Provide Clarity with Single-Point Rubrics

How much time do you spend putting together rubrics for assignments? If you're like most instructors, a thoughtful, well-made rubric requires substantial investment, and includes information unlikely to help students (is it useful for students know the criteria for a "0" on any assignment?). What if you could provide students with all of the relevant information for success on an assignment that a traditional rubric imparts without having to painstakingly describe each point? The single-point rubric does just that. It includes a description of the standards for mastering the content, and also allows you  to give detailed feedback on both where students exceed and fall below expectations.

Concerns (Areas that need work)	Criteria (Standards of performance)	Advanced (Areas that exceeded expectations)
	Criteria #1 Description of evidence of mastery of material
	Criteria #2 Description of evidence of mastery of material
	Criteria #3 Description of evidence of mastery of material
	Criteria #4 Description of evidence of mastery of material

Gonzalez, J. (2014, October 09). [Single point rubric]. Retrieved February 15, 2017, from http://www.brilliant-insane.com/2014/10/single-point-rubric.html

The single point rubric gives students a clear target for mastery of material, with all of the information regarding low performance stripped away. This type of rubric allows for clarity in establishing standards as well as flexibility in grading. The downside is lack of specificity in assessment. It's great for grading, but not so good at reliably assessing students, relative to a more analytic rubric.

An additional caveat is the type of grading this rubric addresses. Single point rubrics lend themselves to a no-grades system in the classroom and are typically used to encourage student reflection and self-guided mastery of material, not a traditional "A" to "F" grading scale. Also, using this kind of rubric may require more writing when grading an assignment than a traditional rubric but, again, allows flexibility in addressing areas in which students need to improve.


Keep updated with OFE:

 

Evidence for Teaching Excellence Webinar

Beyond the ISQ: Evidence for Teaching Excellence
Tuesday, May 24, 2016, 12:00 noon to 1:15 p.m.
Location: Online (webinar through BlueJeans technology)
Pre-registration is required: contact ofe@unf.edu

Each semester, students complete the Instructional Satisfaction Questionnaire (ISQ) regarding their experiences with the instructor and the course. Faculty frequently find additional information necessary to fully evaluate their teaching practice. Current conversations regarding annual evaluations as well as around promotion and tenure have resulted in a desire to provide evidence of teaching excellence that extends beyond these student satisfaction questionnaires. In the current webinar, Dan Richard, Director of the Office of Faculty Enhancement, and Krista Paulsen, Chair of the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work, will discuss options for using alternate forms of evidence for teaching excellence and will provide some examples of how these alternative forms can be used in annual evaluations, promotion and tenure, and other aspects of continuous improvement.
Pre-registration for the webinar is required.
For instructions and connect codes, contact ofe@unf.edu.


Keep updated with OFE:

Using Rubrics Adds Depth to Analytical Learning

In recent years, higher education has moved in a utilitarian direction, refocusing on the purported purpose of post-secondary education- preparing its students to live and work after graduation.

Many faculty have begun to show a preference of active learning, a strategy that fosters critical and analytical thinking about material and its application. Recently, support has risen for utilizing rubrics as a way to support effective teaching. Rubrics, scholars suggest, have many uses in university classrooms to stimulate active learning by increasing the quality and quantity of student performance.

Rubrics bring clarity and order to assignments that are more subjective and require more abstract thought than multiple-choice or fill-in-the-blank style questions. However, the benefits of using rubrics can go much further than that. Rubrics help to ensure quality by providing criteria for what different levels of manipulation and understanding of material are worth in terms of grading. Best of all, because students have a means to assess their work as they are completing it, they engage in the critical thinking required for self-evaluation.

Rubrics can be used in creative ways to boost energy in the classroom and enable students to view material from novel standpoints. For instance, a rubric might be used as a means for students to think like their professor if they are asked to write a rubric for their own assignment or use a rubric to grade their own work or those of their peers. When students create rubrics or grade using a rubric, they are applying course knowledge in a more complex and applied way than a typical assignment may require. Classroom practices that include rubrics hold great potential in stimulating deeper levels of thought and engagement with material by forcing students to think analytically and critically.

Call for Applications - Course Redesign Summer Institute

Call For Applications:

Course Redesign for Effective Learning (CREL)

  

The Office of Faculty Enhancement (OFE) invites full-time UNF faculty to participate in a summer course redesign institute. The purpose of this institute is to provide faculty with the time, resources, information, and collaborative support needed to revise and redesign a selected Fall 2016 or Spring 2017 course (or design a new course) in ways that will maximize student learning.

Deadline for Applications: Tuesday, March 15th, 2016  

Interested faculty should complete the online application at: http://bit.ly/crel2016

  

OFE invites all full-time UNF faculty who are interested in enhancing student learning apply for the CREL program. Such proposals could include student projects, research activities as part of a course, community-based learning, or other forms of engaged learning.

The UNF faculty selected to participate in the CREL and who produce a redesigned product will receive a $1000 stipend.

The dates for the 2016 CREL workshops are Tuesday, June 21^st, Thursday, June 23^rd, and Tuesday, June 28^th.

The Review Process

The proposals will be reviewed by the OFE Director in consultation with the Faculty Association’s Faculty Enhancement Committee.

Applications will be reviewed according to the following criteria:

·                The proposed change represents a significant change to the structure, organization, or activities associated with the course.

·                The proposed change is reasonable given the time constraints.

·                The proposed change is likely to affect student learning positively.

Faculty members who have been awarded summer research and teaching grants are eligible to participate in CREL.  For those who have received a summer teaching grant, the CREL project proposal should involve a different course than that on which the summer teaching grant is based.  Preference will be given to first-time participants in OFE’s course redesign workshops. Applications from a variety of perspectives and methods are encouraged. Selection of proposals will ensure a broad participation across disciplines on campus.

Preparing the CREL Proposal Application

Interested faculty should complete the online application at:

http://bit.ly/crel2016  

The deadline for applications is March 15th.​

Keep updated with OFE:

Beyond the ISQ: New Models, New Methods

Beyond the ISQ: New Models, New Methods
12:00 noon - 1:30 p.m., Friday, April 10, 2015
Building 12, Room 2405
RSVP to ofe@unf.edu
Admission is free. Lunch provided for those who RSVP

Instructional Satisfaction Questionnaires (ISQ) are used ubiquitously in evaluating teaching effectiveness, yet may people question the validity and usefulness of such instruments in assessing quality teaching and learning. Moreover, in the Fall of 2013, UNF moved to a fully online ISQ process. The online administration of the ISQ raised concerns about response rates and the validity of this form of administration. In this session, the Office of Faculty Enhancement (OFE) will present evidence from a comparison of online administration to face-to-face administration of the ISQ. In addition, faculty will discuss different ways to demonstrate teaching effectiveness and student learning that go beyond the use of the ISQ. Topics will include quantitative approaches to learning data, pre-post strategies, and qualitative assessment of evidence of student learning. Participants will be encouraged to find strategies that will work in their own courses to demonstrate teaching effectiveness and provide assessment of student learning. Faculty are encouraged to come and join the discussion. Lunch will be provided for those who RSVP to  ofe@unf.edu.
12:00 noon - 1:30 p.m., Friday, April 10, 2015
Building 2, Room 2002
RSVP to ofe@unf.edu
Admission is free. Lunch provided for those who RSVP

Higher Order Thinking: Testing Deep Learning with Cognitive Maps

The Office of Faculty Enhancement invites faculty to attend an upcoming workshop on higher order thinking. 

Higher Order Thinking: Testing Deep Learning with Cognitive Maps
Monday, February 9th, 2015, 3:00-4:30 p.m.
Student Union, 58W, 3804
RSVP at ofe@unf.edu
An essential quality of higher education is providing opportunities for students to develop higher order thinking as they approach a variety of topics. Faculty construct assignments that will challenge students to think beyond the obvious and construct complex, evidence-based, and reflective products that demonstrate this higher order thinking style. It can be difficult and time-consuming to detect subtitles of higher order thinking in student work. In this workshop, faculty will share models of assessing higher order thinking through concept maps and structured observation. Come and share your ideas about higher order learning and pick-up some time-saving tools for evaluating complex learning. 
RSVP at ofe@unf.edu

Assessment of Transformational Learning Experiences

Manageable and Meaningful Assessment of Transformational Learning Experiences

Friday, October 03, 2014
1:00pm-2:30pm

Location: Founder’s Hall, Building 2 Room 2002

RSVP @ ofe@unf.edu
UNF Faculty who apply for TLO funding design a wide variety of truly transformational learning experiences for students. Designing an assessment plan both enhances the TLO application and provides an important way to maximize student benefit from the experience.  Yet assessing transformational learning objectives can be difficult because the objectives can be difficult to define, and because TLOs may not include graded assignments in the same way as other classes do. This workshop will help participants define transformational learning objectives and develop manageable assessment strategies for determining the impact of the TLO experience. Faculty and staff interested in applying for Transformational Learning Opportunity (TLO) funds are especially encouraged to attend.

Friday, October 03, 2014
1:00pm-2:30pm

Location: Founder’s Hall, Building 2 Room 2002

RSVP @ ofe@unf.edu

Beyond the ISQ - Evidence of Learning

Beyond the ISQ: Evidence of Learning

Friday, April 12, 2013, 1:00-2:30 p.m.
OFE/FA Conference Room, Osprey Commons (Bld 16), Room 3108
Register for the event at ofe@unf.edu

Instructional Satisfaction Questionnaires are used ubiquitously in evaluating teaching effectiveness, yet may people question the validity and usefulness of such instruments in assessing quality teaching and learning. The Office of Faculty Enhancement will offer a workshop on different ways faculty can demonstrate teaching effectiveness and student learning that go beyond the use of the ISQ. Topics will include quantitative approaches to learning data, pre-post strategies, and qualitative assessment of evidence of student learning. Participants will be encouraged to find strategies that will work in their own courses to demonstrate teaching effectiveness and provide assessment of student learning.

Register for the event at ofe@unf.edu

Tell Students to Stop Studying?

Students can focus on wrong ideas, wrong study habits, and wrong motives. Instructors can provide clarity for students, help them focus on what they should be studying and why. In a recent Chronicle article, UNF's own David Jaffee warns faculty to avoid the wrong motivation trap often befuddling students, studying (only) for the exam.
Read more here.
http://chronicle.com/article/Stop-Telling-Students-to-Study/131622/

Grading is like Building a Fence

 In a recent Chronicle article, an experienced graduate student, David Brooks, discusses the personal challenges he experienced in providing feedback on students' work. He addresses how much feedback is enough.

http://chronicle.com/article/Wielding-the-Red-Pen/126200/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en