Assessing with a rubric

A rubric states what the assessment covers and describes each level. In 2007, a review by Jonsson and Svingby showed that it makes marking more reliable, especially when its criteria are precise and illustrated with examples. It also supports learning, because it makes expectations explicit. In 2013, Panadero and Jonsson refined this: a rubric helps above all when students know it before the activity and use it to assess themselves.

• Understanding the challenge: the student restates the goal and the constraints.
• Planning: they describe their program before testing it, on paper or orally.
• Testing and correcting: they spot the faulty instruction and change one thing at a time.
• Explaining: they say why the program works, using the vocabulary of the target concept.
• Collaborating: they keep to their role and switch at the signal.

Describe three levels per criterion, with behaviours that can be seen. For “testing and correcting”, for example: reruns at random, spots the error with help, spots the error alone and explains the correction. The robot often succeeds thanks to just one student in the pair. So add an individual question without the robot, such as writing on paper the program that makes it trace a rectangle three cells by two.

1. Reread the rubric. Can each descriptor be seen in class? Replace those that cannot.
2. Ask for a short Flow lesson on the target concept, with a five-question quiz based on real situations. Go through it in preview before sharing it.
3. On the home screen, choose “Create a revision deck” and attach the sheet on the concept. Reread the cards: one idea per card.
4. If your students have an account in the school’s workspace, publish the deck with “Publish to a campaign” for the class group. You need to administer this group.