A wonderful thing about laptop programs is that they make it easier for students to become multimedia authors. As they gain insight to the media they encounter daily, the students are engaged, consider multiple facets of the topic, and acquire important 21st century skills.

But how are these new kinds of projects to be assessed fairly? Is a project just whiz-bang graphics or a demonstration of true understanding? Smoke and mirrors or fire and reflection?

Rubrics have emerged as the preferred solution for many educators, schools and districts. With the range of proficiency horizontally along the top, the skill assessed vertically along the left, and precise definitions in the boxes of intersection, the last element is proving to be a teacher’s art worth developing.

Rubrics, of course, are not just for multimedia projects. The New Jersey Performance Assessment Alliance, for example, is using rubrics to assess standards that are not measured by the state test. Teams of teachers develop prompts for essays or demonstrations, and then develop and refine related rubrics. The state is making an exciting shift to performance-based assessment, and experience with rubrics for multimedia projects may open that door for new assessments elsewhere.

Rubrics also bring a productive transparency into the classroom. Students have a clear picture of what success looks like -- and a framework for discussing the areas they need to improve.

The web is full of rubrics, even rubric banks. For a quick start, check out the following:

Kathy Schrock’s Guide for Educators, at Discovery School, has links to rubrics for evaluating WebQuests, student web pages, classroom web pages and even the school web page. There are also rubrics links for multimedia presentations, podcasts and video projects. The podcast rubric for Mary D. Bradford High School in Kenosha, WI, for example, offers a performance range of “Proud to Podcast,” “Pushing Perfect,” and “Needs Attention.” It evaluates content, delivery, enhancements, and technical production. The “Proud to Podcast” content definition reads:

• Establishes a clear purpose and consistently maintains focus
• Selects quality content which includes all important vocabulary
• Arranges presentation using own words
• Always written with the audience in mind
• Title(s) entice the reader to listen

Teacher Created Rubrics for Assessment , also from Wisconsin (specifically the University of Wisconsin-Stout) offers rubrics for Powerpoint, podcasts, web pages, ePortfolios, videos, graphic organizers, and ,pre.

Midlink Magazine , a project from North Carolina State University and the University of Florida, offers rubrics for multimedia book reports and multimedia presentations.

All of the sites above also provide guides to software for creating rubrics (some free), deeper insight into the techniques and benefits of rubrics, and links to other categories. Particularly compelling may be the abundant rubrics for collaborative work.