assignment expectations and support student writing. They set the goals for the assignment, guide students and keep them on task, link the assignment and learning outcomes for the unit, module or subject and they provide a shorthand approach to providing effective and timely feedback (Daggen, 2008; Naber and Theobald, 2015). Although as Williams et al. (2017) suggest, students will also benefit from additional feedback at the end of the rubric. As well, exceptional (specific, student and criterion-focused) rubrics limit students' confusion, and potential protests about the reasons for achieving the awarded grade.

This paper outlines a process for rubric development that will offer guidance, clarity and transparency for students undertaking any assignment or written assessment task and provide examples and templates for educators/academics on how to build and construct simple, clear and transparent rubrics that are also specific, student and criterion-focused.

Section snippets

Origins

There is some contention about the origin of the word 'rubric' however, from an academic perspective the word rubric has come to mean, 'a scoring guide used to evaluate the quality of students' constructed responses' (Popham, 1997, p.72). There is only limited published information about rubric development or the application of rubrics in nursing academia, with Renjith et al. (2015), Naber and Theobald (2015) and Truemper (2004) each offering papers on rubric construction or development in

Spelling, grammar, structure, presentation and references

In some rubrics these features accrue no marks. An indication of the level is offered, and feedback is provided, but no marks are allocated, as in example Box 3. Articulating this directly through the rubric structure is a way of recognising the effort the student has put into parts of the assignment that are a fundamental requirement in most work.

However, it is important to be guided by the university or organisations' guidelines and policy about whether or not this approach is supported

Working through the process

We suggest that rubric development begins with a draft template that outlines the scope of the rubric (7 boxes across and 3 deep for each criteria). Add all the relevant criteria in the criteria column. Write the Pass standard first and ensure that the student actions also meet the standard and criteria of the related subject, module or unit learning outcome. Write the HD standard that tells the student what they will need to do to meet the HD standard for the relevant criterion. Complete the

Conclusion

This paper sets out a process for rubric development. It offers guidance and provides examples for educators/academics on how to build and construct specific, student and criterion-focused and transparent rubrics. Writing and developing rubrics can be a challenge and rubrics may be developed in several ways however, ensuring that assessment and assignment tasks are streamlined, clear and consistent helps both educators/academics and students to minimise stress, manage their workload and address

Funding

No funding was supplied or required for this article.

Declaration of competing interest

There is no conflict of interest in terms of funding, employee relationships or previous copyright.

Cited by (1)

View full text

© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.