The rubric is how work gets scored. It is the single most important thing you set up, because everything the assistant proposes is measured against it. You build it on the rubric canvas, and you can go as light or as detailed as you like.
Criteria
A rubric is a list of criteria, the things you are grading (for example, Thesis, Evidence, Mechanics). Add one with Add a top-level criterion, and give each a short description of what it measures. A criterion can hold sub-criteria if you want to break it down further, and each rolls up into its parent.
How each criterion is measured
Every criterion is scored on levels, from strongest to weakest (Exemplary, Competent, Developing, and so on). You choose how much detail to write:
- Holistic: one description of what good work looks like for that criterion.
- Describe at each level: turn this on to write a distinct description for every level, so the assistant (and the student) sees exactly what separates an Exemplary from a Developing.
You can also score a criterion by raw points instead of levels, when a criterion is just a number out of a maximum.
The Scale column header sets the rubric's default scale: click it to rename the levels, add or remove one, or pick a preset like Excellent → Poor. The preset you are on stays highlighted, so you can see which one is in force. A row can carry its own scale instead, which is what an imported rubric usually looks like. When some rows do, the editor says so and offers Use this scale for every row, which points them all back at the default.
Points and weights
Each criterion carries a weight toward the total. You can author in points, and let weight follow, or author in weights, and let points follow, whichever you think in. The Points and Weight column headers are the switch: they sit together in one bordered track, and clicking one tints it and marks it with a filled dot, which means that column is the one you type in. The other column stays muted and back-solves on its own. If the weights do not add up, Balance to 100% or Even-split to 100% fixes them in one click.
Getting a head start
You do not have to build from a blank canvas:
- Import a rubric from a file to bring in one you already have (a Word doc, a PDF, a spreadsheet). Reading a dense rubric takes a little while, so the Assistant narrates each step as it goes and tells you how long it has been working. A longer wait also brings up short pointers about the builder, so the time is not wasted.
- Use the Assistant to draft or refine the rubric by describing what you want in plain language.
- Complete rubric fills in whatever is still blank (missing descriptions, level cells, AI grading notes) without overwriting anything you have already written.
Extras
- Rules let you add hard constraints (for example, deduct points for a missing citation). Each rule applies either to the whole rubric or to one criterion you pick, and you can start from the rule library instead of writing one from scratch.
- AI grading notes are private guidance to the assistant about how you want a criterion judged.
- A student preamble is text students read before they submit.
The clearer the rubric, the more useful and consistent the feedback. See How grading works for what happens once it is set.