Brightspace Bites: Tips for Rubrics

This article is part of a series of tips, tricks, and helpful bits of information on various Brightspace tools.

Follow these tips on creating types of rubrics, adding rubrics to Grade items, using multiple rubrics in an assessment, and printing rubrics. 

      1. Holistic Rubrics are designed for single-criterion assessments for one skill or overall activity, whereas Analytic Rubrics are multi-criterion assessments which include different criterion and multiple levels.  To select a rubric type, choose Activities > Rubrics from the Navbar, and press the New button.  The default rubric is an Analytic rubric, however to change to a Holistic rubric, select the Type: button and choose Holistic from the drop down.

      2. Instructors can copy criterion while creating a rubric to make rubric development quicker and the facilitation of reusing a rubric smoother.  To copy a rubric row, choose Activities > Rubrics from the Navbar, and press the New button.  In the Analytic rubric, select the ellipses in the appropriate criterion box and choose Copy Row.  It will copy directly below the original row.

      3. Instructors can add a rubric to a Grade item without adding it to an activity.  Select Grades from the Navbar, then Manage Grades and select the New button and choose Item from the drop down.  Select Numeric (or appropriate choice), fill in the assessment information, and select the Add Rubric button.  Choose the appropriate rubric to add and press the Save and Close button.  Alternatively, if you have a assessment place holder already created in Grades, select the chevron drop down beside the assessment name and choose Edit.  Then select the Add Rubric button. 

      4. To mark an assessment using a rubric attached in Grades, select Grades from the Navbar, and under the Enter Grades page, select Enter Grades from the chevron drop down beside the appropriate assessment name.  Beside each students’ name, choose the Assessment icon to open the rubric to assess the item.  Press Save and Close when done entering grades.

      5. Instructors are able to add multiple rubrics for one assessment.  Select Activities > Assignments from the Navbar, and select the New Assignment button.  Select Evaluation, Feedback & Turnitin on the right and the add rubric drop down. Choose to either create a new rubric or add an existing rubric.  If adding an existing rubric, select the rubrics to add to the assessment and press the Add Selected button.  Fill in the remainder of the assessment information and press the Save and Close button.

      6. Instructors can print or download a PDF version of a rubric.  Ensure there is a rubric already created.  Select Activities > Rubrics from the Navbar,  and select Preview from the chevron drop down beside the rubric name.  Press Print Rubric at the top right of the rubric.  Currently, this option is not available from a mobile device.