Recently however, I was attending some professional development meetings and one of my colleagues was stating that she feels rubrics cause students to play a numbers game to figure out what they can get away with to get a passing grade instead of always aiming for an A. She also said that she thinks some students think that writing is just a formula when writing from a rubric. I think both of these are quite plausible.
So where's the middle ground? I'm thinking that I might try a more general rubric. There will be a list of requirements that match the objectives for the course, and then I will make sure to leave very specific feedback that explains exactly why I am giving a certain grade. Perhaps this is what I will do for the summer courses I'm teaching and see if I notice any major differences in the students' work and their satisfaction with the course.
Rubrics- where do you stand on the issue? How do you set up your rubrics?
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