Abstract:

The adaptation of Higher Education to the European Higher Education Area has introduced a new model in which the student is a key element in learning process. In this context, the evaluation learning systems have redefined in order to promote a teaching-learning process in which the student can be the main character.

As a consequence of this modification, new evaluation instruments have emerged, prioritizing formative evaluation. Among them, rubrics are highlighted since their main purpose is to guide the evaluation of the works elaborated by the students. A rubric is a table composed of two axes. One of them considers the criteria that the teacher will take into account to assess the students’ assignments. The other axe considers various levels of performance that the student can achieve, such as excellent, good, acceptable, and insufficient. Among the advantages attributed to rubrics stands out its potential to establish a common evaluation framework, permitting evaluations that are more objective.

This article presents an experience on the use of the rubric in the subject "Research in Social Welfare Systems" belonging to the Degree in Social Work at the University of Valencia. The objective was to develop a tool which could introduce objective criteria to evaluate scientific and research proposals developed by students. Moreover, it was intended that students become involved in an active way in their learning process.

The elaborated rubric consisted of four levels of performance (excellent, good, adequate and need to be improved) and 6 evaluation criteria to evaluate the scientific proposals. The rubric was administered to the students at two different times: during the elaboration of the proposals in class, to show the students the evaluation criteria, and before their submission to help the final revision of the proposal by the students.

In order to evaluate its impact on the student learning process, at the end of the course a questionnaire was administered so that students could evaluate the impact that the several tools used in the subject had had on their learning process. Each tool was rated with a Likert scale with 4 levels, where 4 implies the highest and 1 the least impact. In addition, in each item, the students could express their reasons for score. This questionnaire was administered to 22 students.

The results have shown that the students scored the impact of the rubric in 3.04 out of 4. Among the advantages attributed to this instrument the students pointed out that it was a tool that helped them to guide them and clarify their doubts about the assignment to perform. The fact that it showed all the requirements that the work should have was highlighted as a positive aspect. However, among the disadvantages, it was considered that this instrument was very long and extensive and some of the criteria were exigent.

From the teacher's point of view, it is considered that the rubric has been a tool that has facilitated the work of marking scientific proposals, introducing a common framework for the evaluation of very diverse works. This has contributed to greater objectivity in the marking process. From the point of view of the students, it was positively valued due to the fact that it offered guidance and show the elements that the lecturer would take into account in the evaluation of their assignments.

Keywords:

Educational innovation, rubric, evaluation, social work.