by Florence McGinn
"And I would expect just at the end a moment of pure awareness when I could feel the solitary pea under the mattress and pick out the dot of a hawk lost in the blue."
- from poet Billy Collins
Within the framework of today’s classroom, how is the practicing teacher to begin the organic nature of modern assessment? What concrete elements structure a perspective of examining learning products based upon current theories and the emerging technologies? What assessment resources already exist that the busy teacher can examine?
"Your grade for this semester will be based largely upon this 150 question, objective test. Begin on the red side of the scan sheet. Start now." How many of us have heard or given this frightening speech? Were the results always relevant as a reflection of real learning and understanding?
Today’s cutting edge teaching practices demand more. Methodologies employing the emerging technologies require current assessment tools that are not stand-alone occurrences. Educators need to evaluate and reward students for in-depth achievements based upon perspectives reflecting the employment of the multiple intelligences, collaborative learning interactions, cognitive process, and demonstrated competence. Educators must employ assessment approaches that evaluate the on-going nature of the engagement of intelligence, individualized process development, curricular goals, and planned product.
True learning assessment is a natural, organic process, and Howard Gardner states that "As assessment gradually becomes part of the landscape, it no longer needs to be set off from the rest of classroom activity. As in a good apprenticeship, the teachers and the students are always assessing"(Gardner, Multiple Intelligences: Theory in Practice 175).
Therefore, the best assessment tools will be natural outgrowths of the creative process and its necessary stages of revision. Within an active environment of working toward a continual honing of skills integrated into an engaged, multiple intelligences process of product development and conscious goals, continual assessment occurs naturally. (For more about multimedia and the Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences theory, go to McGraw Hill’s site)
In this environment, the student learner views assessment’s feedback as relevant, fair, and assistive.
Dan VanAntwerp feels that most evaluation tools reflect "one-way patterns of instruction" that are teacher-focused and narrowly applicable. Such tools are merely project templates and do not recognize the interactive, purposeful, and applied nature of the "active participant learning process." As a Pilot Program Developer at Hunterdon Central Regional High School, a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence, Dan incorporates in-depth use of multimedia into the learning process. As he evaluates student multimedia work, he employs an assessment structure built upon five areas: Vision, Integration, Relevancy, Interpretative Complexity, and Functionality.
As an educator, Dan likes a tool that can be broadly applicable. He doesn’t like tools that grade by "the number of images included, the number of sounds utilized, and the number of lesson-specific, assigned points." He likes the more open nature of turn-key questions applied to the five, identified areas of his assessment structure.
For Vision, Dan asks "Does the project present a clear message? Does the project represent a fully realized idea? Is the product a true reflection of the student? Are the product and the approach original?"
For Integration, Dan queries, "Does the project appeal to multiple senses? Has the student utilized a variety of skills in producing the project?"
For Relevancy, Dan explores, "Are the multimedia components relevant to the concept being presented? Do the multimedia elements serve to enhance the overall theme? Does a conceptual link exist between all aspects of the project?"
For Interpretative Complexity, Dan examines, "Is the concept presented on a variety of levels? Do the multimedia components add to the depth of the conceptual presentation? Does the program offer significant meaning to a diverse audience?"
The final element of Functionality cannot be ignored. Dan asks in this assessment, "Does the project function correctly?" Is the project simple to access? Does the user have control when viewing or presenting the project?"
Dan’s purposeful structure strives to address the true goals of using multimedia presentation as an educational tool. His assessment structure allows him to support the modern nature of learning where "the student learns by becoming an active participant in the learning process, by making decisions, and by exploring areas of personal interest." (Multimedia assessment structure and commentary used with permission of Dan VanAntwerp, HCRHS English teacher.)
Strong assessment tools that are applicable to the process nature of productive learning incorporating the multiple intelligences are available to today’s educator. Jamie McKenzie (From Now On) and Caroline McCullen (SAS Institute, MidLink Magazine) in cooperation with ISTE’s HyperSIG board have developed an excellent assessment rubric for the Multimedia Mania Contest. That in-depth, but adaptable rubric breaks down multimedia evaluation into ten areas with four, clearly delineated approaches for recognizing strength and weakness. For example, poor graphical design would have an "exaggerated emphasis upon graphics and special effects" that "weaken the message and interfere with communication of content." Whereas, outstanding graphical design would present a "combination of multimedia elements with words and ideas" that take "communication and persuasion to a very high level, superior to what could be accomplished with either alone." Their rubric recognizes that superior multimedia design "brings about synergy and dramatic effects which read the intended audience." McKenzie and McCullen’s rubric can be found published in the March 1999 issue of Technology and Learning magazine. In addition, it is available, downloadable in an Excel Spreadsheet version, on the
Such rubrics offer guidelines for assessment direction, but the sharpest guidelines will be developed through teacher and student collaborations. In such a way, generalized rubrics can become individualized, process learning goals that are recognized and pursued by the student learner. Then, educators and students can aspire to exciting moments of learning breakthroughs where process culminates in what the poet Billy Collins expressed as "a moment of pure awareness/when I could feel the solitary pea under the mattress/and pick out the dot of a hawk lost in the blue." In the personalized challenge of true, fair assessment and learning, the student feels and recognizes the satisfying culmination of his own learning achievement.
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