Helpful Website for Multimedia

Georgetown University's American Studies department has created a helpful website for exploring various multimedia curricula, tutorials, exhibitions, and collections. There are many innovative ideas for educators and users of multimedia in general. Of particular interest is a Norton anthology in multimedia, designed by Charles Hannon, an English professor at University of Alabama. His goal was to design an English course that would literally place the texts into visual, historical and cultural context. He ended up working with Norton to design a multimedia assignment bank for their Anthology of African American Literature. There are 20 graphics-based assignments that use photos, lithographs, political cartoons, etc. to go along with a text. Students can share their responses electronically with the professor as well as other students. It is a fascinating idea. His plan is generally laid out and seems to be successful. Noticeably absent from this document, however, is any sort of rubric or grading method. While the collaboration/exploration is of enormous educational value, there remains the ever-present hurdle of assigning individual grades.