چکیده (انگلیسی):

Life involves a myriad of skills. Most of the basic skills are undeniably ‘classics’ such as
communication and problem solving. The interpretation and delivery of these skills has morphed
into a complicated science, with the changing social environment and the growing prevalence of
technology in our everyday existences. Commonplace technology , as evidenced through word
processing, spreadsheets and presentation programs support Gardner’s 1980’s proposition of
multiple intelligences. Furthermore, the inclusion in many K-12 curricula of courses such as web
design and the acceptance of PowerPoint as a presentation enhancement, forces the classroom
teacher not only to accept Gardner’s concepts but also creates a worrisome quandary of authentic
assessment development, implementation and evaluation. Institutions of higher education must
prepare their teacher candidates to effectively deal with this new form of assessment. Teachers are
confronted with the theme of man versus machine anew. Refined methods of evaluation are
needed to assess not only the learning of the student in the traditional sense but also the
manipulation of technology as a presentation vehicle. Much of the existing technology has
developed so quickly that certain ‘project enhancers’ while pleasant and fun, are not evidence of a
deeper understanding of the subject matter but simply a distraction. Performance based
assessments, while enabling students to express their mastery of content according to their
learning styles and skill strengths, are difficult to score objectively and fairly. A rubric is a
common scoring guide frequently used in the attempt to fairly assess creative work. It is
necessary to have a taxonomy of the levels of talent, or creativity, in the grading process.
Unfortunately, teachers are more willing than they are able to accurately and dispassionately
assess the projects that they want their students to explore, such as posters, skits or plays,
PowerPoint presentations, websites and videos. This study will address the necessity to balance
students’ creative efforts with the reality of deadlines, the conventions of their chosen medium and
the ability to self-assess their own efforts without the benefit of traditional proofreading. The
proposed methodology will be a search of the literature in addition to action research. The
expected outcomes will be a sharing of rubrics and guidelines to assist educators in fairly and
objectively coping with authentic assessment development, implementation and evaluation. This
information will be valuable in training teacher candidates to effectively and fairly deal with
performance based assessments.