A rubric is a tool that lists the evaluation criteria for an assignment you have posted in Blackboard. When a rubric is linked to an assignment or other gradable feature, it can easily be accessed from within the Grade Center in order to make evaluating your students' work online easier. The rubric will only be visible to the course instructor.

Creating a Rubric

1. From the Control Panel, click Course Tools. Then select Rubrics.
   
                               
   
   
2. Click the Create Rubric button.
   
   
   
   
3. Under the Rubric Information section, provide a name and a description of the assignment.
   
   
   
   
4. By default, the rubric grid appears with three rows for criteria and 3 columns for levels of possible achievement. You can add additional criteria and grade levels using the Add Row and Add Column buttons under the Rubric Detail section.
   
   
   
   
5. You can change the names of the criteria and levels by clicking the chevron to the right of the title and selecting Edit.
   
   
   
   
   A small pop-up will appear where you can type a new name and click Save.
   
   
   
   
6. Next, fill in the text boxes that qualify the level of proficiency for each criterion. You can display the points available in each level by clicking "Show Points," or you can associate a range of points to be earned for each level of achievement by selecting the box in front of "Show Point Range" and filling in point values in the text boxes.
   
   
   
   
7. Click Submit.
   
   
   
   
8. A confirmation message will appear; your rubric will now appear on your Rubrics page and is ready to be associated with an item in the Grade Center.
   
   
   
   

Applying a Rubric to an Item in the Grade Center

1. From the Control Panel, click Grade Center; select Full Grade Center.
   
   
   
   
2. Click the chevron associated with the column in the Grade Center that you would like to apply the rubric to. Select View and Add Rubrics.
   
   
   
   
3. From the pop-up window that appears, click the Add Rubric button.
   
   
   
   
4. A new window will open that displays a list of available rubrics. Check the box next to the rubric you wish to apply to the Grade Center item. Click Submit.
   
   
   
   
5. You will be redirected to the Rubrics pop-up window. There will now be Actions buttons next to the name of the rubric. You can either View the rubric or Remove the rubric association. If you do not wish to view or remove the rubric, simply click the gray "X" in the upper right corner of the pop-up.
   
   
   
   

Viewing a Rubric While Grading

In the Grade Center, rubrics can be accessed when grading an individual student's assignment or when grading all the assignments within a certain column.

Grading Individual Assignments

1. From the Full Grade Center page, mouse over the cell you would like to grade. Click the chevron that appears in the cell and select View Grade Details.
   
   
   
   
2. On the Grade Details page, there is now a View Rubric button in the upper right corner. Clicking this button will open the rubric in a pop-up window for easy reference while grading.
   
   

Grading All Assignments in a Column

1. From the Full Grade Center page, click the chevron associated with the column you would like to grade. Select Grade Attempts from the menu.
   
   
   
   
2. From the Grade Assignment page for the assignment you are grading, you can click the View Rubric button to open the rubric you created in a new window.
   
   
   
   

NOTE: Rubrics can also be created and applied to threads and forums in the Discussion Board, blog posts, and journal entries.


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