The electronic management of assessment (EMA) has forced universities to consider a more strategic approach to e-assessment. Piecemeal adoption of the various components from plagiarism detection to feedback methods have led to varying degrees of use and uptake by lecturers. The increased focus on rubrics for feedback and marking has raised issues with colleagues on the comparative advantages between Blackboard and Turnitin and even Excel. In isolation, can a case be made for one over another? Regardless of which rubric is adopted, they cannot be exported from one system to another.

1. Rubrics – Blackboard, Turnitin and Excel.
Jim Emery
Glasgow Caledonian University

2. Electronic Management of Assessment (EMA)
GCU developing a Digital Strategy
Expectation student submissions will be ‘electronic’
Turnitin seen as the vehicle for delivery
Student feedback to be returned within 21 days
BUT…..
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3. Use of Turnitin in GCU (usage)
Current Survey in progress
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Regularly Variable Never
Create assignments 59% 26% 17%
Use Quickmarks 33% 21% 46%
Create Rubrics 25% 25% 50%

4. Use of Turnitin in GCU (confidence)
Current Survey in progress
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Extremely Moderate Not very
Create assignments 58% 26% 16%
Use Quickmarks 31% 32% 37%
Create Rubrics 29% 30% 41%

5. Rubrics Definition-
A rubric is a scorecard
that can be used to
evaluate student work based on defined criteria and scales
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6. Rubrics Cube
• Turnitin
• Blackboard
• Excel
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7. Marking grid
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8. Turnitin rubric
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9. Turnitin Rubric detail
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10. Excel Spreadsheet
Rubric Value Generator
100% 85% 75% 65% 55% 45% 40% 35% 30% 0%
A++ A+ A B C D D- F UF Zero
30% 30.00% 25.50% 22.50% 19.50% 16.50% 13.50% 12.00% 10.50% 9.00% 0.00%
40% 40.00% 34.00% 30.00% 26.00% 22.00% 18.00% 16.00% 14.00% 12.00% 0.00%
20% 20.00% 17.00% 15.00% 13.00% 11.00% 9.00% 8.00% 7.00% 6.00% 0.00%
10% 10.00% 8.50% 7.50% 6.50% 5.50% 4.50% 4.00% 3.50% 3.00% 0.00%
100% WARNING: Criteria add up to more than 100%
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Developed by John Smith, Learning Technologist, GCU

11. Blackboard rubric
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12. Blackboard rubric 2
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13. Turnitin rubric 1
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14. Turnitin rubric 2
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15. Turnitin rubric 3
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• Quick mark association

16. Turnitin Grading Form 1
A Grading form can be used to provide free form feedback and
scores to evaluate student work based on defined criteria
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17. Turnitin grading form 2
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18. Summary
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Rubrics can help in creating grades and giving feedback in a
transparent way.
You can use Excel to create an electronic marking grid but also
use it for checking rubric accuracy
Blackboard rubrics provide a straightforward integrated
assessment tool as part on an EMA route
Turnitin has additional rubric features which makes it a more
obvious choice as part an EMA package
BUT….

19. Any Questions?
Jim Emery
j.emery@gcu.ac.uk
@gcujime
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A vision of EMA at GCU?
All images are either my own or copyright free
JISC
http://ema.jiscinvolve.org/wp/