2023
Maker Lab Open Inquiry: Presentation grading forms
Each of the Maker Lab's two Open Inquiry projects requires two graded presentations: a midway presentation by one of the two team members, and a final presentation by the other team member. These are submitted as pre-recorded videos. The midway videos are played during class, each followed by 10 minute live-Q&A sessions with peers and instructor(s). The final videos, on the other hand, are not played during class. Instead the presenter gives an abbreviated live version during class, followed by a 5-10 minute live-Q&A session with peers and instructor(s). Students are instructed to pitch the level of the talk at their peers (who have not done nor closely followed their inquiry). Students are further given these grading forms in advance to see on which assessment criteria their talk will be judged. Note: Simple "grading forms" are used instead of rubrics, with the difference being that performance levels are not individually described. I use grading forms instead of rubrics for several reasons: 1. I am the only grader for the course, thus inter-rater reliability is not an issue. 2. I include 10-12 specific assessment criteria which themselves help to communicate expectations, 3. The diverse student projects make it difficult to create meaningful level descriptors, and 4. I often leave explanatory remarks under the individual assessment criteria to explain my marks.