About the Mastery Rubric Book
On sabbatical in 2019 I wrote a book, “Practical higher education curriculum and instructional design with the Mastery Rubric”, which I am finalizing (still in, 2021!) (sabbatical was only 9 months!) and hope to have in press in 2024.
The MR is intended to support development, evaluation, and revision (if needed) of the curriculum, and a curriculum-based MR can also help develop, evaluate, and revise individual courses as well. Four different curricula are described as MRs in this book, promoting teaching, learning, and the assessment of instruction and learning in stewardship (MR-S; Rios et al., 2019), ethical reasoning (MR-ER; Tractenberg & FitzGerald 2012), statistical literacy (MR-SL; Tractenberg, 2017), and scientific thinking (MR-ST; adapted from Tractenberg et al. 2010). A fifth MR is also discussed, one that supports faculty development, self-directed learning, and preparing future faculty by exploring the Master Level (MR-ML; Tractenberg, 2019) of any Mastery Rubric – or, any teaching <in higher ed>).
“Practical higher education curriculum and instructional design with the Mastery Rubric” gives all of the background on the MR construct and five MRs, including the one specifically for teaching and learning. A Mastery Rubric represents flexible, criterion-referenced, definitions of “success” for both individuals and the program itself, promoting alignment between the intended and the actual curricula, and fosters the generation of actionable evidence for learners, instructors, and institutions. The book features these five MRs, so readers can see the characteristics of a MR – or an actionable, evaluable curriculum – in multiple examples for instructors as well as for the self-directed learner. Chapters are included that discuss the creation of learning outcomes tied to the specific MRs, for a single course or for a sequence of courses. Two papers outlining the Assessment and Evaluation Rubric (Tractenberg 2021) and the construct of Catalytic Learning (Tractenberg 2022) are integrated throughout the book (which is part of the reason it won’t be published until 2024!).