Assessing Reflection Assignments with Rubrics

Originally published in September 2024

Instructors have increasingly adopted authentic assessments that incorporate reflection as a way to support students in connecting course content to their personal experiences, varied motivations, and real-world contexts.

Reflection assessment encourages the deepening of students’ self and social awareness as well as their understanding of academic concepts. This assessment is a meaning-making process that helps students interpret material, assumptions, and experiences, use what they have learned to inform future action, and consider the real-life implications of their thinking (Ash & Clayton, 2004; Mezirow 1998; Eyler 2002; 2009). Reflective practice is often approached as a cycle where students have more than one assessment opportunity to express themselves and their learning (Kolb & Kolb, 2008).

At the same time, Laurier instructors have shared that grading reflective work accurately and consistently can be challenging. How does one differentiate between a “Good” and an “Excellent” reflective submission? Using a rubric that is specifically crafted to evaluate students’ reflective assessments can provide instructors with an effective roadmap to evaluate students’ connections between content and their meaning-making process.

Rubrics for Reflection 

Rubrics are an evaluative tool that clarify components of an assessment and communicate to students what is essential to demonstrate their learning. Rubrics provide transparency on how to reach each level of achievement and support consistent and equitable grading across a course. They can help reduce time spent on grading and increase confidence in setting and maintaining academic expectations, especially in the face of student questions.

Building your rubric around a reflective model can help you clarify the structure and components of the assessment to your students. Some helpful models to consider are:

• What? So What? Now What? (Rolfe et al. 2001)
  • Breaks reflecting down into three comprehensive steps which provide your students with a clear and simple model to follow. This model can be adapted to encourage critical reflection where students identify and challenge existing assumptions.
  • Writing Services’ Reflective Writing page guides students through tips and techniques as they are completing reflective writing assignments.
• The D.E.AL. Approach (Ash & Clayton, 2004)
  • Encourages students to Describe, Explain, and Articulate Learning from an experience, which may be from personal narratives, course activities, or community/professional involvement. Students are invited to further examine their experience using a personal, civic or community, and academic lens in their reflection.
• 6-Step Reflective Cycle (Gibbs 1988) 
  • Structured to be a continuous cycle of reflection, where one reflective piece informs the context of the next assignment and works best for courses with multiple reflective opportunities. This model more explicitly explores emotions related to learning. 

Though many models for reflection exist, three general components are common when creating an effective reflective assessment with an aligned rubric:

• Description (Selection and Synthesis) 
• Meaning Making and Interpretation (Significance and Analysis)
• Articulation of Learning for Future Action (Integration and Application)

How to Create Your Rubric

Creating a clear list of expectations and criteria for your rubric is a great way to start breaking your assessment down into what is most important. Consider what you will be grading – will you be grading writing mechanics as well as course connection and application? Clarifying how this assessment links to your learning outcomes can help you narrow down your expectations.  

Next, choose from one of the three common types of rubrics; holistic, single point, or analytic. Each offers a different structure for assessing, for example:

• Holistic rubrics evaluate levels of achievement based on a narrative of multiple criteria. A “reflection expert” level might highlight aspects of effective communication, explicit connections to course material, and critical analysis of assumptions (Chabon and Lee-Wilkerson 2006; Moon, 2004).
• Single Point rubrics sets out desired criteria to be evaluated and determine whether expectations have been met, or exceeded, or where there are opportunities to improve. Adopting a reflective model can help clarify the success criteria, for example using high-level critical thinking from the D.E.AL. model (Ash & Clayton, 2004). 
• Analytic rubrics use a grid system where levels and criteria intersect to provide specific evaluation and feedback to your students. Exploring the VALUE (Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education) system of rubric resources can focus your choices for criteria on complex skills and higher-order thinking, for example, Integrative Learning, Problem Solving, or Global Learning (AAC&U). 

Depending on your assessment context, and your teaching needs, you may choose to develop your rubric from existing templates and available digital resources:  

• Download a fillable rubric template based on the three common types from Teaching Excellence and Innovation’s Guide to Teaching and Learning.
• Create a rubric on your course website in MyLearningSpace (MyLS) to help streamline the grading process by linking to a DropBox and the grade book. Laurier instructors can get further support for setting up rubrics in MyLS by contacting myls@wlu.ca. 
• Begin the brainstorming process with generative AI tools that can help organize your thoughts into a draft for revision. A ChatGPT prompt for an analytic rubric might include “design a rubric for a second-year undergraduate history course with the following criteria [1,2,3,4] using X number of levels of achievement”.

Features of an Effective Rubric for Reflection

Whichever path to rubric creation you choose, some things to consider when evaluating your rubric are:

• Does your rubric clearly link to the learning outcomes it is assessing?
• Are the components of your reflective model captured in your rubric?
• Does your rubric define relevant and essential assessment criteria?
• Does your rubric have a reasonable number of levels of achievement? (e.g., three to five)
• Are the levels clearly stated and distinct from one another? How will your students understand the difference between “good” and “excellent?
• Does your rubric criteria clearly focus on one distinct element at a time (Analytic)?
• Does your rubric criteria offer reliability (consistency) across submissions as well as across multiple graders? (e.g., TA’s, IA’s, etc.)
• Does your rubric use parallel (similar) language to describe each of the levels of achievement?
• Will your rubric provide students with specific feedback or feedforward on how to improve their performance in your course and beyond?
• Is your rubric quick and easy to use?

Providing your students with specific requirements and expectations for their reflective assessments supports transparency in the grading process. Remember, rubrics are an iterative process that are based in your experience, so return to them regularly with fresh eyes and fresh perspectives to continue to heighten their effectiveness. Sharing your rubric with a peer can also support your design process.  

Explore TEI’s full rubrics resource >>

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