Turnitin Rubrics & Grading Forms

What are Turnitin rubrics?

Rubric scorecards can be used to evaluate student work against defined criteria (learning outcomes) and scales.

The use of rubrics can aid consistency of practice between markers, and provide greater transparency to learners as to how their mark was arrived at – and how they could do better in future. In conjunction with other feedback tools within Turnitin GradeMark, they can provide an online equivalent of the feedback sheets currently in use in the University.

Turnitin rubrics are presented as a matrix:

  • Each row represents a specific assessment criterion.
  • Columns denote levels of attainment.
  • Descriptive text (e.g. “Excellent analytical skills and problem solving skills”, “Partial success at arriving at a solution and solving a problem”) is shown in each cell.
Screenshot of a Turnitin Rubric

There are three types of rubric available in Turnitin:

  • Qualitative rubric
    This type of rubric does not assign numeric marks, but can be used to indicate to the student how they have performed against each criterion.
  • Standard rubric
    Allows you to assign point values to each column, with a percentage weighting for each criterion (e.g. ‘Analysis and problem solving 15%’, ‘Selection of sources 10%’)
  • Custom rubric
    Allows you to assign any value to individual rubric cells. Values can contain a decimal point, and the total points available do not have to equal 100. This can give you close control over the scoring, but you may find that you need a considerable number of columns in order to cover the range adequately.
  • When using standard or custom rubrics to mark, as you select the appropriate cell for each criterion, Feedback Studio calculates a mark and adds up the total for the rubric. You can choose to apply this total as the overall mark for the a student’s work. This would be appropriate where the mark awarded is directly aligned with the successful completion of specific tasks or achievement of defined outcomes.

Rubrics you create are stored in your personal Turnitin ‘Rubric Library’ – this means that you can use a rubric on a Turnitin assignment in any Blackboard course on which you are enrolled.

You can also share the rubrics with colleagues.

Using Turnitin rubrics to mark and provide feedback

Covers how to

  • create a Rubric
  • attach a Rubric to an Assignment
  • mark and provide feedback with a Rubric
  • share Rubrics with colleagues

How to Export and Import Rubrics
Sharing your rubrics with colleagues.

Create and Import a qualitative rubric using Excel

Duplicating a Rubric
How to copy a Rubric you can view but do not own.

Attaching a Rubric or Grading Form

Turnitin Rubrics – who can see them and where?
A warning for courses where multiple staff are involved in marking.

Grading Forms

Turnitin Grading Forms are simple rubrics that allow an instructor to give free-form feedback (and, optionally, scores) against a predefined set of criteria.

Marking with Turnitin Grading Forms

See also the Turnitin help site:

Recommendation

We recommend that on each Blackboard course one person – whether that be the Module Convenor or Course Administrator – is given the responsibility of attaching an appropriate Rubric or Marking Form, and no other staff member should change the Rubric settings.

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