Rubistar to the Rescue

After taking Psychometrics during my undergraduate education at Mount Saint Mary College, I felt very prepared to create a number of assessment tools. One of the best assessment tools for teachers to use today is a rubric. Rubrics outline a clear list of expectations for students to follow while completing various assignments. They give an outline of what the project requires as well as a guideline for students to follow if they wish to receive full credit for an assignment. My experience in Psychometrics has taught me that the best rubrics are specific, free of biases, and easy to follow.

I have created rubrics for various lesson plans throughout my years in college. However, after familiarizing myself with some 21st century rubric generator sites, I was surprised to find how many rubrics there are for Web 2.0 projects. There are rubrics for podcasts, projects on Glogster, Wikis, and much more. To my surprise, there was even a rubric for using Twitter! Some of these rubrics are excellent tools for teachers to use, while others require some changes that would make them more effective. For example, some of the rubrics grade students on the attractiveness of their project or do not provide students with specific enough criteria. Such factors can sometimes make rubrics too subjective and therefore a less reliable source of assessment.

Rubistar is an excellent tool because it allows teachers to generate their own rubrics for any assignment! The site is free for teachers to use and provides the user with various templates that can be followed exactly or changed to meet the needs of the teacher. This feature is very helpful as it allows the user to make their rubric unique and suitable for their students! Gone are the days of spending hours creating an effective rubric! Having assessment tool generators such as Rubistar will surely be helpful to me throughout my teaching career!