Before beginning my evaluation discussion on the Assessment Rubric, I'd like to revisit the conversation we had during one of the first pedagogy sessions.

The question asked was do we use rubrics. As I remember, most did, but there was one participant who argued against them vehemently. The example given by this person was that when grading with rubrics she found that those that really weren't good programs scored high, and those that were good programs scored low.

I think the first thing you must do when using a rubric to grade is know what it is you are looking for. I think it would be difficult to develop a rubric that looks at all aspects of a program (although the Assessment Rubric, looks as though it comes close). Sometimes when using a rubric to grade programming assignments I look only at particular features, and not others. This works out because other times I will look at other things.

My point to going back to this previous discussion was this: If you are having difficulty using a rubric to grade, and you're not getting the results you want when grading with one, I don't believe you really knew what you wanted to look for when you began. Or that the directions you gave were not clear. Its almost as if you might want to write your rubric first, then write the instructions from there.

As for the Assessment Rubric

After reading through the rubric my first reaction is: I like this rubric! Part of the reason I like the rubric is because I really like the holistic approach to game making that's used here. As I'm not a strong programmer, I think I could do a reasonable job, even though programming is not my forte, heck even the artwork is a stretch on some days! The same could be said for my students.

I could use it to grade an entire project, or it could be broken into pieces and used for several different assignments. I might do this just because it would be nice to have it on one page. I know this seems like a silly thing, but I think it makes the entire process better. Just as I would tire of turning pages while grading; students tire of turning pages to know what is required (and it is essential to give students the rubric before they begin the project).

The language in the rubric is clear, I don't think students or teachers would have any problems knowing what the rubric was referring too. The rubric also addresses all portions of the design process used in teaching game development.

To me this seems to be a very comprehensive, well written rubric....I hope I get the chance to use it!