Goobric or Orange Slice or JoeZoo: Which Rubric Add-on Should I Use?

One of my most popular posts is a comparison of three quizzy webtools - Kahoot, Socrative, and Quizizz. For a long time, I have been meaning to write a similar post about Google rubric add-ons. As my spring break is winding down, this seems like the right time to do it.

First, a word or two about rubrics. I am a believer. Big time. There aren't many things that I go all preachy about (I hope), but rubrics are a non-negotiable with me for several reasons. When they are well-designed, they help students understand the expectations of an assignment and how they can improve the skill that is being assessed. Rubrics also can standardize the grading of a particular type of assignment so that all students completing the assignment can expect the same grade no matter who holds the rubric. That said, I love these great Google add-ons that allow teachers to use rubrics in a paperless way.

In this post, I will describe three add-ons briefly and compare them in a chart below. I like them all very much and, which one you might choose probably comes down to how you will use it and personal preference.

Doctopus & Goobric are a 1-2 punch that I use all the time. Doctopus is an add-on to Google Sheets and creates copies of assignments for students on a roster. Doctopus also lets you turn on and off a student's editing access to a document by "embargoing" it for grading. Once you attach a rubric to an assignment in Doctopus, you can grade it with Goobric, a web application that automatically records the scores into the Doctopus spreadsheet. There is also a Chrome extension (Goobric for Students) that allows for self or peer feedback. 

Orange Slice is an add-on for Google Docs. There is a teacher version and a student version. The student version allows for self or peer feedback, but the teacher version overrides these and gives an actual score. It looks very slick and is easy to use. It has several categories for rubrics all set to go, but they are completely editable so you can create the exact rubric you need.

JoeZoo Express is also an add-on for Google Docs. Like Orange Slice, it walks users through the steps of rubric creation and grading. In addition to the rubric tool, it is also a feedback tool that can be used to give students targeted feedback beyond the rubric. It has several pre-loaded categories of statements that can be easily used. They have many tutorial videos for help as you get started.

Here is my comparison chart:

If you are already using rubrics, or especially if you're not, I hope you will give one of these great tools a try!

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