Rubrics in D2L

Rubrics are an assessment tool used to evaluate an activity or item based on a predefined set of criteria. They help ensure that activities and items are evaluated fairly and consistently. 

What are the Benefits of using Rubrics? 

  • Rubrics provide specificity and clarity for learners about performance expectations for an assignment. Rubrics are most helpful when provided to learners before they begin the assignment. Rubrics make it clear to students what is expected, what comprises the grading criteria (including how many points are awarded for each criterion), and convey feedback to students about the quality of their work.  

  • For instructors, rubrics help to communicate expectations and evaluate levels of performance. Rubrics bring more “objectivity” to grading subjective work, making it easier to score assignments. Rubrics provide a clear, well-organized, and concise format for recording and communicating scores. Instructors report that the use of a good rubric also saves grading time because of the clarity and specificity of concrete criteria that make comparisons more clear-cut (e.g., excellent vs. good or acceptable vs. poor).  

  • Rubrics also prove to be quite helpful when multiple graders or reviewers (such as multiple TAs for a large course) are assessing or evaluating an assignment. In such instances, rubrics make it possible for the same criteria and standards to be applied to all student work. An excellent practice in cases of multiple graders is to have all TAs practice using the rubric to grade one common assignment, then compare how each TA “scored” that assignment. The goal is to have the rubric result in consistent grading by the TAs. The process often results in improving the rubric by improving word choice, thereby reducing or eliminating ambiguities. 

Creating a good rubric takes time, patience, and practice. Check out the following page and website link below for examples of rubrics. 

rCampus Rubric Gallery 

Rubric Examples 

Example of a rubric

Example of a rubric

Creating Rubrics in D2L 

There are two types of rubrics: 

  • Analytic Rubrics (most common): Two-dimensional rubrics with levels of achievement as columns and assessment criteria as rows. Allows you to assess participants' achievements based on multiple criteria using a single rubric. You can assign different values to different criteria and include an overall score by totaling the criteria.  

  • Holistic Rubrics: Single-criteria rubrics (one-dimensional) used to assess participants' overall achievement on an activity or item based on predefined achievement levels. 

Create an Analytic Rubric 

  1. Select the Course Admin link 

  1. Under Assessment, select Rubrics 

  1. Select New Rubric on the Rubric List page 

  1. Enter a Rubric Name (i.e. the name of the assignment you will be assessing) 

  1. Select the Rubric Type: Analytic (most common) 

  1. Select a Scoring method:  

  • Points (all criteria have the same total points possible) or  

  • Custom Points (each criterion can have a different total possible points) 

  1. Your rubric will have 4 levels and 3 criteria to start. You can add or remove levels and criteria.  

  1. To edit the name of a level or criterion, or to change the point value, select the item and make your changes. Select the text box area below the point value to add narrative for each criterion level. 

  1. Select Save 

Create a Holistic Rubric 

  1. Select New Rubric on the Rubric List page 

  1. Enter a Rubric Name  

  1. Select the Rubric Type: Holistic 

  1. Select a Scoring method: Points (all criteria have the same total points possible)  

Change a Rubric's Status 

By default, the Status for new rubrics is set to Draft. When you are finished creating your rubric, you should change the Status to Published to indicate that it is complete. You cannot associate a rubric with an item unless it is Published.  

On the Edit Rubric page, select the Status button in the upper right corner, and select a status. 

Associate a Rubric with an Assignments Folder or Discussion Topic 

  1. Go to the Assignments or Discussions page 

  1. Select the arrow next to the item’s name and select Edit  

  1. Expand the Evaluation & Feedback menu on the bottom right 

  1. Select Add Rubric 

  1. Select Add Existing 

  1. Choose the Rubric from the list of Published Rubrics and select Add Selected 

  1. Save and Close 

Use a Rubric for Grading  

  1. On the item’s assessment page, select the Rubric to expand the criteria 

  1. Select a level of achievement for each criterion 

  1. [Optional] Enter feedback for any of the levels 

  1. [Optional] Enter overall feedback 

  1. Select Publish or Save Draft 

Important Notes about Managing Rubrics 

  • Once you have Published the rubric, connected it to an item such as an Assignment, and used it for grading, you can only make minor changes to it. 

  • If you need to modify a rubric that has already being used, you must un-associate the rubric from the item, create a copy of the rubric, make changes to the copy, and then attach the revised rubric to the item.  

  • If you want to be sure an old rubric does not get used, you can change its status to archived. 

Copy a Rubric 

Copying a rubric creates a new rubric with the same properties, levels and criteria. 

  1. Select the arrow next to a rubric  

  1. Select Copy 

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