We announced back in January  that 2014 would be The Year of Active Learning at UTHSC. In our weekly posts since the beginning of the year, we have shared several resources and ideas for incorporating active learning into the classes you teach whether it be face-to-face, hybrid, or fully online. As educators, we understand that any activity or project utilized within a course must tie into the overall course objectives and to student learning outcomes. But how can we ensure (and provide evidence) that each assignment, activity, or project leads to appropriate student learning outcomes and is properly aligned to the course objectives? Many instructors utilize rubrics as part of their assessment strategy.

Rubrics are valuable tools that assist instructors in not only assessing student learning outcomes but can also help in assessing the quality of a course as a whole. There are many resources available to help in designing rubrics including templates based on the item being assessed such as rubrics for assessing oral presentations, online discussion forums, or research projects. To see an example of assessment resources that can be located online, check out The University of Wisconsin – Stout’s Rubrics for Assessment page at http://www.uwstout.edu/soe/profdev/rubrics.cfm.

Are you interested in learning more about incorporating rubrics as part of your assessment strategy? Join us July 9th (12:00 PM – 1:00 PM) in GEB A304 for a webinar led by Dr. Teresa Flateby, Director of Academic Assessment at Georgia Southern University. Dr. Flateby’s session will include a wealth of information and resources related to assessment and rubrics including templates you can utilize to design rubrics for your course.To read an overview of this session and learn more about Dr. Flateby go to http://www.higheredhero.com/3GD/0/2/pF7YE7c/pA7HJ8HZi/p0e/.

Interested in joining us and viewing this webinar? Please register at: http://tinyurl.com/creatingrubrics

Image obtained from http://health.usf.edu/publichealth/eta/rubric_tutorial/default.htm