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Response to the Twitter Rubric

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on February 2, 2011 at 10:11:11 pm
 

A professor of mine told me, that when doing research, I'd know I'd found the core studies when the same author or study kept re-appearing. That once I'd seen the same name enough to remember the correct spelling, I had my end/start point. If the rule held true for things on Twitter, the Twitter rubric would be the alpha rubric. 

 

This is the Twitter rubric. (Please note: It is used with permission from the author, Karen Franker. Original at: http://www2.uwstout.edu/content/profdev/rubrics/Twitter_Rubric.html) There have been numerous responses to the rubric and in some cases, it's been used to bash rubrics in general. I understand that. It makes sense. The items in this rubric that have frustrated some readers and seem to defy what rubrics are supposed to do.  However, I think in this case, it's a matter of a labeling issue. In my opinion, the Twitter rubric is actually a Twitter scoring chart. It's my experience that educators are calling documents "rubrics" that are either draft versions of a quality rubric or simply not rubrics. It's not to say they're not useful documents, but I think rubric is term that's been used to describe any project criteria that appears in a table format. When talking about rubrics vs. checklists, here's another way to think about it.

 

If the document for your students answers the questions:

  • What do I need to do to pass?
  • What do I need to do to get an A?
  • What do I need to do to make you happy?
  • What will you be counting as you read my work? 
  • What are the minimum components I need to make sure I have in work? 

your document is a checklist or scoring criteria. Even if it's presented in a table format.

 

If the document helps student answer questions such as:

  • What does quality look like for this task or process?
  • What does "better" look like so I can I revise my work without waiting for your feedback?
  • What does it look like when a beginner does this type of project or task? A master?
  • What does it look like to break the rules for this type of work? How will I know if I'm "breaking the rules" or doing it wrong? 

your document is a rubric. However, rubrics rarely stand alone. They are often accompanied by anchors or exemplars to show students what quality looks like at the different levels. 

 

So back to the Twitter rubric. Given the questions above, I'd say the document is a scoring chart. I don't think it's necessary to rip apart the document. The author had a reason for writing what she did and I am making the assumption that, to her, these were the things that mattered. So here's an imaginary conversation between the author of the rubric and I.

 

Me: Morning! Hope you're all stocked up for the pending storm. *small talk* So - I saw your Twitter rubric. As I was reading, I was curious about your goals for creating it. What did you want to get out of sharing this with students?

 

Author: Actually I wrote it for other professors. I know they're requiring students use to Twitter and we didn't have a way to evaluate a students' Twitter use.

 

Me: It sounds like you're interested in assessing their communication skills.

 

Author: Nah. I just wanted a tool to evaluate how well students are using Twitter.

 

Me: Tell me more about "well". What does that mean?

 

Author: That they're using the tool the way it's suppose to be used. The right way.

 

Me: I'm struggling a bit with the mechanics line. @ladygaga, who has more followers than Norway has people, often combines words or drops vowels in order to fit within the 140 character limitation. Your document presents the hurdle to the user that they're held to a different standard that prolific Twitter users.

 

Author: Well, she's a pop singer. This rubric is for students.

 

End scene as we adjourn to a wine bar to discuss the concept of the "real world" versus "school" until the wee hours of the night. Had our imaginary conversation gone in another direction, we might end up discussing other big ideas that are behind her document. Degrees of quality in a succinct response to someone who said something you don't like? That could be a compelling rubric. Degrees of quality in sharing the work of others in way that attributes the source with respect to the medium? Useful rubric. Degrees of quality in a provocative statement or question designed to start a conversation? That's a rubric I could have used at a cocktail party last weekend.

 

You've probably noticed the lack of a Twitter rubric on this page. That's because I'm not sure that Twitter deserves a rubric. I am comfortable saying that a paragraph about Black History Month (read only by the teacher) or a Moon PowerPoint created for Science class (seen only by the teacher) don't deserve rubrics. Rubrics are tools to help students self-reflect and understand quality in process activities, projects, and performances that occur outside of school and require effort and revision. If you have explicit, quantifiable details you want students to attend to in their project - great. Develop a checklist or scoring chart. If there are quality issues you want the students to attend to - fantastic. Develop a rubric (ideally with the students) and provide them anchors and exemplars to show them what you mean. If you want them them to attend to both (i.e. write a well-developed response citing at least three sources) - lovely. Develop a checklist for the "must-haves" and a rubric for the quality components and provide both to the students.

 

Questions? Thoughts? Concerns? Feel free to post below or contact me on Twitter (@datadiva).

 

 

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