Rubrics Cubed

The name of the Rubik’s Cube puzzle sounds very similar to the rubric, a list of specific criteria for scoring academic projects. Indeed, if you look at the structure of a typical rubric with it’s matrix columns and rows and compare it to the famous cube you might think the two were related. Or not. In fact Rubik is the name of the Hungarian sculptor who invented the cube in 1974. It is not related to the rubric at all. Only in the mixed up mind of someone, like myself, who’s been working on getting his mind around writing his first rubric this week. 

What would a Learner Blog Rubric look like? I did a lot of thinking about this during the course of the week. This was central to our week four study of Technology in Art Education at the Academy of Art University. When left to think freely my mind comes up with images and mix up of words and concepts. 

Imagined Learner Blog Rubric

My ideas for a Learner Blog Rubric changed several times through out the week and then I took this assignment with me to Los Angeles on Friday. Into LAX late morning and out late at night the same day. My thoughts continued to change during this time right up until today when it was time to be finished.

I want to quote Patty Knott a contributor to Incredible @rt Department regarding creating a Rubric for Grading Art. She writes, “The important thing in designing rubrics is that YOU believe in what you are evaluating is important and you consider what the students think is important.” 

What Knott says here sounds like a good starting point for my rubric. I’d like to start my thinking at the broadest level I can imagine for a rubric. For me this would be inspiring students to take the risk of putting their work into a public space and inso doing, join a conversation. The conversation would include some self reflection, openness to student’s own ideas and to the ideas of their peers. That is already four high-level ideas for a rubric. A second level of engagement would be in terms of clear communication. Subheadings here would have to do with language, design and cultural sensitivity. A final layer would be to show some engagement in the media itself. I’m imagining a student using one or more of the follow as a vehicle for expression; photos, video, audio, written language, the internet, blogging or some other form of personal expression that can be shared in a learner blog. 

At some level this learner blog could be a vehicle for learning english language skills or art and design skills or many other subjects. These various subjects have some very specific metrics for measuring success in the context of a blog. I kept my thinking related to the blog itself. 

My ideas start rather broad and then I wrestle with making them more concrete and measurable.  Headings I went through included self reflection, openness to self work and openness to peer work. I shifted gears and started thinking in terms of point of view, strategy, consistency, effective communication and overall success. I ended up focusing on Subject, Strategy, Consistency and Effective Communication. 

Learner BLOG Rubric

	A (85 -100%)	B (60 - 84%)	C (40 -59%)	D (0 -39%)
Subject	Student effectively defined a Blog topic that showed a thoughtful understanding and consideration of class objectives	Student effectively defined a Blog topic related that showed a some understanding and consideration for class objectives	Student effectively defined a Blog topic related class prompts that showed just a very basic understanding of class objectives	Student effectively defined a Blog topic related class prompts that showed no consideration for class objectives
Strategy	Student described a CLEAR intention and consideration for pursing their Blog topic over time. This could include projected timeline for posting, specific sub-topics to cover and other ideas about how to approach the topic.	Student described SOME intention and consideration for pursing their Blog topic over time. This could include projected timeline for posting, specific sub-topics to cover and other ideas about how to approach the topic.	Student described LITTLE intention and consideration for pursing their Blog topic over time. This could include projected timeline for posting, specific sub-topics to cover and other ideas about how to approach the topic.	Student described NO intention and consideration for pursing their Blog topic over time. This could include projected timeline for posting, specific sub-topics to cover and other ideas about how to approach the topic.
Consistency	Student was EXTREEMLY consistent in their effort towards documenting their topic over time and relative to their strategy.	Student was REASONABLY consistent in their effort towards documenting their topic over time and relative to their strategy.	Student was SOMEWHAT consistent in their effort towards documenting their topic over time and relative to their strategy.	Student was NOT consistent in their effort towards documenting their topic over time and relative to their strategy.
Effective Communication	Student used EXTREMELY clear communication in blog posts. This can include, use of language, spelling, grammar, source siting. It includes use of design for communication and the use of other media like photos, video, audio and digital versions of other art work.	Student used REASONABLY clear communication in blog posts. This can include, use of language, spelling, grammar, source siting. It includes use of design for communication and the use of other media like photos, video, audio and digital versions of other art work.	Student used SOMEWHAT clear communication in blog posts. This can include, use of language, spelling, grammar, source siting. It includes use of design for communication and the use of other media like photos, video, audio and digital versions of other art work.	Student used NOT very clear communication in blog posts. This can include, use of language, spelling, grammar, source siting. It includes use of design for communication and the use of other media like photos, video, audio and digital versions of other art work.

My  hope was to develop a rubric for a stop motion animation class. I did start some thinking that way but are still in progress. When thinking about broadly about engaging students in stop motion animation I am interested in having them question what they see, especially in terms video, gaming and animation. Why is it you believe what you see when this happens on the screen.

What do you think? Leave your comments below.