Rubistar

Submitted by John Minelli on Tue, 07/18/2006 - 13:08.
Description: 

Topic:  Online Rubric Creation Tool

Source:  http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php

Intended purpose: Rubistar is a simple, free rubric creation tool for project assessment.

Audience: Teachers of students in grades K-12

Resource Requirements: Internet connection

Abstract: RubiStar is an online rubric-creation tool. 

Justification:  The theme of the week is assessment and I am first drawn to the Performance Tasks or Online Assessment Tools (like the former Taglit) but I am currently working with a teacher in grade 5 and this jumped right out at me today.

She and I are having her students do a culminating technology product following a 5th grade study of Ecosystems and Biomes.  The students are creating full color, 3 panel brochures in Publisher that act to entice visitors to come to their Biome. They are set up much like a travel agency might have brochures luring travels to exotic spots.  These Biome brochures highlight the plant life, animal life, climate, environmental threats, etc. of the area they studied.  The also contain panels that give "personal contact information" to the viewer created by, for example, the Chamber of Commerce that put out the pamphlet.  We are printing in color, folding and using in conjunction with other written materials about their Biome. The pamphlets contain text boxes, Word Art, Clip Art, imported pictures and grouping of multiple items.

I mention RubiStar not because it is something special, although she and I have created very functional rubrics that assess writing skills, content, and technology skills associated with the project. We haven't included the detailed standards information that accompanies the Model Performance Task Assessments (from Ed and Greg) but the project fits a similar structure. We have created rubrics, distributed to the students, that clearly outlines the grammatical, content and technology skills they need to demonstrate in order to receive a good grade on the pamphlet.  RubiStar allowed the teacher to create a fully customizable rubric for the project and in a minimum amount of time.