What do we know about rubrics used in higher education?

Abstract

Purpose: In this paper we compare the search strategies and the results of three recent literature reviews on the rubrics use in education. With all this we aim to identify what is known, what it is not known yet and if there is material to launch a new literature review right now.

Design/methodology/approach: Comparative analysis of three recen literature reviews and systematic literature review.

Findings and Originality/value: Of the 142 papers included in the three recent reviews, few focus on university learning and the results are not broken down by educational level. We believe that there is no conclusive scientific answer to how to create and validate an assessment rubric for university courses, or what purpose they serve , or if it's worth the effort to develop them. Recommendations for the appropriate use of rubrics are based on anecdotal evidence without robust and proven methodology. Nor is easy to find what subjects, or what objects, and in what contexts have been investigated the rubrics or which validated rubrics are available.

Originality/value: we conducted a new review and we compare the selected papers with those used in previous reviews. We have located 241 new papers not included in previous reviews. Probably all this new material can be used in the future for a meta-analysis