Scaffolding Rubrics to Improve Student Writing: Preliminary Results of Using Rubrics in a Sociology Program to Enhance Learning and Mechanical Writing Skills

Abstract

In the era of accreditation, academic accountability and transparency within curriculum is becoming a desired standard within and across disciplines. Through the use of course learning outcomes, program outcomes can be strengthened. Scaffolding within curricula can benefit both accountability and assessment goals. Through the use of Bloom's cognitive taxonomy, scaffolding within the course can be used to aid in the accomplishment of the course learning outcomes. Scaffolding within the course curriculum can move students through Bloom's cognitive taxonomy levels toward the mastery of specific skills. Writing is a major area of assessment as an indication of learning across disciplines. Scaffolding rubrics were used within sociology courses to specifically address both student learning and mechanical writing skills. Preliminary results of using rubrics to enhance student learning and scaffolding in eight courses (one 100-level, one 200-level, two 300-level, and four 400-level sociology courses) will be presented.

Assessment Rubric for Research Report Writing: A Tool for Supervision

“…Learning becomes more constructive as students use well-designed rubrics as a means of self-assessment (Carson & Kavish, 2018;He & Canty, 2012;Jönsson & Panadero, 2018;Panadero & Romero, 2014;Reddy, 2007;Tan & Leong, 2014) and to regulate their own learning (Alonso-Tapia & Panadero, 2010;Fraile et al, 2017;Kitsantas & Zimmerman, 2006;Panadero et al, 2013;Zimmerman & Schunk, 2011).…”

“…The term ZPD has become synonymous in the literature with the term scaffolding (Wood et al, 1976). Carson and Kavish (2018) highlight the importance of scaffolding of skills in university required courses. Scaffolding facilitates student writing skills which are required to successfully complete the degree in their discipline (Pearce, 2020).…”

“…Scaffolding facilitates student writing skills which are required to successfully complete the degree in their discipline (Pearce, 2020). Instructors and supervisors can assist students' understanding of the given task and course materials at all levels by embedding specific skills in both writing tasks and assessment (Carson & Kavish, 2018;Huskin, 2016;Nurie, 2018). This increases the quality of performance of the given tasks and the students' scores.…”

“…Many scholars have acknowledged the importance of rubrics in students' assessments, specifically in writing tasks (Anderson & Mohrweis, 2008;Andrade, 2001;Carson & Kavish, 2018;Clabough & Clabough, 2016;Hooper & Butler, 2008;Mansilla et al, 2009;Rezaei & Lovorn, 2010;Timmerman et al, 2010). For instance, research writing requires extensive writing describing empiricalbased research.…”

Training Models and Practices in Sociology

“…The article entitled "Scaffolding Rubrics to Improve Student Writing: Preliminary Results of Using Rubrics in a Sociology Program to Enhance Learning and Mechanical Writing Skills" [5], by Linda Carson, from Department of Government, and Criminology and Sociology, Lander University, and by Daniel Kavish, from Department of Social Sciences, Southwestern Oklahoma State University, both from the USA, aims to study the "Scaffolding rubrics [that] were used within Sociology courses to specifically address both student learning and mechanical writing skills", considering the importance of writing in undergraduate students' learning, also within Sociology. These authors conclude that "a graded rubric and scaffolding within a discipline will increase writing skills for future writing assignments" if applied in a pedagogically intentional way (as explained in the article) and in connection with the surrounding institutional context.…”