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Tips for Using The RubricMaker

Basic Rubric Design

The RubricMaker is a button-oriented program. This means that you get around the program by clicking buttons rather than by using pull-down menus. To design a rubric, simply click all of the red buttons on the button menu, and complete all tasks within each RubricMaker window. By doing this, you will design a rubric completely.

Designing Rubric Templates

1. Prepare a rubric the way you want it to look.
2. Click the “Save As” button.
3. Give the template a name you will remember.

Important Key Strokes

1. Tab: Moves the cursor to next space (Enter/Return will not move the cursor).
2. Control+Tab (Apple+Tab on Macs): Indents line.
3. Control-Shift (Apple+Shift on Macs): then "B" to bold, "U" to underline.
4. Up arrow: Moves cursor from end to beginning of line.
5. Down arrow: Moves cursor from beginning to end of line.

“Importing” Text

Write text for rubrics in word processor, then paste into RubricMaker. It is sometimes easier to design criteria for rubrics in a word processing program, then to highlight the text, copy it, then paste it into the Criteria Entry Screen of the RubricMaker. See “Importing” in the program’s Help/Hints section.

Print the PDF User's Guide

The User's Guide contains helpful information about using the program and is much more detailed than the Help/Hints portion of the software program.

Printing

The RubricMaker preview and print commands have been designed for the average printer, which "takes" some space from either or both the bottom and top of a sheet of paper when printing. Therefore, you may get slightly more or slightly less printing on your page than shows on the Design Screen.

When you click the Print button, you will see a print dialog window which indicates which printer you are connected to, etc. You will also see “Print: Records being browsed”; you will not see the rubric title or save name. This is correct. Simply click OK to print.

Sample Criteria

The RubricMaker houses over 2,000 criteria samples in a variety of subject areas. These criteria can be pasted directly into any list rubric from the Criteria Entry Screen. For specific instructions, see “Sample database” in the “Entering Criteria” section of Help/Hints.

Sample Rubrics

The RubricMaker and its demo version have sample rubrics for you to view. The samples include one of each type of rubric that can be designed (list, mixed criteria, open column, and grid) along with four rubrics which detail how to design the various types of rubrics. To view these samples, click the Search button on the Main Menu, and then select “List all rubrics.”

Sharing Rubrics

To share a rubric you have made with a colleague, both of you must have the RubricMaker installed on your computers. Copy or save your rubric file (has RMK extension) onto a disk, email message, or network. Your colleague can then open the file through his or her RubricMaker.

Space on Rubrics

If your rubric is getting too long to fit on a page, consider removing extra sections.
1. Reduce the number of words on your rubric.
2. Reduce font size.
3. Remove the Directions.
4. Remove "Goes Beyond."
5. Remove Comments section.