The Relationship Between the Use of Rubrics and Student Response Quality in Online Art Critique

This action research project examined the relationship between the use of rubrics and student response quality in online art critiques. The research took place with three classes of New Jersey public high school students who were enrolled in the elective of Digital Photography, with a total of 51 participants. Students uploaded their photography projects to an online website called Seesaw. They were first asked to comment on three photographs, given little direction as to how to comment. They then commented on a second photography project, using a rubric to guide their responses. Data was collected using a cell phone stopwatch to record time on task, as well as word count of the first and second responses. Students then were instructed to comment on a third project, using the rubric again, but given more examples of well-constructed comments and composition vocabulary. The results of the study indicated that students spent more time on task, used more words to respond, and used better grammar and sentence structure when responding using a rubric. The results also indicate that with practice, using a rubric can improve students' responses. The feedback on the student questionnaire indicated that overall, students prefer the online commenting to whole class discussion, and enjoyed commenting and viewing the comments of their classmates. Future research would the use of audio and video commenting, as well as how online commenting practice would affect whole class art critiques.