A Rubric Marking and Feedback System to Improve Learning in Higher Education

Abstract

Nowadays, universities and other higher education institutions are facing the challenges of assuring and maintaining student performance at a desired level. The institutions are expected to foster graduates with essential skills that are required by their future employer. Many other stakeholders, such as government and accreditation firms often set the standards for institutions’ reference. Student performance is assessed by both assignments and exams that use these common standards. The goals and objectives of a program may remain unclear to students if the practices involved in their study are not aligned with these defined goals and objectives. In many cases, the lecturers are constrained by the scarcity of time and a large workload. They fall short in providing precise instructions to students to improve learning. And, students are not satisfied with the quality of feedback received from lecturers, which may be brief and insubstantial. This research investigates the appropriateness of using rubrics as a tool to improve student learning. Rubrics as a scoring tool have been used in higher education for a long time. This study argues that the predominant use of rubrics for scoring (alone) reduces its instructional value, and suggests that rubrics are most effective when they are made available to students at the beginning of an assignment process. The use of rubrics embedded in the assignment can eventually enhance the meaningfulness of feedback to a student at a later stage. Conventional use of paper-based rubrics requires time and effort, and this in itself may become an obstacle to a lecturer’s adoption. As a result, a more efficient and effective rubric solution is required. Given the authentic benefits of rubrics, this research uses a design science research methodology to reengineer the process of using rubrics—a solution that enables the distribution of the rubrics at the same time as the assignments. The proposed concept was validated by implementing a Rubric Marking and Feedback System prototype. A web-based application was then deployed in the Business School at the University of Auckland. The evaluation of the system and the research suggests that the prototype was an effective solution to provide instruction and feedback to student from their first view of the assignment to the receipt of their mark. However, questions still remain about how student specifically use rubrics throughout the process of completing the assignment and reviewing their assessment.