A rubric is the criteria by which you will grade a student's work. It goes beyond a simple checklist by noting each of the specific criteria to be assessed and then explaining in detail the benchmarks for each level of achievement (e.g., A, B, C, F).
The purpose of a rubric is to help students understand the criteria and expectations of an assignment, whether it's a written paper, a discussion forum, a blog post, or another deliverable. A well-written rubric is easy to read and understand. It explains to students exactly what is expected of them for a given assignment. A secondary benefit to using rubrics is that a rubric allows the instructor to grade more consistently within a course or across sections of a course. Rubrics also provide a vehicle for consistent grading by multiple instructors teaching different sections of the same course.
Each assignment in a course will have its own rubric, which should be the only method for grading that work. Remember, simply plugging numbers into the rubrics is not sufficient. Use the rubric criteria to guide your feedback to the students, noting areas for improvement as well as areas in which the student has done well. You should provide feedback on each criterion using the comments, as well as provide overall feedback, for every student.
