Col. Stohry adapted the WSU rubric for use in his AES 432, National Security Affairs and Preparation for Active Duty, course.  This is a capstone course taken by students who will soon be commissioned.  He kept the categories of the rubric the same but broke each one down into 6 levels rather than just 4 and described each level.  The rubric was used by peers to give each other feedback on a draft of a paper as well as being used by for the final grading.  Col. Stohry received assessment data back from the peer review (without names) that he could use to see how the papers were progressing.  He found that the peer reviews were in general higher on the critical rubric than his own reviews of the draft papers were.  He saw significant gains in critical thinking between the draft he reviewed and the final paper.

Assignment

Students wrote a 15-25 page paper on any topic pertaining to the military.  The papers had to meet the criteria for submission to the Air & Space Power Journal.  A quote from the ASPJ website detailing possible topics is provided below.  The students researched a topic and prepared a prospectus on which they received instructor feedback.  After continued research, they prepared a topic sentence outline, which was critiqued by the instructor with emphasis on logic flow.  Students prepared a draft of the paper on which they received feedback from two peers.  They had the opportunity to then revise the paper before submitting it to the instructor for review.  Based on instructor feedback, students had one more opportunity to revise the paper before turning it in for final grading.

”The English language ASPJ seeks well-researched articles from anywhere in the world that analyze current and future challenges facing the US Air Force and recommend solutions.  Desired topics include air and space power technology, doctrine, strategy, organization, theory, and policy.  Innovative or controversial ideas that are competently supported and responsibly presented are welcome.  Additionally, we’re always looking for papers about leadership, expeditionary air and space operations, and effects-based concepts.  We also accept historical articles that examine history for what it suggests about future air and space warfare.”  Taken from http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/howto1.html

Rubric

Stohry Rubric