General Education Rubrics in Blackboard - Frequently Asked Questions

If your question pertains to the purpose or overall process of the general education assessment initiative, please contact Ed Klonoski at eklonoski@niu.edu or 815-753-7037.

If your question is focused on how the rubrics are used in Blackboard, such as how to set up the rubric or how to assess students, then you can contact the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning by submitting your question using the Ask a Question form.

Except for extreme circumstances, the SLO rubrics should not be modified. In particular, do not change or reorder the column or row headers.

If you have questions or concerns about the contents of the rubric, please contact Ed Klonoski at eklonoski@niu.edu or 815-753-7037.

You will need to set up a column in the Grade Center, and select the rubric for that column. To do so:

1. From within your course in Blackboard, go to the Control Panel and click Grade Center
2. Click Full Grade Center
3. Click the Create Column button
4. Provide a name for the column
5. Enter the Points Possible
   Note: You may enter 0 if you do not want this column to be worth any points
6. Click the Add Rubric menu and then click Select Rubric
7. Click the checkbox in front of one of the SLO rubrics
8. Click the Submit button
9. Under Show Rubric to Students, you may select No to prevent students from seeing the rubric
10. Scroll through the rest of the settings. You can set Show this column to students and Include in Grade Center Calculationsto No
11. Click the Submit button

Repeat this process to create a column for the second rubric.

To assess students using the SLO rubrics:

1. Go the Control Panel and click Grade Center
2. Point your mouse cursor to one of the student cells in the SLO column
3. Click the round drop down arrow for that student
4. Click View Grade Details
5. Click the View Rubric button
6. Record your assessment of the student's achievement by selecting one level of achievement for each row of the rubric
7. Click the Save button to close the rubric
8. Click the Save button on the Grade Details page to save the rubric
9. Click the right-facing arrow next to the student's name to advance to the next student

Showing students the rubrics and the results is entirely at your discretion. The GEC understands that seeing the rubrics in your course may be confusing or upsetting to students. Particularly when students are early in their academic career, their scores on the SLO rubric may be lower than they would like. This is normal, because the rubrics are meant to measure performance according to the standard of how a graduating student would perform, but it may still be stressful.

If you choose to keep the rubrics and the results hidden, you should hide the Grade Center columns for the SLO rubrics from your students, as well as selecting the option to not show students the rubric. The automated data collection will still occur, so the assessments you complete will still contribute to the overall general education process.

Submit a request through the Ask a Question form. Let us know which course you teach and the SLOs that your course addresses. A staff member from the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning will ensure you have the correct rubrics.

You may also want to contact Ed Klonoski at eklonoski@niu.edu or 815-753-7037 to let him know that the rubrics were missing or incorrect. He may need to work with Registration and Records to update MyNIU with the correct SLOs.