Grading with Rubrics in Moodle

Rubrics are advanced grading forms used for criteria-based assessment. The rubric consists of a set of criteria. For each criterion, several descriptive levels are provided. A numerical grade is assigned to each of these levels. The rater chooses which level answers/describes the given criterion best. The raw rubric score is calculated as a sum of all criteria grades. The final grade is calculated by comparing the actual score with the worst/best possible score that could be received.

Creating a Rubric

1. Select the “Edit Mode” toggle in the upper right to begin editing the course site.
2. Create a new assignment by clicking “Add an activity or resource” and then “Assignment’ in the appropriate topic section.
3. In the assignment settings, set the “Grade” setting to be equal to the maximum point value possible on your rubric. This is important! Do not set it to, e.g., 100 unless your rubric will sum to 100.
4. Choose Rubric from the Grading Method drop-down box.
5. Fill in any other assignment information you need and click [Save and return to course].
6. On the main course page click the Assignment title to access the assignment summary page.

Defining a Rubric

1. Follow the steps above to create a rubric. Once done so, you’ll be directed to the “Advanced grading” page.
2. Choose “Create new grading form from scratch”.
3. Enter a title and description for your rubric.
4. Click the [Add Criterion] or [Add Level] buttons to adjust the number of each. It is recommended that the lowest level of each criterion be 0 points due to the way the final grade will be calculated.
5. When you have finished adding levels and criteria, click [Save rubric and make it ready].

Editing an Existing Rubric

1. With editing turned on, click the vertical ellipsis (three vertical dots) drop-down menu next to the assignment you want to edit.
2. Select “Edit settings”
3. Select the “Advanced grading” tab.
4. Click “Edit the current form definition” to edit the rubric.

Using a Rubric

1. On the main course page click the assignment, then click the [Grade] button.
2. The rubric will show up on the right side of the page. You can click the level for each criterion (it will change color to green) and also leave comments for the student in each row if you wish.
3. When finished, click [Save and Show Next] to move to the next student.

Student View

If you choose the “Notify Students” option, the student gets an email with a link to the assignment page, or you can instruct them to go look at the assignment page to view their feedback. The student will see the entire rubric indicating the levels you chose for their assignment, as well as any feedback comments.