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| Introduction to NetPBL: Collaborative Project-Based Learning |
| Project-Based Learning |
| Planning Projects |
| Finding Projects |
| Making Projects |
4. Assessment of
Project-Based Learning
Student work that can be presented in the form of a multimedia presentation, Web pages, or a song must be evaluated differently than traditional written, typed, or even word-processed papers.
An effective assessment program uses multiple strategies to demonstrate growth and performance, and should be closely correlated to your stated goals. Before beginning a project, it is always necessary to ask:
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Assessment strategies can include performance tasks, teacher observations, personal communications, standardized testing, and student- and teacher-developed evaluation rubrics, and others. The resources described below give a comprehensive overview to the various assessment strategies you can use.
 What is the function of assessment in PBL? Thee principles on this page... and more... are discussed in detail
at the Challenge
2000 Web site
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 Assessment helps teachers develop more complex relationships
with their students...
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which
also has an excellentRubrics
Rubrics have been around for a long time, and they have an established and honorable role
in assessing PBL products and activities. Developing rubrics that mean something is a
challenge. Involving students in the development of rubrics helps them with their
thinking, creates buy-in on their part, and clarifies expectations all around.
A rubric simply lists a set of criteria which define and describe the important components of the work being planned or evaluated. A given criterion is then stated in several different levels of completion or competence, with a weighted score assigned to each level (0 being the lowest level) (see the list below for examples of rubrics).
A rubric should give clear guidelines to a reviewer on how to evaluate or "grade" a project presentation. Since the criteria for assessment are clearly defined in gradations from poor to excellent, different reviewers can arrive at similar conclusions when comparing a given presentation to each of the graduated criteria on a rubric.
A rubric can perform several functions:
- a guide for planning
- a gauge for measuring progress and maintaining focus on project goals
- an instrument for assessing the effectiveness of a project.
As a guide for planning, a rubric gives students clear targets of proficiency to aim for. With a rubric in hand, they know what constitutes a "good" project presentation.
As a gauge for measuring progress while the project is under way, a rubric can be a handy tool to help keep students on target: they can compare their progress with where they want to be on the rubric's proficiency scale, and refer to it in order to remind themselves of their goal.
Finally, as an assessment tool, teachers can use it to assess projects, student groups, or individual students; students can use the same rubric for self-assessment as individuals, in groups, and for peer assessment; and parents can answer for themselves their questions about their child's performance.
While some ready-made rubrics may help to accomplish these different purposes, they become even more powerful when students help develop the rubric they will be using. Students must actively focus on and discuss the characteristics of effective and interesting media projects, giving them depths of understanding and insight not likely achieved from using a ready-made rubric.
The resources on the next page include a list of useful rubrics.
Page 1: Goals, Objectives, Standards
Page 2: Select a Project
Page 3: Audience
Page 4: Assessment
Page 5: Assessment Resources
Page 6: When Disaster Strikes
