Abstract:

Background:
When rubrics are used as a student-centered assessment approach, they have the potential to help students understand the targets of their learning process and the standards of quality for a particular assignment, as well as to make dependable judgments about their own work that can provide feedback and improvement.
(1) In other words, rubrics may promote learning. This potential of rubrics lies in the fact that they make expectations and criteria explicit, which also facilitates self-assessment and feedback
(2) That is why, last academic year rubrics were introduced as teaching material in the practical component of the course Physiotherapy in Clinical Specialties IV at the University of Valencia. Thus, the perception of the students about these tools to promote learning is of great concern.

Purpose:
To determine the students´ perception of the utility of rubrics to promote learning for studying the practical component of the course Physiotherapy in Clinical Specialities IV.

Methods:
A survey type study was carried out. A 15-item questionnaire about the utility, satisfaction and learning promotion of rubrics was developed. The practical component of the course was composed of 7 lessons about neurodevelopment (P1 and P2), orofacial physiotherapy (P3), therapeutic exercises in ataxia (P4), proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (P5), and children assessment and treatment (P6 and P7). For every lesson, the rubric was provided to students. In the questionnaire, students were asked to rate their level of agreement with each item on a 7-alternative Likert scale. Finally, a descriptive study of the questionnaire was performed and its internal consistency was determined using the alpha coefficient (Cronbach α).

Results:
The questionnaire was answered by 158 physiotherapy students (56.33% women). Average scores of each item showed that students had a positive perception of the utility and learning promotion of the provided rubrics. The highest rated items were: 3- I have found them useful (5.52±2.12), 10- I would recommend them to my colleagues (5.52±2.06) and 14- I think it is necessary to have them (5.47±2.14). On the contrary, the lowest rated item was: 11- It is amusing using them to study (4.39±2.09). Total reliability of the questionnaire was high (Cronbach α=0.99).

Conclusions:
Physiotherapy students found that rubrics are useful to promote learning. Therefore, they could be used in the undergraduate education in order to help students to learn practical contents.

References:
[1] Reddy Y.M. & Andrade H. A review of rubric use in higher education. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education. 2010,35 (4):435–448.
[2] Jonsson A. & Svingby G. The use of scoring rubrics: Reliability, validity and educational consequences. Educational Research Review. 2007, 2:130–144.

Keywords:

Rubrics, physiotherapy, undergraduate education, utility, promotion of learning.