INSTRUCTOR/STUDENT
ACTIVE LEARNING RUBRICS
 

 

Transformational Instructor
Uses learning challenges and facilitation methods
 that result in life change in learners.
 

• Designs curriculum on the basis of “meta-strategies” that enable learners to perceive entirely new learning paradigms.
   

• Learners establish and meet their own standards at unusually high performance levels.
   

• Learners are sought out by other students for mentoring on how to “learn–to-learn.”
   

• Learners seek out and assess models, strategies, and theories that extend their range of application of knowledge.
   

• Learners independently assess the generalizability of their knowledge and skills for many life contexts.
   

Transformed Student
Sets personal challenges that result in
significant life change or growth.
 

• Commits to “universal” learning challenges stated or implied in any well-designed curriculum.
   

• Establishes and meets own standards at unusually high performance levels.
   

• Views the world at a mature adult development level; tackles life’s inconsistencies.
   

• Assesses the validity of resources, tools, and models for each learning challenge or context.
   

• Independently assesses the generalizability of competencies for many life contexts.

LEVEL 4

Enriching Instructor
Moves learners to explore knowledge
applications beyond expectations.
 

• Curriculum is soundly organized around higher-order goals and processes.
   

• Learners are able to assess their benchmarks and to independently challenge themselves.
   

• Incorporates individual differences to increase all students’ awareness of the variations in valid strategies for achieving outcomes.
   

• Learners assess resources, tools, and models for validity in given contexts.
   

• Produces learners able to identify and improve lower levels skills related to higher-level goals.

Enriched Student
Actively explores how to use knowledge for applications of personal interest; performs beyond expectations.
 

• Commits most to curricula organized around higher-order processes related to personal goals.
   

• Sets and assesses own benchmarks and challenges.
   

• Views individual differences, of self and others, as a creative resource.
   

• Assesses the validity of resources, tools, and models for each learning challenge or context.
   

• Explores, for multiple competencies, how lower level skills are related to higher-level skills.

LEVEL 3

Engaging Instructor
Consistently produces active learners who can self-assess performance against standards.
 

• a    Curriculum design includes clear outcomes, learning processes, measures, and standards.
   

• b    Uses facilitation to effectively increase learner confidence that assessment raises performance.
   

• c     Facilitates individual inclusion of learning style issues in self-assessments of performance.
   

• d    Selects resources to provide information, theories, models, and examples that will support learning outcomes in varied ways.
   

• Curriculum is based on careful analysis of supporting skills in order to design activities that lead to transfer of sills to similar contexts.

 


Engaged Student
Active learner who can self-assess
performance against standards.
 

• Commits strongly to curricula designed with well-defined outcomes, learning processes, measures, and standards.
   

• Accepts “ownership” of learning based on confidence that assessment predictably raises performance.
   

• Includes personal learning style and attitudes in assessment of strengths, areas of  improvement, and insights relevant to improving performance.
   

• Selects resources such as  information, theories, models, and examples that will support learning outcomes in varied or flexible ways.
   

• Focuses on building strong foundations across all learning domains as the best way to achieve predictable transfer and generalization of skills to real life contexts.

LEVEL 2

Conventional Instructor
Manages learning by clearly defining outcomes;
discounts the value of facilitation of learning processes.
 

• Describes curriculum outcomes in terms of products; unstated standards, or open to interpretation.
   

• Support of learning processes is limited to tutoring, reviews, and grading.
   

• Provides evaluative feedback plus encouragement and assistance related to learning styles.
   

• Resources are provided to support each learning outcome in varied ways.
   

• Aware of the range of lower levels skills but can’t always connect these to more complex goals.
   

Conventional Student
Manages learning by focusing on outcomes;
limited in awareness of personal potential.
 

• Focuses effort on finishing assignments; adjusts to fit unclear or unstated standards. 
   

• Constrained by an assumption that individuals have learning limitations that cannot be changed.
   

• Relies upon instructor flexibility in helping to compensate for barriers related to learning style.
   

• Sees use of recommended resources as an extra burden; has limited awareness of connections between resources and learning processes.
   

• Aware of many skills but not of their relative levels of difficulty or roles as prerequisites.
   

LEVEL 1

Risk Averse Instructor

Avoids change; discounts the value of assessment of teaching strategies or of supporting learning processes.

• Bases curriculum on assignments related to a specific text.
   

• Views learning only in terms of memorization of facts, theories, and procedures.
   

• Views variations in learning style, personality, and learner goals as student problems.
   

• Views supplemental resources, as well as text reading, as assignments.
   

• The main goal is to present lower level knowledge; assume transfer is unlikely until a job or other future challenge is experienced.
   

Risk Averse Student

Grade-oriented; concerned about meeting
requirements efficiently.

• Seeks the easiest and simplest solution to getting the  grade expected.
   

• Considers learning a problem that  is controlled entirely by the instructor and/or by other external influences.
   

• Unaware of variations in learning style, personality, and learner goals.
   

• Uses resources only as specifically prescribed for each assignment.
   

• Thinks of learning only in terms of factual knowledge; unaware of varied uses of knowledge.