A Second Look at Rubrics
Jun 15th, 2009 by Michele Brannon-Hamilton
After completing my LMS proposal, I reread the group rubrics we created. I wanted to know if I would see things differently after delving into the depths of writing a proposal.
Several things became apparent. I understood the purpose of the rubric in a new way. I saw it as a tool to convince someone to purchase what I was suggesting. In ETEC 520, we learned that tying your idea to the organization’s vision could make or break an idea.
Yes, the rubric was a tool to evaluate an LMS but it was also a measuring stick. Would my LMS achieve what I needed for the school? Would the faculty buy into the idea? Would it be easy for the students to use? How much would it cost?
By tying the LMS proposal to the rubric, I could see how they needed each other to complete the picture I was trying to sell. So what picture did we create?
I noticed a few buzz words appear across our work: cost, active learning, collaboration, communication, interactivity, assessment and feedback.
We also had some interesting points to make: Group 3 mentioned record management which would be important to the organization and the instructors. Group 5 mentioned considering teachers, students and organizations when choosing a LMS.
Group 1 reminded us of the importance of communicating with each other. Group 2 used a method of scoring that would encourage purchasers to pick the LMS with the best overall qualities. Group 4 used the categories content, interaction and management which encompass some of the details mentioned by all groups like cost and collaboration.
Overall, we created the categories needed to write a comprehensive proposal. Inadvertently, we used WebCT/Vista to do many of the things we claimed a good LMS should do: create, discuss, collaborate, communicate and learn. Kudos to us!