“Infographic Holistic Rubric” by Cambrian College is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
Holistic rubrics allow you to assess students’ overall performance on an activity or assessment based on a single scale using predefined achievement levels. With a holistic rubric the instructor assigns a single score (usually on a 1 to 4 point scale) based on a judgment of the student’s overall work.
There are two main components of a holistic rubric:
- Scale (usually 4 levels in a scale)
- Performance descriptions or criteria based on scale
Advantages
- Provides emphasis on what the learner is able to demonstrate (positive), rather than on deficits (negatives)
- Saves grading time by minimizing the number of decisions an instructor needs to make while grading
- Ability to be applied consistently by multiple instructors
- Takes less time to create than traditional analytic rubrics
- Less complex; easier for students to understand
Disadvantages
- Does not provide targeted feedback for improvement
- Can be difficult to identify a grade for student work when the work spans different levels within the rubric; criteria cannot be weighted
Examples of Holistic Rubrics
Low & No Tech (Paper-based)
Paper-based rubric created using word processor:
Using Tech (Within and Outside of Moodle)
Example of a holistic rubric in Moodle. Contact the Hub team to learn how to create a rubric in Moodle.
- Interactive PDF (requires Adobe Acrobat Pro Version)
