Online Teaching & Technology Blog

Center for Online Learning, Research and Service @ Illinois Springfield

Tag: Best Practices

Examples of Rubrics

3 Point Discussion Rubric (from Carrie Levin, UIS)

Import this 3 Point Rubric into your course from Canvas Commons.

Criteria
Meets Expectations

1 Point
Developing

0.5 Points
Below Expectations

0.25 Points
No Post

0 Points
Initial Post – Original thought or contribution
Well-developed ideas, including introduction of new ideas; stimulates discussion. No mechanical issues.
Ideas are mostly well-developed, but new ideas are not introduced into the discussion or ideas do not stimulate discussion. Mechanical issues may exist.
Partially developed ideas; sometimes stimulates discussion. Mechanical issues exist.
No Post
Initial Post – Development of thought
Clear evidence of critical thinking – application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of topic content. Posting is characterized by clarity of argument, depth of insight into issues, originality of treatment, and relevance to course content. Posting provides clear references to assigned readings and articulate responses to discussion questions, sometimes including unusual insights.
Some critical thinking is evident, but could be improved with more application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of topic content. Posting tends to address peripheral issues. could be improved with stronger analysis and more creative thought, such as in-depth critique and application of assigned readings, Some references to assigned readings are made, but overall, questions are addressed indirectly.
Little evidence of critical thinking; could be improved with application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of topic content. Posting needs more analysis and creative thought, such as in-depth critique and application of assigned readings.
No Post
Response #1
Response posting is well-developed and provides clear evidence of critical thinking with no mechanical problems.
Response posting needs additional development and/or does not provide clear evidence of critical thinking. Mechanical problems exist.
Response posting provides little content beyond agreeing with initial posting.
No Response
Response #2
Response posting is well-developed and provides clear evidence of critical thinking with no mechanical problems.
Response posting needs additional development and/or does not provide clear evidence of critical thinking. Mechanical problems exist.
Response posting provides little content beyond agreeing with initial posting.
No Response

20 Point Rubric (Joan Vandervale, UW Stout)

Import this 20 Point Rubric into your course from Canvas Commons.

CriteriaExemplary
(4 points)
Proficient
(3 points)
Limited
(2 points)
Unsatisfactory
(1 point)
None
(0 points)
Critical Analysis (Understanding of Readings and Outside References)Discussion postings display an excellent understanding of the required readings and underlying concepts including correct use of terminology. Postings integrate an outside resource, or relevant research, or specific real-life application (work experience, prior coursework, etc.) to support important points. Well-edited quotes are cited appropriately. No more than 10% of the posting is a direct quotation.Discussion postings display an understanding of the required readings and underlying concepts including correct use of terminology and proper citation.Discussion postings repeat and summarize basic, correct information, but do not link readings to outside references, relevant research or specific real-life application and do not consider alternative perspectives or connections between ideas. Sources are not cited.Discussion postings show little or no evidence that readings were completed or understood. Postings are largely personal opinions or feelings, or “I agree” or “Great idea,” without supporting statements with concepts from the readings, outside resources, relevant research, or specific real-life application.No post
Participation in the Learning CommunityDiscussion postings actively stimulate and sustain further discussion by building on peers’ responses including 1) building a focused argument around a specific issue or 2) asking a new related question or 3) making an oppositional statement supported by personal experience or related research.Discussion postings contribute to the class’ ongoing conversations as evidenced by 1) affirming statements or references to relevant research or, 2) asking related questions or, 3) making an oppositional statement supported by any personal experience or related research.Discussion postings sometimes contribute to ongoing conversations as evidenced by 1) affirming statements or references to relevant research or, 2) asking related questions or, 3) making an oppositional statement supported by any personal experience or related research.Discussion postings do not contribute to ongoing conversations or respond to peers’ postings. There is no evidence of replies to questions.No post
Timeliness
Discussion postings are distributed throughout the module (not posted all on one day or only at the beginning or only on the last day of the module).




Discussion postings respond to most postings of peers within a 48 hour period.




Discussion postings respond to most postings of peers several days after the initial discussion.




Discussion postings are at midpoint or later in the module or contributions are only posted on the last day of the module.



No post
Etiquette in Dialogue with Peers
Written interactions on the discussion board show respect and sensitivity to peers’ gender, cultural and linguistic background, sexual orientation, political and religious beliefs.




Written interactions on the discussion board show respect and interest in the viewpoints of others.




Some of the written interactions on the discussion board show respect and interest in the viewpoints of others.




Written interactions on the discussion board show disrespect for the viewpoints of others.



No post
Quality of Writing and Proofreading
Written responses are free of grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors. The style of writing facilitates communication.




Written responses are largely free of grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors. The style of writing generally facilitates communication.




Written responses include some grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors that distract the reader.




Written responses contain numerous grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors. The style of writing does not facilitate effective communication.



No post

16 Point Discussion Rubric (U Iowa)

Import this 16 Point Rubric into your course from Canvas Commons.

CriteriaExcellent
(4 points)
Good
(3 points)
Fair
(2 points)
Poor
(0 points)
Relevance of Post
Posting thoroughly answers the discussion prompts and demonstrates understanding of material with well-developed ideas. Posting integrates assigned content and makes strong connections to practice.

Posting addresses most of the prompt(s) and demonstrates mild understanding of material with well-developed ideas. Posting references assigned content and may not make connections to practice.

Posting fails to address all components of the prompt. Makes short or irrelevant remarks. Posting lacks connection to practice.
No posting.
Quality of PostAppropriate comments: thoughtful, reflective, and respectful of other’s postings.Appropriate comments and responds respectfully to other’s postings.Responds, but with minimum effort. (e.g. “I agree with Pat”)No posting
Contribution to Learning CommunityPost meaningful questions to the community; attempts to motivate the group discussion; presents creative approaches to topic.Attempts to direct the discussion and to present relevant viewpoints for consideration by group; interacts freely.Minimum effort is made to participate in learning community as it develops.No feedback provided to fellow student(s).
MechanicsWriting is free of grammatical, spelling, or punctuation errors.Writing includes less than 5 grammatical, spelling, or punctuation errors.Writing includes 4-5 grammatical, spelling, or punctuation errors.Writing contains more than 5 grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors.

Simple Online Discussion Rubric (UCF)

Import this Simple Online Discussion Rubric into your course from Canvas Commons.

CriteriaProvocative
(20 points)
Substantial
(15 points)
Superficial
(10 points)
Incorrect
(5 points)
No Marks
(0 points)
ContributionsResponse goes beyond simply answering the prompt; attempts to stimulate further thought & discussionResponse provides most of the content required by the prompt, but does not require further analysis of the subjectResponse provides obvious information without further analysis of the concept; lacks depth of knowledge or reasoningResponse does not accurately address the prompt; rambling and/or without consistencyNo response provided to the prompt within the associated timeframe

Educause Quarterly issue on Online Student Retention includes UIS strategies

Sustaining Students: Retention Strategies in an Online Program

by Emily Boles, Barbara Cass, Carrie Levin, Raymond E. Schroeder, and Sharon McCurdy Smith

Published on Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Key Takeaways

  • With students spread across 47 states and a dozen countries, the University of Illinois at Springfield faces a significant challenge in promoting student persistence.
  • Program coordinators who know each student majoring in their online degree program keep in close touch with those students to assure that their learning and academic planning needs are met.
  • Online student peer mentors who model best student practices and serve as a liaison between students and faculty members provide effective support in selected classes.
  • These and other approaches have resulted in an online course completion rate that hovers just two to three percent below the on-campus completion rate, and the degree-completion rate among online students is equally strong.

Read the complete article at: http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/sustaining-students-retention-strategies-online-program

Strategies for Increasing Course Evaluation Response Rates

The Timing – A barrier for course evaluation completion is timing the evaluation close to finals (Cottreau & Hatfield 2001).  At UIS, course evaluations become available three weeks prior to the end of the semester.  Thus, begin asking for feedback earlier in the semester!

You might be concerned that that timing may be too early to get accurate feedback from students, as not all activities and assignments have yet been completed.  Research has shown, however, that the results of course evaluations completed earlier in a course are highly correlated with results of course evaluations completed finals week or after (McNulty et al. 2010).  Not only do you increase the likelihood of having a higher response rate, students completing evaluations earlier provided more qualitative feedback than students completing evaluations later (McNulty et al. 2010).  At UIS, these additional (write-in) comments are provided only to the instructor and are not added to the instructor’s faculty file.

The Frequency – For online course evaluations, post announcements as many times and in as many places as you can:

  • Post the link in your syllabus.
  • Create a specific announcement about the evaluation.

Sample Announcement – Course evaluations are open online. These are very important in improving the quality of classes at UIS. They also are an important instrument used in the promotion and tenure process for faculty members. Please take a few moments to fill out the evaluations for this class and any others you may be taking that have online evaluations: https://uisapp-s.uis.edu/courseevals/login.aspx. These evaluations are available only through Saturday, May 4.Faculty members do not see the results of course evaluations until after final grades are submitted for the term. Thanks for taking the time to fill them out!

  • Include the link to the evaluation in emails and announcements until the end date (And remember the course evaluation is available at x until x date).
  • Add as an item to the course calendar

Tell Students Why It’s Important – Remind students why course evalutions are important at UIS and remind them that you cannot see the feedback until after final grades are due and that it will not impact their grade in any way.  Students are more likely to respond if they knew how their evaluations will be used and what decisions their responses will influence (Kidd & Latif 2003, Anderson et al. 2005; Cottreau & Hatfield 2001; Hatfield & Coyle 2013).  The largest factor for not completing evaluations is that students believe the evaluations will not result in change or would not benefit them (Hatfield & Coyle 2013).

The Method – For on-campus classes at UIS, faculty have the choice of having online or in-class evaluations.  Research is mixed on whether online or paper evaluations result in higher response rate, as shown below:  

  • Compared with paper surveys, online evaluations have been associated with increased response rates (Barnett & Matthews 2009; Anderson et al. 2005; Thorpe 2002; Hatfield & Coyle 2013).  
  • Online ratings produce a lower response rate than in-class ratings (Avery, Bryant, Mathios, Kang, & Bell, 2006; Benton, Webster, Gross, & Pallett, 2010 ; IDEA, 2011; Nulti, 2008).

Your class’s typical attendance rate should be considered when deciding whether the in-class or online evaluation will be more effective. 

Why are Course Evaluations Important at UIS?

Goal #1 of the UIS Strategic Plan states that “UIS will achieve academic excellence through excellence in teaching and learning and excellence in scholarship.”  Action Step #4 of the UIS Strategic Plan states that UIS will “Improve the assessment of learning outcomes and of teaching; use aggregated information from course evaluations to inform faculty development programming:  a) Establish and fund a program to support improvements in the assessment of learning outcomes and program review.  b) Adopt a new course evaluation instrument.  c) Implement a multidimensional approach to teaching evaluation.  d) Use the data from the improved teaching evaluation approach as the basis for issues addressed in faculty development programs.”

Presently, course evaluations are used for retention and promotion decisions and for course improvement.  Completion of student course evaluations is imperative in evaluating curricular trends and teaching effectiveness, particularly if no other assessment methods are performed (Hatfield & Coyle 2013).

Research suggestions that student ratings of courses and faculty are a reliable and useful method of evaluating teaching and course effectiveness (Kidd & Latif 2003).  In fact, student evaluations are as reliable as peer evaluations, provided that response rates are good (Paulsen 2002).  However, course evaluations should be used in conjunction with other evaluation tools, such as the peer evaluation and a teaching portfolio, when evaluating the effectiveness of an instructor.  Research has found that faculty members receiving the best evaluations are not always the most effective teachers according to students (Surratt & Desselle 2007).  The Dr. Fox Effect, as seen in the following video, suggests that a highly expressive presenter can earn high evaluations even when the content presented is nonsensical.

Best Practices for Synchronous Sessions

Carefully Organize Your Synchronous Session

  • Make sure to create an outline for your session.
  • What topics do you want to cover?
  • What materials will you need to share?
  • What questions will you ask?

Connecting to Your Synchronous Session

  • Make sure you are using a high speed Internet connection. Audio and video sharing requires a stable, higher-bandwidth connection that some wireless networks aren’t capable of supplying.
  • Join the live session before the scheduled start time.
  • Conduct an audio check.

Synchronous Session Best Practices

  • Offer Students Options – Consider making the synchronous sessions optional or offering several sessions from which your students may choose.  Requiring synchronous sessions reduces the flexibility that appeals to, and is often necessary for the schedules of, many online students. They will appreciate your extra efforts in schedule accommodations.
  • Inform Your Students – Send an email or post information in Blackboard for your students explaining the technology and how they will use it.
  • Schedule a Trial Run – Test your web conferencing tool first, if possible, with someone who can log in from a different location as a “test audience.”  Then you can run through your materials early, checking that everything loads properly.
  • Use the Moderator Override Functions – Learn how to use moderator override functions, such as turning students’ mics down.
  • Mention Student Names – Use students’ names as frequently as possible. It grabs their attention and makes the online environment feel more personal.
  • Use Emoticons – Learn to use emoticons to substitute for facial expressions, and learn to interpret your students’ virtual facial expressions.
  • Get Comfortable with Instant Messaging – Learn to monitor the instant messaging feature while you, a guest speaker, or other students are using microphones. This ensures participants without microphones can fully participate.
  • Record Sessions – Recording your sessions allows students who could not attend to listen to the recorded session presentation.
  • Solicit Feedback – Ask for feedback from your students to help you improve content and delivery for your next course by using the polling feature