A rubric is part of any review or reflection activity. The rubric is where instructors can set up the specific questions for peer reviews, instructor reviews, self reviews, or feedback reflections.

When instructors set up a rubric, they have different options for answer types.

If an instructor uses any numeric answer type (Scale, Yes/No, or Number), the answer will generate a score. The score will either be a Submission quality score (generated from rubrics on peer reviews, instructor reviews, or self reviews) or a Review quality score (generated from peer review feedback reflections).

In this article, we will explore how these scores are calculated.

How scores are generated for each answer type

The “Yes / No” answer type allows the reviewer to choose between two options. The text can be changed (for example, “Pass / Fail”). The score generated will either be 0% for the lowest option, or 100% for the highest option.

In this case, the value of each answer is as follows:

Option 1: 0%

Option 2: 100%

The Scale answer type allows the reviewer to select from multiple options. The instructor can add or remove options, and the total number of options will determine the score calculation. A score will be generated based on the lowest option being 0%, the highest option being 100%, and the remaining options to be proportionally distributed.

Since selecting the lowest option results in a score of 0%, you can find the percent value for each answer by counting the total options, subtracting 1 (to remove the lowest option), and then dividing the number of remaining options from 100%.

For example, the question above has 5 options. Since the lowest option counts for 0%, we take the total of 5 and subtract 1, which equals 4. 100% divided by 4 equals 25%, so each option increases in value by 25%. The value of each scale is as follows:

Option 1: 0%

Option 2: 25%

Option 3: 50%

Option 4: 75%

Option 5: 100%

The Number answer type allows the reviewer to choose a whole number to answer the question. The instructor can set the number range (the default is a range from 1 to 10) and a score will be generated from 0% to 100% based on the number selected and the range given.

The score will be calculated based on the number of options. The lowest option will give a score of 0% and the highest option will give a score of 100%. Since selecting the lowest option results in a score of 0%, you can find the percent value for each answer by counting the total options, subtracting 1 (to remove the lowest option), and then dividing the number of remaining options from 100%.

In this case, there are 10 options. Since we don’t want to count the option for 0%, we subtract 10 minus 1, which equals 9. Since 100% divided by 9 is 11.1%, we know that each number will increase the score by 11.1%. The scores are rounded to the nearest whole number, so the value of the scores will be as follows:

1: 0%

2: 11%

3: 22%

4: 33%

5: 44%

6: 56%

7: 67%

8: 78%

9: 89%

10: 100%

Multiple rubric questions

If you have multiple questions on a rubric, the rubric score will be generated by calculating the average of all the scored questions on the rubric.

Multiple reviewers

If you have multiple reviewers, such as in a peer review activity, the submission score will be generated by calculating the average of all of the reviews for that submission.

Next steps

Now that you have some scores, what can you do with them? You can review and export scores in the course’s Summary page, or you can use scores as inputs in a Scoring activity.