Starting this fall the Center will be hosting a new Teaching Assistants workshop series. The series will be discussions for incoming, current and former Teaching Assistants. There are all sorts of components entailed in being a Teaching Assistant and instructing a room full of college students, and the Center would like to work with TA’s to discuss the many aspects. We will be talking about everything from taking attendance, to assessments, to writing syllabi. Resources and other suggestions will be offered to aid in every part of being a TA.
The Center is aiming to start this series of workshops in late August, with the next workshop to come around mid-October, and a final workshop towards the end of fall semester. The exact times and dates for the workshops will be forthcoming. Please see the Center’s website for further details in the near future.
July 22nd, 2008
During this era in education, when standards are being stringently enforced and instructors are being held accountable for what they get done in their courses, the use of rubrics is becoming more common. They are a designed evaluation guide for instructors and students to use as a point of reference, with specific assessment criteria for any assignment, project, requirement, and/or course. Rubrics allow students to have an idea of what is expected of their work, thus putting responsibility into the hands of students. Students can see what the instructor is looking for when their work is assessed. The amount that a teacher has to repeat their expectations, and students feeling misguided, can be significantly reduced.
The traditional rubric with percentages and listed criteria for earning an “A” or “B” in a course have drastically changed. Today rubrics have become creative and versatile. A rubric can be created for essentially any aspect of any course. The website addresses below provide examples of different rubric designs and creations, and their rationale.
Indiana University at Kokomo’s Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment
Kappa Omicron Nu Honors Society website
Chicago Public Schools online resource to rubrics
May 27th, 2008
