ENG 598 TL

Assignment 03: Rubric Design

Prompt:

1) Rubric Critique: Use prompt (i) if you are a graduate teaching assistant (TA) or have
been a TA in the past. Use prompt (ii) if you have not yet worked as a TA. You do
not need to answer both prompts for the rubric critique. Include a copy of the
rubric in your response.

i. Write a critique of a rubric from the class you are teaching/have taught. Include
suggestions for improvement and provide justification.
ii. Write a critique of our writing assignment rubric, available on the course website.
Include suggestions for improvement and provide justification.

Answer:

i. I am a graduate teaching assistant (TA) in ME 320 – Heat Transfer Lab for

Fall 2022.
I have provided a copy of the rubric below, also known as the specification grading
checklist, that we are following for the Lab report this semester.

In my opinion, this rubric is well structured. It provides detailed instructions for the
students about what is expected from them. The students must fulfill all the checklist
items to get the desired grade. The checklist is easy to understand and covers all the
necessary topics a student needs for a particular experiment.

However, the rubric has some pitfalls too. For example, the list does not provide
requirements for other grades except A, B, and C. Therefore, students might get
confused if they target a B-, C-, or A-. I think detailed instruction is needed in this
scenario. It will help the students ensure what they need to do. Moreover, there is no
explicit instruction about how many items from a particular category should be
answered. From my point of view, if these pitfalls are corrected and appropriately
addressed, the specification grading checklist can serve as an ideal rubric for any course.
For example, I took a course last semester where an analytic rubric was followed for
grading purposes. But some items were not addressed properly. We talked with the TA
of the course, and he solved the issue after having a discussion with the instructor. It
helped us to have a clear understanding of the expectations for the assignment.
 ME 320 Heat Transfer Laboratory
Lab 1: Temperature Measurement Investigation
A Copy of Fall 2022 Specifications Grading Checklists
The engineering letter report that you submit for Lab 1 in the ME 320 lab should be
graded according to the checklist below. Individual checklist items must be completed
at a high quality to be satisfied. Upon receipt of any graded lab report, you may have
24 hours to revise your work to improve your performance on the checklist items.
Subsequent lab reports in the ME 320 lab should be written in the standard full
engineering technical report genre and submitted to the Canvas site for the lab
according to the stated deadline. They will be graded according to a similar checklist,
though not the same as this one.
To earn a “C,” a student’s lab report must clearly satisfy each of the following
items:

 Report must conform to the Engineering Letter Report guidelines, with the
body of the report not exceeding two pages in length
 Experimental data must be presented in an attached Appendix to the letter
 Report must include well-written introduction, experimental methods, results &
discussion, and conclusions sections
 Report may contain no misspelled words
 Report must include an appendix where the student documents the time spent
working on each portion of the laboratory exercise, including the writing
process.
To earn a “B,” a student’s lab report must clearly satisfy each of the following
items, in addition to the “C”-level checklist items:

 Report must include figures properly cited in the text, with appropriate
numbering and captions.
 Report must include a proper analysis of the experimental uncertainty, which
may be included in an additional appendix. Key results from the analysis should
be mentioned in the discussion section.
 Report must include a critical analysis of the experimental results.
 Report must include thorough and proper citation of sources in IEEE format,
which should appear in an additional appendix.
To earn an “A,” a student’s lab report must clearly satisfy each of the following
items, in addition to the “B”-level and “C”-level checklist items:

 Report must include clear and well-constructed diagrams of the experimental

setups, which should be comprised of figures that appear in an appendix
 Report must include well-reasoned recommendations for improvements to the
experiment
 Report must suggest ideas for further investigation based on the results of the
experiment
2) Rubric Design: Use prompt (i) if you are a graduate teaching assistant (TA) or have been a TA in the past. Use prompt (ii) if you have not yet worked as a TA.
You do not need to answer both prompts for the rubric design. See the course resources on Canvas for help in rubric design.

i. Design a rubric for a typical assessment in the class for which you are a TA. This could be a lab report, homework assignment, discussion section, quiz, etc.
ii. Design a rubric you could use as a manager for evaluating employee performance.

Answer:

i. A Rubric for lab report 1 in ME 320 – Heat Transfer Lab

Category Excellent (5) Good (4) Fair (3) Poor (2) Fail (0)
• Follow Engineering Letter • Follow Engineering Letter • Follow Engineering Letter • Follow Engineering • Missing,
Report Guidelines (maximum Report Guidelines (maximum Report Guidelines Letter Report academically
Formatting two pages) two pages) (maximum two pages) Guidelines dishonest,
(×0.5) • Well-written, no misspelled • Well-written does not
words partially
meet
• Provide proper reasons for the • Provide proper reasons for the • Provide proper reasons • Write down the • Missing,
experiment experiment for the experiment objectives of the academically
• Write down the main • Write down the main • Write down the main experiment dishonest,
Introduction
objectives of the experiment objectives of the experiment objectives of the does not
(×0.5) • Give relevant information on • Give relevant information on experiment partially
the variables with pertinent the variables meet
definitions accurately
• Provide proper schematic • Provide proper schematic • Provide proper schematic • Provide schematic • Missing,
diagrams of the experimental diagrams of the experimental diagrams of the diagrams of the academically
setup with the correct setup with the correct experimental setup experimental setup dishonest,
Methods annotation annotation without any annotation without any does not
• Write down each step of the • Write down each step of the • Write down each step of annotation partially
(×1.5) experimental process and data experimental process and data the experimental process • Write down the meet
accumulation thoroughly and accumulation and data accumulation experimental
concisely process and data
accumulation
 • Include a critical analysis of
the experimental findings
Results and • Discuss keys results from the
Discussion uncertainty analysis
(×2.0) • Discuss the limitations of the
experiment and provide
remedies with justification
• Provide implications of the
findings with justification
• Give well-reasoned
Conclusion recommendations for
(×2.0) improvements
• Suggest ideas for further
investigation based on the
results with justification
• Cite figures in the text with
appropriate numbering and
Citations captions
(×0.5) • Give proper list of the sources
in IEEE format in Reference
section
• Document the time spend
working on each portion of the
laboratory exercise, including
writing process precisely
• Provide tables for the
Appendix
measurements taken from the
(×2.0) experiment with captions and
numbering
• Include sample calculations
• Give proper analysis of the
experimental uncertainty
• Include a critical analysis of • Include an analysis of the • Include an analysis • Missing,
the experimental findings experimental findings of the experimental academically
• Discuss keys results from the • Discuss keys results from findings dishonest,
uncertainty analysis the uncertainty analysis does not
• Discuss the limitations of the partially
experiment and provide meet
remedies
• Provide implications of the • Provide implications of • Provide implications • Missing,
findings with justification the findings of the findings academically
• Give well-reasoned • Give recommendations dishonest,
recommendations for for improvements does not
improvements • Suggest ideas for further partially
• Suggest ideas for further investigations meet
investigations
• Cite figures in the text with • Cite figures in the text • Cite figures in the • Missing,
numbering and captions with numbering and text with numbering academically
• Give list of the sources in captions and captions dishonest,
IEEE format in Reference • Give list of the sources in does not
section Reference section partially
meet
• Document the time spend • Document the time spend • Document the time • Missing,
working on each portion of the working on each portion spend working on academically
laboratory exercise, including of the laboratory exercise, each portion of the dishonest,
writing process precisely including writing process laboratory exercise, does not
• Provide tables for the • Provide tables for the including writing partially
process meet
measurements taken from the measurements taken from
experiment with captions and the experiment • Provide tables for
numbering • Include sample the measurements
• Include sample calculations calculations taken from the
• Give analysis of the • Give analysis of the experiment
experimental uncertainty experimental uncertainty