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Working with AI to Create a Rubric

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Description

Students benefit from transparency in the purpose, task, and criteria for success in assignments. Rubrics clarify expectations, are a tool for providing consistent and efficient feedback, and help students focus on the most important elements of an assignment. They can also be very time consuming to develop.

AI can quickly create a first draft of a rubric that is customized according to your assignment’s learning goals, which you can then refine according to your needs and preferences. AI can also provide suggestions for revising or refining an existing rubric. As the instructor you know what is essential to the assessment scenario, but AI can be very helpful in the rubric authoring process.

Steps

  1. Before you begin using AI to draft a rubric take a moment to consider what you want to get out of the interaction with Claude. Do you already have specific assignment guidelines and want to turn those into a rubric? What are the most important elements in the assignment materials that you want Claude to focus on? What are the markers of poor/excellent work? Are there areas in which students consistently struggle, and you would like the rubric to help improve their attention to those elements? Is this an assignment that you are adapting for a different learner population, or for a different course?

You might also consider who will be using the rubric, and how. Will you be the only person using the rubric, with students viewing it only, or do you want a rubric that could also be used in support of self-assessment and peer feedback? Would you like for AI to help you develop companion materials, such as a feedback form that is grounded in a rubric, or an assignment checklist that the students can use? Thinking about questions like these in advance can help you develop your prompt for AI and consider what materials to feed into Claude to yield better results.

  1. Once you are clear about your purpose, it’s time to identify materials that you will upload to inform Claude’s output. The more you provide, the better equipped Claude is to provide output that is customized for your specific purpose. For example, when developing a rubric it is helpful to provide the syllabus and any existing assignment guideline documents. You may also want to develop a list of areas in which students seem to struggle, hallmarks of excellence, and any examples you think would be relevant.
  2. Draft your opening prompt beforehand so you can revise it before you paste it into the chat window. Be sure to attach the materials to the prompt, as this is an easy step to overlook. For example

“Please develop a rubric for the [name of assignment] that draws on the attached assignment materials. Write the rubric with first year undergraduates in mind. It should be in table format, with 4 criteria for excellence. The three scoring levels are needs improvement, meets expectations, and exceeds expectations”

“Please develop a single-point rubric for [name of assignment], intended for graduate students. Drawing on the attached materials, create a list of [5] criteria for students to focus on in their work, including descriptions. Include a form for peer- and self-assessment at the end of the rubric.”

“Please develop three possible rubrics for [name of assignment], drawing on the attached materials. The categories for assessment are x that is 30 percent of the score, y that is 30 percent of the score, and z that is 40 percent of the score.”

  1. As you review Claude’s output, you might see things you hadn’t thought of that are valuable. You may also see things that are off the mark. Pose follow-up prompts to explore options. Each result will be new, so if you see something you like be sure to tell Claude to include it in the next iteration. Review the output to make sure you haven’t lost something that was important to you. For example

“There are too many criteria in this rubric – it will be time consuming to use. Consolidate the 10 criteria into no more than 5. Please be sure to retain [x] as a criteria in your next iteration”

“This is great – keep the content exactly the same, and add a checklist that students can include along with their submission to ensure they’ve done everything.”

“Using the same rubric, please add an area for students to write a reflection on which aspects of the assignment were most difficult for them, and an explanation of how they addressed those challenges.”

“Using the same rubric, please add an area for students to write a reflection on which aspects of the assignment they thought went well, and what they would want to do differently the next time.”

“This is a good first draft of a rubric in terms of content, but the tone is too formal. Rewrite it with a professional yet more conversational tone with adult learners in mind.”

  1. When you are satisfied with the output, you can download it as a PDF. You can also copy and paste the text into a document to edit and share with the class, or enter that text into the rubric tool in Canvas. You might also want to download several of the draft results and reconcile versions into one document that meets your needs.

Suggestions

Focus on Learning, Not Just Assessment: Effective rubrics serve dual purposes: they guide assessment while also supporting student learning. Research shows that when rubrics are designed with learning in mind, they can significantly impact student achievement. As Andrade (2000) notes, “Rubrics have the potential to make expectations and criteria explicit, which can promote student learning and improve performance, as well as making assessment more fair and consistent” (p. 13). When creating your rubric, consider how each criterion and description will help students understand not just what they’re doing, but why it matters in your discipline.

Prioritize Clarity and Specificity: According to Jonsson and Svingby (2007), rubric reliability improves significantly when descriptors are specific and exemplified. Their meta-analysis of rubric research found that “topic-specific criteria and clear descriptions of performance standards” lead to more consistent assessment and better student understanding (p. 136). Rather than using vague terms like “good organization” or “adequate evidence,” provide concrete descriptions that help students visualize what success looks like in the context of your specific assignment.

Align with Universal Design for Learning Principles: Rubrics should support diverse learners by providing multiple means of engagement, representation, and action/expression. CAST (2018) emphasizes that well-designed assessment tools “provide options for executive functions” by “guiding effective goal-setting” and “supporting planning and strategy development” (UDL Guidelines, Version 2.2). Consider including process-oriented criteria that acknowledge different approaches to the task, providing examples that represent diverse perspectives, and ensuring language is accessible to students from various backgrounds.

Improve Through Iteration: The most effective rubrics evolve through use and feedback. Consider piloting your rubric with colleagues or a small student group before full implementation, and revise based on both instructor experience and student feedback over time. At the end of a grading period, compare student work with the rubric and make modifications for the next time you teach the course.

References

Andrade, H. G. (2000). Using rubrics to promote thinking and learning. Educational Leadership, 57(5), 13-18.

Jonsson, A., & Svingby, G. (2007). The use of scoring rubrics: Reliability, validity and educational consequences. Educational Research Review, 2(2), 130-144.

CAST (2018). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 2.2. Retrieved from http://udlguidelines.cast.org

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