Developing Rubrics For Performance Based Assessment Through Collaborative Effort

Despite the multiple benefits of performance-based assessment, the biggest challenge is the subjectivity in scoring. Rubrics are recommended to reduce its subjectivity and make scoring more reliable. However, educators tend to shy away from utilizing performance-based assessment due to the challenges faced in designing good rubrics. Collaborative efforts have often been advocated in developing good quality rubrics especially for tertiary level, however how academics from various disciplines can work together have not been dealt sufficiently. This qualitative study was carried out to collaboratively develop oral presentation and written report assessment rubrics that can be used as a guideline for developing task specific rubrics by lecturers across disciplines of study. The first stage involved seven experienced lecturers who met regularly to develop the initial drafts. This was followed by a survey utilising open-ended questionnaire items conducted with 60 lecturers to gather their feedback on the rubrics developed in the first stage. While highlighting the comprehensiveness of the criteria included in the rubrics and its value as a useful point of reference, the respondents suggested improvements on the performance descriptors. The initial draft was further improved based on the feedback and shared at the university level digital platform