The document outlines the use of rubrics in an online Master of Food, Nutrition, and Health course to enhance student feedback and promote a learning culture. It discusses the implementation challenges, the importance of clearly defined skills and feedback mechanisms, and the integration of rubrics into Brightspace for assessments. Future plans include evaluating the rubric processes and improving standards based on student and tutor feedback.

1. Fixing feedback:
the case for using rubrics
Dr Sharleen O’Reilly
UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science

2. Content
Rubrics
Why use them?
Meet the students
Why use rubrics with this module?
Challenges
What needed planning and consideration?
Brightspace
How can rubrics be integrated into teaching?
Outcomes
What progress has been made?
Future plans
Where to next?

3. Rubrics
Why use them?

4. Rubrics = marking scheme?

5. Conversations
+
Culture
Strategy
+
Planning
TIME
(Murch, 2018)
Feedback as a learning culture

6. Meet the students
Why use rubrics in this module?

7. Master of Food, Nutrition and Health
Fully online course
Global
Students located
anywhere in world
Connection
Remote learning can
leave students feeling
disadvantaged
Standards
Transparency and
accountability
Communication
Over-reliance on academic
support
FDSC40580 Research Project (n=40+)
AT1 Literature review 40%, AT2 Project proposal 60%, graded

8. Challenges
What needed planning and consideration?

9. 9
Planning the journey
Start at the end!
• What do you want students to be able to do at the end of semester?
• What are those skills?
• How will students know they are ‘doing it’?
• What evidence can students develop on performing skill?
Signpost feedback
• Do students know what feedback/rubric is?
• Do they see value in self and peer feedback vs teacher?
• Do they understand the rubric?
• Do they have clear feedforward that they can act on?

10. 1
0
Literature review assignment
Develop rubric
• Levels and criteria
developed
• Trialled with other staff
for comprehension
Work with
tutors
• Template feedback
for rubric
• Start and keep
conversation focused
on feed forward
Timetable
• Plan feedback period
into semester and
assessment marking
Work with
students
• Start and keep
conversation on feed
forward
• Explore rubric
regularly and how
will be used for
feedback
Evaluate
• What worked?
• What didn’t?
• What needs to change?
from teaching and
student perspectives

12. Brightspace
How can rubrics be integrated into teaching?

13. Brightspace
Assessment
• Select to ‘add rubric’
• Steps to set up mostly
easy but recommend
getting support to
ensure set-up correctly
Settings
• Consider rubric type –
holistic or graded

17. Outcomes
What progress has been made?

19. Example tutor template
Proficient/ C grade
{firstname}, well done on completing this assignment.
Your work was able to identify the main literature review areas and synthesize the literature in a
meaningful way.
[Can insert comment here on any elements that might be improved in future].
Your self-assessment was [inline with own or identify where differences occurred and why].
Some suggestions to improve your work further would be [aim to suggest feedforward, specific
options related to doing this assignment again or similar use of skills].
Congratulations on your hard work, I enjoyed reading your literature review.

20. 2
0
Post-semester evaluation
Peer feedback
More work needed to
improve standards and
process
02
Unpack process
More work needed on the
‘how to’ + steps needed for
tutors and students
03
Conversations
Professional development
and facilitator focus valued
01

21. Future plans
Where to next?

22. Questions?
@oreillysharleen sharleen.oreilly@ucd.ie