Evaluating Internet Research and Multimedia Projects:
How to Hit a Moving Target!
By Caroline McCullen, Instructional Technologist, SAS inSchool
Collaborating Partner, MEGA 
 

1. Why Rubrics? 

   • Project Examples - How Would You Evaluate These?

     • Books Alive - PowerPoint Book Reports, MidLink Magazine; Click to advance through slide shows.  (Requires PowerPoint Animated Viewer)

       • Authentic Results

     • Chemical Compounds - Gray Rushin's Chemistry Class, Cary AcademyCary Academy, Cary, NC (Requires FREE Chime Viewer)

     • Periodic Chart - Gray Rushin's Chemistry Class, Cary Academy, Cary, NC (Requires FREE Chime Viewer)

2. What *exactly* is a Rubric? 

   • "Taking Aim:  Evaluating Students in the Digital Age," Caroline McCullen, Technology & Learning, April, 1999.

   • Let's explore these thoughts.

3. Rubric Examples

   • Book Report Rubric (Fiction)

     • PDF Version

     • Excel Spreadsheet Version Decompress with

   • Multimedia Project Rubrics

   • MidLink Magazine's Rubric Collection - Samples, models, and templates

   • The Rubric Bank - Compiled by Chicago Public Schools (Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)

   • Alternative Assessment Resources - Chicago Public Schools

   • MidLink Magazine's Rubrics - Free for the download
      

4. A Process for constructing  effective rubrics (Animated PowerPoint Slide)
    

5. Finding Your Personal Context:  Where is Your Curriculum Target?

   • Start with your Standards

     • Curriculum Pathways™ by SAS inSchool^{® -} Teaching ideas and Web resources linked to state curriculum (T&L Award Winner!)

     • Achieve.org - Searchable Database of Standards

     • McRel  Standards Consortium - Searchable Database

     • Putnam Valley Annotated List of State Standards

6. Developing Effective Performance Tasks

   • Does the task match the desired outcomes?

   • Is it clearly defined? (Find help in Rubric Construction Kit below)

   • Does it include choices?

   • Does it require critical thinking?

     • Task Oriented Question Wheel (Based on Bloom's- St. Edwards University)

     • Bloom's Chart - Tasks and Products PDF (University of Nebraska)

     • Critical Thinking  - Applying Bloom's (LaGrange College)

   • Is it authentic

   • Is it broad enough to measure several outcomes at once? Multiple skills?

   • Is it fair and free from bias?

   • Is the outcome really worth constructing a rubric to evaluate it?

• From skills and Knowledge to Understanding

• Enduring Understanding

• Would the proposed performance task provide a valid measure of the targeted understanding?

• Examples of performance tasks

   7.  Rubric Construction Kit

• Rubric Checklist - Helpful guidelines for constructing effective rubrics

• Rubric Vocabulary - Aids for defining dimensions

• Rubric Template  - Use to create your own rubrics Decompress with

    8.  Have a Rubric Festival!  Share Your Masterpiece with a neighbor!

Works Cited

1. Chicago Public Schools Instructional Intranet. Chicago: Chicago Board of Education, 2000. Nov. 10, 2000.  <http://intranet.cps.k12.il.us/>.

2. Jackson, Anthony W., Gayle Davis. Turning Points 2000. Educating Adolescents in the 21st Century. New York, NY: Teachers College Press, 2000.

3. McTighe, Jay, Grant Wiggins. The Understanding By Design Handbook. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum and Development, 1999.