A Mastery Rubric for the design and evaluation of an institutional curriculum in the responsible conduct of research

Abstract

We describe a Mastery Rubric for the design and evaluation of an institutional curriculum in the responsible conduct of research (RCR), motivated by new federal (US) research funding requirements for documenting this training over investigators’ careers. A Mastery Rubric outlines the desired knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) for a course or curriculum, rather than for an assignment, together with descriptions of a learner’s performance and/or capabilities from novice to proficiency, expertise or mastery of the curricular target(s). Our MR encompasses, formalises and provides a roadmap for the institutional implementation of career-spanning training in RCR. The rubric highlights the KSAs that support learning goal articulation for the targeted content areas; it also promotes assessment that demonstrates development in the target KSAs and encourages reflection and cognitive self-monitoring throughout RCR training over the scientist’s career. It represents a flexible, criterion-referenced definition of ‘success’ for both individuals and the institution itself – concretely reflecting the institution’s norms and standards with respect to RCR and representing a flexible mechanism for self-monitoring by individuals as well as the institution. A Mastery Rubric for a curriculum in the RCR can be generated using any topical KSA framework.