Create a rubric (build with AI or from scratch)

The previous article covered the first two methods of creating a new rubric – uploading or importing an existing rubric or using a template to build one. This article focus on the final two methods – using the AI to build your rubric or creating one from scratch.

Build with AI

1. Select Build with AI from the New Rubric options.

When you select this option, you will see the bottom section of the screen change and you'll be presented with options for Student Level as well the type of assignment being graded. Select the appropriate options and hit Continue.

2. Choose the Grading intensity and Language options

These will look familiar from the assignment setup screens. Where these settings overlap, your assignment settings will be updated with these rubric settings.

3. Describe the assignment that is being graded

The example given in the input box is "Argumentative Grade 10 essay. Include criteria about conciseness, use of evidence, grammar, and sentence structure."

You may be as detailed or as vague as you wish, but the better your description the more accurately the AI will be able to design a rubric for you. Select Continue and the AI will take about a minute to create your rubric.

You will then be provided with the opportunity to edit the rubric in exactly the same way that the template and upload or import methods produced. You may review the Customizing the template instructions above for a detailed description of that process.

Build from scratch

1. Select Build from scratch

Choosing this 4th option on the New Rubric screen takes you to the manual rubric creation workflow. Again, you will be presented with settings for Student level, Grading intensity, and Language. Hit continue and you will see a simplified version of the rubric editing screen with only one criterion and one scoring level.

2. Give your rubric a name

Provide a descriptive name that reflects the nature and level of the rubric. You will want to be able to identify it within your rubric library, particularly if you have a number of custom rubrics. Each should have a unique and descriptive name.

3. Add criteria

Presumably you already have a clear idea of the types of criteria that you want to apply to the grading for which this rubric will be used. Fill in the first Criteria title and then add additional criteria using the button at the bottom until you are satisfied with your list.

4. Add scoring levels

Before you add scoring levels within the software you will need to know how you want to score assignments using this rubric, whether all criteria will be equally weighted, and the total score.

You don't have to have equal numbers of levels within each of the criteria. And the scale for each of the criteria could be different as well.

For example, you might grade the first criterion out of 5, the second out of 10, and the third out of 3. For the first you might have 6 levels (inlcuding 0 points), 4 for the second, and 6 for the third (0, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10). How you choose to do this is up to you.

Just remember that the student's final score will be the sum of all points awarded for each of the criteria.

To add additional scoring levels, select the plus sign to the right of the existing level and you will observe another level pop up. Fill in the score for that level and move on to the next, again pressing the plus sign to add another and another until you have all you need. This is done for each of the criteria.

5. Add the descriptor text

Now that your overall structure is ready (you have your criteria listed, you have the scoring levels in place, and the scores for each level have been defined) it is time to add the descriptors.

Go through your rubric and fill in the detail that will instruct the AI on what kind of work, when evaluated against the criteria, will result in that scoring level. If you aren't sure how to make the correct adjustments to the text to reflect different scoring levels, take a look at some of the platform rubrics and see how they have been created in this regard.

6. Finalize your rubric

Now that you have chosen a creation method and gone through the process of creating a rubric, now you can finally click the Create rubric button at the bottom right of the screen.

Enjoy the confetti that celebrates your hard work and you will now see your new rubric in the My Rubrics list within the rubric library.

7. Edit your rubric

Once you have had a chance to use your rubric for grading you may feel that it needs some tweaking in order to produce the grading results you are expecting. You'll notice a pencil icon to the right of the rubric title in the library.

Select that icon and you will be presented with the familiar Edit rubric screen. Make the adjustments you need and re-save.

Continue the walkthrough: Add assignment source materials and grading settings >>>

Updated on: 09/22/2025