Improved rubric creation and usability

[jsailor]

Theme Overview

Rubrics are a powerful tool for helping students understand expectations and better ensure that scoring is accurate, unbiased, and consistent. Improving the creation workflow and usability will save instructors time and enhance student outcomes.

What value could this provide to users?

• Provide additional editing capabilities that save the instructor time in creating and updating rubrics.
  
• Simplify the management and workflow for connecting and disconnecting from artifacts.
  
• Improved interface, default settings, and formatting options.
  
• Added flexibility in viewing preferences.
• Export capabilities

Why was this theme chosen to open for voting?

April 2023 • Rubrics are a widely used powerful assessment tool. We’ve heard feedback from our Community and customers directly that by Improving the current experience, we can make our instructors’ and students’ lives easier.

Why was this theme chosen for prioritization?

June 2023 • Rubrics are a powerful assessment tool and are used by many of our users. The UI/UX improvements to rubrics come up frequently on customer calls, and this was the top-voted theme.

[JamesSekcienski]

@jsailor 

Are there any details on what is being prioritized and/or developed for this theme?

[LMacaulay]

Another request that has recently come up for our institution is that we would like to either be able to customize the colors that appear once a rubric rating is selected or to remove those colors altogether. We use outcomes and the "green" level is actually an "exceptional" level and the second rating is what is expected, so having that rating NOT green causes undue stress for students.  The screenshot attached shows a composite of how each level on our one outcome appears in the rubric and you can see from the wording that this is a developmental rubric where the outcome is expected to improve towards mastery over time, so getting a red or orange rating is not supportive of student growth. Please consider making the color coding optional or at least customizable. 

[ahickman]

While these changes are happening, it would also be great if outcomes rubrics could be tied to Canvas credentials so that a badge could be automatically issued when mastery is reached on an outcome. 

[JamesSekcienski]

@KristinL and @jsailor,

This theme has been changed to "In Development" but I haven't seen any communication from the Product Teams providing updates on this theme nor engaging the community on the potential solutions.  Maybe I missed an update somewhere else about this and if I did, would you please provide a link to the update?

On the Product Roadmap I see the following related to rubrics:

Improved rubrics enables instructors to provide more meaningful feedback, and self assessment support encourages learner agency.

When are more details going to be shared about this solution that is in development?  Based on the above title, it doesn't seem like it is going to address the main concerns people have been discussing on here, but it is difficult to tell what is in development based on this heading alone.

[RaviKoll]

Thank you for all your awesome feedback. We are carefully reviewing each and every one of your comments, and your insights are truly invaluable. We are aiming for a release of the Rubric Redesign towards the end of Q1 /early Q2 in 2024. Our primary focus is on addressing major concerns to enhance the user experience.

Following the initial release, we have plans for ongoing updates in both Phase 2 and Phase 3 releases. Please rest assured that we are actively listening to your voices and doing our utmost to accommodate your requests. While we may not have everything you need with the Version 1.0 redesign launch, we are diligently working to ensure that the rubric experience sets a new standard for all our amazing users.

Once again, thank you all for providing such amazing feedback. We will keep you updated on what to expect with Version 1.0, and we truly appreciate your patience as we progress through the development process.

[JamesSekcienski]

@RaviKoll 

Thank you for the update.  When can we expect to learn more about what you have in the works for version 1.0?  Can you share any details about what is currently in development?

[JamesSekcienski]

@RaviKoll 

Can you share any information about what is being changed/improved with the version 1.0 redesign?  Also, what are the "major concerns" you are focusing on addressing? 

Will there be a design survey that users can provide feedback on like we have seen with some other features before version 1.0 is launched?

[RaviKoll]

We're thrilled to let you know that our Rubric Redesign is currently in progress, and come November, we'll be sharing an informative blog providing insights into all that the redesign encompasses. We truly appreciate your patience, and will our best to ensure a smooth transition to the updated rubric. The excitement and anticipation surrounding this redesign have been truly inspiring, and we're dedicated to not only meeting but exceeding your expectations. Just a few more weeks, and you can look forward to a comprehensive outline of what's in store.

[tslee]

Gotchas

1) During the process of attaching an existing rubric - Canvas labels do not distinguish which assignments are already using a rubric

2) Delete All - odd behavior when delete assignments totally the rubric will still remain in course library (rubrics tab on left). BUT if you keep assignment but unlink the rubric inside, the last one will completely delete the rubric from the course (no where to be found or restore!)

[JamesSekcienski]

@RaviKoll 

While I am looking forward to reading the comprehensive outline in a few weeks, we have been waiting awhile now to receive specific updates on what to expect with this theme and what is being developed.  Can you share anything now about what is going to change and/or specific major concerns that are going to be addressed with this re-design in version 1.0?  For example, the theme focused on discussion boards has at least shared they are working on checkpoints.  While a comprehensive overview of the feature hasn't been shared yet, we at least have some idea of a specific change to expect with that theme.

In addition, what do you mean when you say you will do your "best to ensure a smooth transition to the updated rubric"?  Is the new design about to replace the existing design when launched or will it be treated like other redesigns and launch as a "Feature Option"/"Feature Preview" first?

Since you are dedicated to exceeding expectations and major concerns are the primary focus, does that mean the following are going to be addressed in this re-design?

• Providing the ability to import and export rubrics with a CSV (or similar) format
• Providing the ability to export all rubric criteria scores (not just outcomes) for data analysis and reporting
• Providing the ability to re-arrange criteria rows in a rubric and/or insert a new criteria row in a rubric somewhere other than the end.
• Making it so it doesn't require as many clicks and pop-up windows to create a rubric in the user interface
• Providing text formatting options in the comment areas of the rubric

[SamanthaMaselli]

I just wanted to shout this out.... https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Ideas/Canvas-Mobile-Student-Improve-student-view-of-rubric...

I had no way to upvote this user's comment about the student view on iOS so I'm posting here...I hope that this is incorporated!

[rlapkass]

Please don't forget about being able to make edits or bulk uploads to free-form rubric comments also, for a full solution. Along with being able to easily upload rubrics from CSV or similar formats, we also need a way to manage (create, update, delete) free-form rubric comments within individual items of a rubric. These two together would comprise a HUGE time savings in grading and rubric maintainability! 

https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Ideas/Rubrics-Edit-or-Delete-Saved-Comments/idi-p/371106

[baldwinsh]

I am looking forward to seeing the blog post on the rubric redesign!

I hope that you are considering the look of the rubric. Keeping the table formatted in a grid pattern where the lines between ratings stay the same width would be very nice. I have instructors who prefer to use a Word document to grade with just because the formatting is cleaner and stays in straight lines regardless of the amount of description used in a rating. My institution prefers to use low-inference rubrics and those can't always be written in 5 words or less. 

Also, having the RCE would be great! Then I wouldn't need to use the Tamper Monkey extension to move lines of a rubric from one space to another. 🙂

Color coding would be a unique way to rate an assignment rather than by numbers or words. That could be cool, too.

[MarcBelgrad]

There is no way to delete or edit "saved comments" in rubrics. This would be a helpful feature and its absence creates problems.

[DavidMerino]

I may be probably missing something, but I am wondering why is this idea not being added to this theme?

The option to have a percentage based rubric seems an idea that has been around for a long while, it has quite a lot of acceptance, and seems like a pretty natural upgrade from 

[JessicaKos]

Wondering why Rubrics are not automatically set for grading? Having to 1) add rubric in an assignment, 2) edit rubric, and 3) check the box to "Use this rubric for assignment grading" opens the door for missing a step whether from an instructor, ID, or SME which then creates IDT tickets and troubleshooting time. If there are reasons that make automatically applying a rubric for grading undesirable, perhaps make the checkbox available when creating from Rubrics so it can be preset for grading (though in my experience as an educator and ID, the main point of adding a rubric is to ease the grading process.)

[baldwinsh]

I also wonder why rubrics require that you mark the box to use rubrics for grading. If I put a rubric in multiple places, I have to edit that rubric each time to check the box to use it for grading. This upsets the program and I get threats that editing the rubric will result in a new rubric based off of the current one being generated and Canvas asks if I am ok with this. Why does this happen? I don't want 10 renditions of the same rubric! Can't the checked box remain checked when I add the rubric to other assignments?

[ScottChristy]

It appears some of the rubric editing ideas go back more than 8 years 😲 to at least 2015 so if the ideas I'm mentioning below are "coming soon" I apologize.

The rubric editor is lacking the following features:

1. The ability to reorder rubric criteria. Minimally an up arrow/down arrow added to the editor interface to move criteria up/down. More current interface design would utilize a drag and drop option.
2. Add HTML editing ability in Criteria Long Description and Rating Description, and/or add formatting tool bar to these text areas.

Though not a feature improvement, the formating of the rubric table columns could be fixed so that columns are not uneven in the Ratings section. See screen shot below.

Thanks!

[mbmacdonald]

@ScottChristy - Good news! Some of things you mentioned ARE coming soon! See this blog post: https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/The-Product-Blog/Embarking-on-a-Journey-of-Transformation-Upcomin... 

I'm just a user, don't work for Instructure, but I have spent a good amount of time this week doing research on rubrics, so I thought I'd share