Others say...

"Read this!"
I tried this summer communicating with Amazon without success; maybe someone will read this. I purchased a copy of "The University in Ruins" last March. The copy is defective! Pages 152-153, 160-161, 168-169, and 176-177 are missing and are replaced by earlier pages (120-121, 128-129, 136-137, and 144-145; "doubled").
What can be done about this?
Thank you.
Dr. John Nichols

"Inspired to Create Rubrics!"
I am a junior-faculty member and have tried my hand at creating rubrics in an effort to be fair and consistent in grading. However, I struggled with breaking down each area so I felt my rubrics were weak. Thus, I was looking for a "how-to" book and this book did not disappoint! It was well worth every penny! The book was written by two college faculty members who are seasoned in developing rubrics for college courses (individually, departmentally, and university-wide). I read the book in a day and then began working through the 4-stage process. It took the better part of a full day to create my first rubric, working through the steps methodically and thoughtfully, but I trust the authors that when it comes to grading, I will more than save the time, and most importantly, students will have a clear picture of where their grade comes from. Also, I am confident that the time required in producing rubrics for other assignments will decrease as I gain more experience.
In addition to the 4-stage process, the authors discuss a continuum of 5 models to rubric construction ranging from the instructor creating the rubric with no input from students to a rubric that is created completely by the students (of course, as the faculty member, one always has the opportunity to make adjustments). The point being that there is more than one way to construct a rubric depending on instructor's style and developmental level of the class. The book has a chapter on constructing rubrics with others, such as TA's, colleagues and tutorial staff. Even though my university does not use TA's and I am new faculty member, I liked the idea behind involving colleagues, and especially, tutorial support, like a writing center. Another chapter was designated to show how rubrics could be used in different disciplines. For example, rubrics for laboratory work in the sciences or a portfolio review in art were demonstrated along with rubric examples for assessing classroom participation and assignments that may be submitted in stages, such as a research paper.
I have only two slight criticisms: 1) the book only spends a page and half talking about assigning a grade after completing the rubric. The book used primarily one example throughout the book (although showing how to modify the rubric for a First-Year course versus a graduate course) which was really useful, but then, when it came time for discussing assigning a grade, they used a totally different type of rubric and assignment. I wish they would have shown assigning a grade to the example they had been using. It seems that would have completed the process. And, 2) the publishers have a website on the book where you can download rubric templates. This was good. The complaint is that the authors also have a website which promises discussion boards, more templates, etc. However, it is essentially a shell that was set up when the book was published in 2005 and nothing much has transpired since then. For these two reasons, I give it a 4-star versus a 5-star rating, but the bottom-line is, get this book to learn how to create assessment tools that will help your students and YOU!


"Easy to use"
I would recommend this guide for rubric development. It clear and provides many good examples to get started.

"Useful Book!!!!!!"
This book has cut my grading time in half. It is very practical. It has numerous examples and a step-by-step approach to make rubric creation easy. I read several other books about rubrics but most of them were for K-12, program assessment or were completly theoretical. This book tells you have to create a tool that will allow you to grade quickly and fairly. A must have for college teachers!

"Help yourself know if your students are learning in class. "
Rubrics (in education) in a way is like points with certain specifications (rules/requirements) you seek from your students in the work they are doing. How do you know if your students are learning history or english literature? What is the content you seek, ask, or want of them when it deals with their work? With rubrics, you will find out where exactly the student is in the material you are teaching plus the student will also know what he or she is lacking or has achieved in the unit lesson(s). If you are a beginning teacher please get this book because more and more -rubrics are being applied to unit lessons in the nations public schools. The authors (Stevens and Levi) who hail from Portland have done a super job at breaking this topic down by using clear soft writing. Being a teacher(educator) is not easy but with rubrics you will be more clear in what you ask of your students, then you will know if they have learned the material or not. Rubrics(a grid with your written specifications) will help you target everything. This is literature that teachers, substitutes and collegiate professors should have in there mini library. 10 stars! Rubrics is the bridge that links students and teachers together because both will know where one is at.