Chapter 4: Assessing Digital Stories



 Ohler (2008) describes the need for using Rubrics for assessing digital stories. He concludes that using simple, easy to use Rubric are preferable to using long complex ones ...

... but fails to show us his Rubric. He claims to keep it in a "constant state of evolution" (if it's simple, why the need?), but does not show us an example. Again, an attempt at word pictures when the real thing would have been far more effective.

My concern is the author talks a great game, but shows very little in the way of application. In fairness, the author does describe Digital Story "Evaluation Traits" which I interpret as a sort of poor mans quality yardstick. I'm not sure however how these evaluation traits would be consistently applicable to grading or evaluating student created digital stories.

Chapter 3: Digital Storytelling as an Educational Tool







 While stationed in Pearl Harbor Hawaii, my wife and I used to sell vegetables at the local swap meet to make extra money. For many weeks I had trouble selling anything. Imagine me, a white guy with a military haircut trying to sell long beans to locals. Snickers and guffaws!

Then one day I figure it out. One of the most scrutinizing shoppers stopped dead in front of my stall giving me an opening. I simply said, "Hi Mamma! I picked these all fresh last night on my uncles farm on the north shore!". She bought my beans!

It was that day I learned the power of a story. Those shoppers only wanted to hear a story. And it made sense to me; all vendors were basically selling the same beans, at the same price. Yet some did well, and some did not. The secret is a simple story.

Chapter 3 belabored about Standards. Again though, in order to glean the gems the reader is really forced to gut-out a serious over-use of word pictures. The author's points are jumbled together, making them hard to recognize let alone fully digest.