Transcript RUBRIC-MAKING AS A CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT

RUBRIC-MAKING AS A
CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT
A RUBRIC FOR
ETHICAL DECISION
MAKING
OBJECTIVE OF THIS ASSESSMENT
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1. To have students participate in constructing
a rubric for assessing their own ability to make
moral and ethical arguments.
2. To see whether the dimensions students
generate for the rubric are in keeping with the
objectives of the course.
BUILDING A RUBRIC
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After we had dealt with several real situations
which called for the students to make moral
and ethical decisions, I asked them to answer
two questions anonymously:
1. How have you improved in making moral
and ethical decisions?
2. How would you like to improve in making
moral and ethical decisions?
BUILDING A RUBRIC
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I then reviewed their answers and looked for
what I considered dimensions of moral and
ethical reasoning. Some were mentioned
several times while others were only
mentioned once.
DIMENSIONS MENTIONED BY
STUDENTS
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1. Using clearly worded arguments when I
state my position;
2. Stating my position without offending others;
3. Making sure I have all the facts before I
make my decision;
4. Taking my time rather than rushing to make
a decision on an issue;
5. Listen carefully when others state their
positions on an issue;
DIMENSIONS MENTIONED BY
STUDENTS
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6. Supporting my arguments with biblical
truths;
7. Having a clear process for moving all the
way to a decision;
8. Making my decisions based on reason
rather than letting my emotions get the “upper
hand”;
9. Making sure I have good support for my
positions (facts, reasons, statistics,etc.).
DIMENSIONS MENTIONED BY
STUDENTS
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10. Taking the views of others into
consideration when I make my decisions.
11. Staying well informed on the issues of the
day.
12. Learning to use sources in addition to the
Bible to support my position.
BUILDING A RUBRIC
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My next step was to ask the students to vote
on which five of the dimensions they generated
they thought would be most helpful in
assessing their ability to make moral and
ethical decisions.
BUILDING A RUBRIC
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The dimensions they selected were:
1. Using clearly worded arguments when I state my
position;
2.Making sure I have good support for my position
(facts, reasoning, statistics, etc.).
3. Taking the views of others into consideration when I
make my decision;
4. Supporting my arguments with biblical truth;
5. Taking my time rather than rushing into a decision.
BUILDING A RUBRIC
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My next step was to involve the students in actually
constructing the rubric as a group in class. This did
not work for me. Students found this exercise
frustrating. Other instructors have told me they had the
same experience.
Rubrics require a preciseness and economy of
language that at least my students were not able to
deal with. They certainly could get the concept, but
they could not handle the formulation of the actual
language.
BUILDING A RUBRIC
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I therefore built the rubric myself. I then
distributed it to the students and asked them to
use it to assess their ability to make moral and
ethical arguments at this point in the semester.
I had them turn them in with their names.
At the end of the semester I will have them fill
out the rubric again and then give them the one
they filled out earlier.
BUILDING A RUBRIC
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Finally, I will ask them to write a reflective
piece, based on the two rubric results,
addressing what they think they have learned
in the course.
WHAT I LEARNED
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I was very happy that both listening and speaking were
involved in the top five dimensions the students
selected. They were not only focusing on persuading
others to accept their views.
I was pleased that a research dimension was also in
the top five.
I was pleased that they consider the Bible a major
source of support in their moral and ethical decisions.
WHAT I LEARNED
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I was not pleased that the use of major approaches to
moral and ethical issues (I.e., Aristotle’s Golden Mean,
Rawls’ Veil of Ignorance, Utilitarianism, Kant’s
Categorical Imperative, Christian Ethic of Love) did not
turn up anywhere in the students’ writing.
I was not pleased that the Potter Box, a method we use
in class for making moral and ethical decisions
(created by Dr. Ralph Potter of Harvard Divinity
School) did not turn up in any of the students’ writing.
We use the Potter Box repeatedly in dealing with case
studies in the class.
WHAT I LEARNED
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They generated these dimensions early in the course.
Of course they would have added the major
approaches and the Potter Box if they were to generate
those dimensions later in the course. (:>) At least I
hope they would.
The Kingdom Ethics text has a somewhat different
method and students may get confused between the
two. I should probably use one or the other throughout
the course.
In the future, I will add a dimension on the major
approaches and/or the Potter Box even if they are not
generated by students.
WHAT I LEARNED
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I learned that I should give students a sample
rubric as a model before asking them to work
on building one for themselves. Since this is
not a course preparing students to use rubrics
later on, I am not sure how important it is to
have students actually work on the rubric
construction themselves anyway.
WHAT I LEARNED
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Senior Colloquium as I teach it is more
discussion of the readings than lecture. I may
need to think of ways to get students to wrestle
more with the ethical and theological concepts
in addition to learning to listen and respond
effectively to the views of others.